Università della Svizzera italiana

Persistent and transient productive inefficiency in a regulated industry : electricity distribution in New Zealand

Filippini, Massimo ; Greene, William H. ; Masiero, Giuliano

The productive efficiency of a firm can be decomposed into two parts, one persistent and one transient. So far, most of the cost efficiency studies estimated frontier models that provide either the transient or the persistent part of productive efficiency. This distinction seems to be appealing also for regulators. During the last decades, public utilities such as water and electricity have...

Università della Svizzera italiana

Structural and managerial cost differences in nonprofit nursing homes

Di Giorgio, Laura ; Filippini, Massimo ; Masiero, Giuliano

In: Economic Modelling, 2015, vol. 51, p. 289-298

Population aging is challenging governments to find new solutions to finance the increasing demand for nursing home care and slow down the increase in expenditures. In this light, many European countries are currently considering reforms to increase efficiency in the provision of nursing home services. One popular restructuring policy is the transformation of public organizations into private...

Università della Svizzera italiana

Cost efficiency measurement in postal delivery networks

Filippini, Massimo ; Koller, Martin

The purpose of this study is to analyze the level of cost efficiency of Swiss Post’s postal delivery units to enable policy makers’ as well as Swiss Post to decide on the reactions to market changes. In particular, we use different panel data models to assess cost efficiency in these units to account for unobserved heterogeneity. The results from applying Mundlak’s formulation to the...

Università della Svizzera italiana

Economies of scale and efficiency measurement in Switzerland's nursing homes

Farsi, Mehdi ; Filippini, Massimo ; Lunati, Diego

In: Swiss journal of economics and statistics, 2008, vol. 144, no. 3, p. 359-378

This paper examines the cost efficiency in the nursing home industry, an issue of concern to Swiss policy makers because of the explosive growth of national expenditure on elderly care and the aging of the population. A stochastic cost frontier model with a translog function has been applied to a balanced panel data of 1780 observations from 356 nursing homes operating over five years (1998-2002)...

Università della Svizzera italiana

Economies of scale and efficiency measurement in Switzerland’s nursing homes

Farsi, Mehdi ; Filippini, Massimo ; Lunati, Diego

This paper examines the cost efficiency in the nursing home industry, an issue of concern to Swiss policy makers because of the explosive growth of national expenditure on elderly care and the aging of the population. A stochastic cost frontier model with a translog function has been applied to a balanced panel data of 1780 observations from 356 nursing homes operating over five years (1998-2002)...

Università della Svizzera italiana

Cost efficiency in the Swiss gas distribution sector

Farsi, Mehdi ; Filippini, Massimo ; Kuenzle, Michael

In: Energy Economics, 2007, vol. 29, no. 1, p. 64-78

This paper studies the cost structure of gas distribution utilities in Switzerland. Three stochastic frontier models are applied to a panel of 26 companies operating from 1996 to 2000. Efficiency is assumed to be constant over time. The analysis highlights the importance of output characteristics such as customer density and network size. The results suggest that the utilities could slightly...

Università della Svizzera italiana

Regulation and measuring cost-efficiency with panel data models : application to electricity distribution utilities

Farsi, Mehdi ; Filippini, Massimo

In: Review of Industrial Organization, 2004, vol. 25, no. 1, p. 1-19

This paper examines the performance of panel data models in measuring cost efficiency of electricity distribution utilities. Different cost frontier models are applied to a sample of 59 utilities operating in Switzerland from 1988 to 1996. The estimated coefficients and inefficiency scores are compared across different specifications. The results indicate that while the average inefficiency is...

Università della Svizzera italiana

Effects of ownership, subsidization and teaching activities on hospital costs in Switzerland

Farsi, Mehdi ; Filippini, Massimo

This paper explores the cost structure of Swiss hospitals, focusing on differences due to teaching activities and those across different ownership and subsidization types. A stochastic total cost frontier with a Cobb-Douglas functional form has been estimated for a panel of 150 general hospitals over the six-year period from 1998 and 2003. Inpatient cases adjusted by DRG cost weights and...