Università della Svizzera italiana

Do opening hours and unobserved heterogeneity affect economies of scale and scope in postal outlets?

Filippini, Massimo ; Koller, Martin ; Trinkner, Urs

The purpose of this study is to analyze the cost structure of Swiss Post’s postal outlets. In particular, the idea is to assess economies of scale and scope in post offices and franchised postal agencies. Information on their optimal size and production structure is of importance from the policy-makers’ point of view because this hypothetical situation may be a basis for calculation of...

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

Regulation, ownership and efficiency in the Swiss nursing home industry

Crivelli, Luca ; Filippini, Massimo ; Lunati, Diego

Switzerland is a federal State where policy decisions and implementation regarding long-term care regulation are by rights incumbent to the regional and local governments (Canton and Town Council). This situation is in part responsible for the large number of small nursing homes operating in Switzerland. Moreover, long-term care for the elderly is supplied by private for-profit nursing homes,...