476 research outputs found
Is Globalization Driving Efficiency? A Threshold Stochastic Frontier Panel Data Modelling Approach
No full textIn an earlier paper the authors proposed a two-step approach to examine dynamic transmission mechanism under which globalization factors foster technology efficiency. In this paper the MSS model is extended by combining a panel threshold regression technique. This threshold stochastic frontier panel data model enables the analysis of regime-specific stochastic frontiers and complex time-varying patterns of technical efficiencies in a robust manner. Using a dataset of 44 countries over 1970–2007, income elasticities of labor and capital and time-varying common efficiencies are found to be substantially different under superior and inferior frontiers. Capital and labor inputs are more productive under superior frontier. More importantly, common efficiencies have steadily increased under superior frontier, but technical efficiency has monotonically decreased for low income countries, supporting the so-called club convergence hypothesis. Furthermore, the VAR-based impulse response analyses suggest that openness factors through FDI and trade help the countries to improve production technology and efficiency position relative to the frontier only after the country has reached a certain level of development
Exploring the teaching activities of the Italian universities through conditional efficiency analysis
No full text[No abstract available
Teaching Efficiency of Italian Universities: A Conditional Frontier Analysis
No full textAbstractThe aim of this chapter is to provide a comparative analysis of the performance of teaching at Italian university by evaluating the efficiency of heterogeneous faculty courses at the national level. For this purpose, we use advanced and robust nonparametric tools recently developed in nonparametric efficiency frontier literature. This performance assessment does not rely on hypotheses about the relationship between inputs and outputs and allows us to account for the heterogeneity of the analyzed courses. The overall analysis carried out at the national level for Italy extends the traditional and limited one-dimensional indicators available through SUA-CdS data and ad hoc surveys on graduates conducted by ANVUR (National Agency for the Evaluation of Universities and Research Institutes) and MIUR (Ministry of Education, University and Research). The estimated efficiency scores are used to analyze current trends and changes in the teaching activities of Italian universities.</jats:p
"Returns to education and income inequality in Europe"
No full textIn this paper we study the relationship between wage inequality and education in 13 OECD countries over the period 1985-2005 using the Luxembourgh Income Study (LIS) data. Our results show a great deal of heterogeneity in the patterns of the rate-of-return estimates across countries. On the other hand, our results confirm the finding of a general increase in wage inequality. As for the correlation between wage premia and wage inequality, the results show a positive but weak correlation between the estimates of the education return and the Gini index and between the convexity of wage premia and wage inequality. The results show that the increase in wage inequality in the countries considered can only partially be accounted for by observable characteristics such as education and educational premia; i.e., it is largely residual in its nature
Una proposta per la definizione e rilevazione del capitale territoriale in Italia
No full textThe concept of territorial capital has been discussed in numerous international
documents and in different disciplinary fields. The review
of the literature shows a definitive recurrence of some contributions
and a recent renewed interest in the theme. This happened in a context
of profound change that has seen the gradual affirmation of
“territorial” and “bottom-up” approaches compared to the traditional
“exogenous” and “top-down” ones. From this point of view, the greater
attention paid to the satisfaction of local needs also relativizes the
concept of resource. The socio-cultural dimension assumes a key role
as it depends on the representation of the territory and therefore the
development objectives of a community. Then, the concept of territorial
capital seems to provide an important contribution, especially in
terms of defining the logical framework of reference. In this research,
starting from the literature, the aim is to elaborate a definition of “territorial
capital” which, while reflecting the elements of complexity referred
to, can be applied to different contexts and allow a schematic
simplification of the representation of the territorial qualities. The
analysis of the factors that determine it and the choice of the variables
for its representation clearly highlight the need to reflect further
on the approaches for its measurement and on the modalities of its
use in support of development policies
MODELLING TECHNICAL EFFICIENCY IN CROSS SECTIONALLY DEPENDENT STOCHASTIC FRONTIER PANELS
No full textThis paper proposes a unified framework for accommodating both time and cross-sectional dependence in
modelling technical efficiency in stochastic frontier models by combining the exogenously driven factor-based
approach and an endogenous threshold efficiency regime selection mechanism. This approach is able to deal with
both weak and strong cross-sectional dependence in a flexible manner. Using a dataset of 26 OECD countries over
1970–2010, we provide satisfactory estimation results for the production technology parameters and the associated
efficiency ranking of individual countries. We find a positive spillover effect on efficiency, supporting the
hypothesis that knowledge spillover is more likely to be induced by technological proximity. Furthermore, our
approach enables us to identify efficiency clubs endogenously
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