The electricity generation in Switzerland is mainly based on hydropower (55% of total production). The exploitation of water in the hydropower sector can generate significant so-called resource rents. These are defined by the surplus return above the value of capital, labor, materials and energy used to exploit hydropower. In Switzerland, hydropower producers pay to the State a fixed fee per...
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We analyze the technical efficiency of German and Swiss urban public transport companies by means of SFA. In transport networks we might face different network structures or complexities, not observed, but influencing the production process. The unobserved factors are typically modeled as separable factors. However, we argue that the entire production process is organized around different network...
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In: Annals of public and cooperative economics, 2009, vol. 80, no. 1, p. 37-66
This paper analyzes the demand of Swiss families for child care facilities. A choice experiment is used to study the effects of the facilities’ characteristics as well as socio-economic factors on the selected child care mode. The experimental data are analyzed using a discrete choice model with multinomial logit specification. The results suggest that the demand for extra-familial day care...
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In: Journal of productivity analysis, 2008, vol. 29, no. 2, p. 169-182
This study estimates cost inefficiency and economies of scale of Slovenian water distribution utilities over the 1997-2003 period by employing several different stochastic frontier methods. The results indicate that significant cost inefficiencies are present in the utilities. An introduction of incentive-based price regulation scheme might help resolve this problem. However, the inefficiency...
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In: Economia pubblica, 2000, vol. -, no. 4, p. 53-67
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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...
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In this study we attempt to explain variations across the Swiss regional states (cantons) in public health care expenditures. The large autonomy of the cantons in the organization and financing of health care services creates strong heterogeneity. Per capita public expenditures in health care are assumed to depend on the median tax share, intergovernmental grants, and some structural factors. The...
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This paper analyses the demand of Swiss families for child care facilities. A choice experiment has been used to study the effects of the facilities’ characteristics as well as socioeconomic factors on the selected child care mode. The experimental data have been analysed using a discrete choice model with multinomial logit specification. The results suggest that the stated demand for...
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In deregulated transport markets, a firm’s ownership status and management system represent an important issue. Economic theory suggests that productivity and performance are higher in the private than in the public sector. In Switzerland, providers of bus transportation are traditionally corporations, though a large part of their equity shares are still held by the public sector (federal...
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The purpose of this study is to analyze the cost structure of a sample of Italian waste collection firms in order to assess economies of scale and density and, therefore, to define the optimal size of the firms in this sector. A total and a variable translog cost function were estimated using panel data for a sample of 30 firms of waste collection and disposal operating at the provincial level...
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