Technology-based total factor productivity and benchmarking: New proposals and an application

The present study fills a gap between the benchmarking literature and multi-output based efficiency and productivity studies by proposing a benchmarking framework to analyze total factor productivity (TFP). Different specifications of the Hicks–Moorsteen TFP index are tailored for specific benchmarking perspectives: (1) static, (2) fixed base and unit, and (3) dynamic TFP change. These approaches assume fixed units and/or base technologies as benchmarks. In contrast to most technology-based productivity indices, the standard Hicks–Moorsteen index always leads to feasible results. Through these specifications, managers can assess different facets of the firm's strategic choices in comparison with firm-specific relevant benchmarks and thus have a broad background for decision making. An empirical application for the Spanish banking industry between 1998 and 2006 illustrates the managerial implications of the proposed framework.     

The fragility of the KPSS stationarity test

Stationarity tests exhibit extreme size distortions if the observable process is stationary yet highly persistent. In this paper we provide a theoretical explanation for the size distortion of the KPSS test for DGPs with a broad range of first order autocorrelation coefficient. Considering a near-integrated, nearly stationary process we show that the asymptotic distribution of the test contains an additional term, which can potentially explain the amount of size distortion documented in previous simulation studies.     

Declining inequality in Latin America? Robustness checks for Peru

The Journal of Economic Inequality - Household surveys underreport incomes from the upper tail of the distribution, affecting our assessment about inequality. This paper offers a tractable...