Search results for "Inefficiency"
showing 10 items of 55 documents
Work Incentive and Productivity in Spain
2016
Work incentives are closely related to production performance. This paper presents evidence that the value added of a firm increases when relative labor costs rise, or the level of unemployment increases. Both circumstances imply evidence in favor of the efficiency wage model. This theory is consistent with the views of many managers and personal administrators, who tend to ascribe primary importance to wage setting as an incentive to increase effort. We use a micro panel data set of Spanish manufacturing firms, during the period 2004–2009, to simultaneously estimate a stochastic frontier of a firm’s value added and the inefficiency determinants. The data source is published in the Spanish …
Semi-strong inefficiency in the fixed odds betting market: Underestimating the positive impact of head coach replacement in the main European soccer …
2019
Abstract In this paper we analyse the efficiency of the sports betting market, seeking to ascertain whether the market is efficient in the case of fixed odds provided by bookmakers in the four major European soccer leagues under the semi-strong efficiency hypothesis. By examining the trends of odds in the event of a major change in expectations about team results, i.e. when the head coach of a team is replaced, we attempt to verify the argument that a profitable strategy for the bettor is likely to be possible. In this case, the market under consideration would be inefficient. Analysing the average effect of head coach replacement, we find a positive impact on team performance. Based on thi…
An optimized diagnostic architecture for real-time monitoring of MV networks
2006
Due to the electrical energy market liberalization, the Authority for electrical energy and gas (AEEG) in Italy and the other regulatory organizations in other European countries have concentrated their attention on the quality of the electrical service. One of the aspect of major importance in the definition of the quality of a public service is its continuity. In the aim of regulating this field the Authority has defined some continuity indicators, for example the number of interruptions per year and the cumulate duration of the interruptions per year. Recent statistics on these indicator show that the 80% of the number of interruptions in one year is caused by MV network. For this reason…
Assessing price clustering in European Carbon Markets
2012
Abstract The presence of price clustering in markets is taken as a sign of market inefficiency that can influence trading strategies. In this paper, we study the presence of a concentration in prices in carbon futures markets. Specifically, we analyze the European Carbon Futures Markets and test for evidence of preference for certain prices above others. Our results reveal the strong presence of price clustering in the carbon market at prices ending in digits 0 and 5. These findings support the attraction hypothesis, which endorses a significant clustering on gravitational prices, but also backs the negotiation hypothesis, which advocates greater clustering when trading costs are higher.
Assessing congestion in emergency obstetric care in public hospitals in Tamil Nadu
2018
Purpose The purpose of this paper is to assess congestion as the simultaneous occurrence of desirable health output (e.g. maternal admissions) along with undesirable output (e.g. still births (SB)), in emergency obstetric care settings of public hospitals in Tamil Nadu. Design/methodology/approach The study is based on a cross-sectional data set of 97 public hospitals collected by the statistical cell of Tamil Nadu Health Systems Project for the year 2013–2014. The study uses three inputs – beds, doctors and nurses; three desirable outputs – maternal admissions, neonatal admission and live births; and four undesirable outputs – SB, intra-uterine deaths, neonatal deaths and maternal deaths.…
Asset Market Equilibria in Cryptocurrency Markets: Evidence from a Study of Privacy and Non-Privacy Coins
2019
This paper explores whether asset market equilibria in cryptocurrency markets exist. In doing so, it distinguishes between privacy and non-privacy coins. Most recently, privacy coins have attracted increasing attention in the public debate as non-privacy cryptocurrencies, such as Bitcoin, do not satisfy some users’ demands for anonymity. Analyzing ten cryptocurrencies with the highest market capitalization in each sub-market in the 2016–2018 period, we find that privacy coins and non-privacy coins exhibit two distinct market equilibria. Contributing to the current debate on the market efficiency of cryptocurrency markets, our findings provide evidence of market inefficiency. Moreover, the a…
Matching inefficiencies, regional disparities and unemployment
2009
. In this paper we apply a stochastic frontier approach to examine how matching inefficiencies and regional disparities in structural factors contribute to regional and aggregate unemployment. Our results suggest that there would be a substantial decline in aggregate unemployment if (i) all local labour offices operated with full efficiency or (ii) they shared the same structure of job seekers and vacant jobs as the most favourable office. In the former case an increase in hirings would lower the average unemployment rate by 2.4 percentage points. In the latter case the decrease would be 1.4 percentage points. Further, we find that fixed effects are positively correlated with both a more f…
Understanding the Dynamic Effect of Contracting Out on the Delivery of Local Public Services
2015
Máñez J., Pérez-López G., Prior D. and Zafra-Gómez J. L. Understanding the dynamic effect of contracting out on the delivery of local public services, Regional Studies. Contracting out is a mechanism through which the delivery of public services can be made more efficient. However, the process has yielded conflicting results. This paper presents a dynamic, mixed approach, incorporating an intertemporal frontier and a matching technique, to measure the short- and long-term effects of the implementation of contracting out on the efficiency of local public service delivery. The study demonstrates the existence of temporary inefficiency arising from the change in service management when contrac…
Strategic Behavior and Efficiency in the Common Property Extraction of Groundwater
2002
Groundwater has always been regarded as a common property resource where entry is restricted by land ownership and private exploitation is inefficient. In 1980, Gisser and Sanchez presented a first estimation of this inefficiency, cornparing socially optimal exploitation with private (competitive) exploitation using a model with linear water demand, average extraction cost independent of the rate of extraction and linearly decreasing with respect to the water table level. They characterized the private exploitation of the aquifer assuming that farmers are myopic and choose their rate of extraction to maximize their current profits, whereas optimal exploitation is obtained by maximizing the …
Time Use and Food Taxation in Spain
2009
We evaluate the welfare impact of changing the VAT on food in a context in which households can produce home meals for own consumption that compete with meals served in restaurants. Home production of meals requires the combination of food and time inputs. The fiscal treatment in home production of both the inputs and the final product differs from market production of meals, generating different channels of inefficiency. We calibrate a simple general-equilibrium model for the Spanish economy that identifies three types of consumers according to their income, and simulate the effects of some experiments related to how food is taxed. The results suggest that if we focus only on aggregate wel…