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...
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In: Journal of Transport Economics and Policy, 2006, vol. 40, no. 1, p. 95-118
This paper evaluates cost and scale efficiencies of Switzerland’s regulated rural bus companies operating in regional networks. The adopted methodology can be used in benchmarking analyses applied to incentive regulation systems. Moreover, the estimations can be used to evaluate the bidding offers for the tendering processes predicted by the ongoing reform policies. Since these companies...
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The deregulation of the electricity industry is currently on the political agenda in many countries. In most countries, the deregulation of the sector is combined with a (re-) regulation of the electricity networks in most of the countries. In many countries incentive-based regulation – e.g. price-cap regulation, yardstick regulation – was introduced to promote efficiency improvements in...
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This paper studies a number of stochastic cost frontier models comparing their ability to distinguish unobserved heterogeneity from inefficiency variation among firms. The main focus is on the panel data models that incorporate firm-specific effects in a stochastic frontier framework, as proposed by Greene (2002, 2004). In cases where the unobserved heterogeneity is correlated with some of the...
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