Introduction to Econometric Production Analysis with R
Free!
With Membership
$14.99
Suggested price

Introduction to Econometric Production Analysis with R

Sixth Draft Version

About the Book

Knowledge about production technologies and producer behavior is important for politicians, business organizations, government administrations, financial institutions, and other national and international organizations that desire to know how contemplated policies and market conditions can affect production, prices, income, and resource utilization in agriculture as well as in other industries. The same knowledge is relevant for comparing firms with other firms and the “best practice”, e.g., for consulting farms or other firms or for regulating sectors with natural monopolies (e.g., electricity distribution, water supply, wastewater treatment). The participants of this course will obtain relevant competences in microeconomic production theory and applied econometric production analysis so that they can contribute to the knowledge about production technologies and producer behaviour. After having completed my courses in the field of econometric production analysis, the participants should be able to:

  • use econometric production analysis and efficiency analysis to analyze various real-world questions,
  • interpret the results of econometric production analyses and efficiency analyses,
  • choose a relevant approach for econometric production and efficiency analysis, and
  • critically evaluate the appropriateness of a specific econometric production analysis or efficiency analysis for analyzing a specific real-world question.

These lecture notes focus on practical applications of econometrics and microeconomic production theory. Hence, they complement textbooks in microeconomic production theory (rather than substituting them).

About the Author

Arne Henningsen
Arne Henningsen

Arne Henningsen is Associate Professor at the Department of Food and Resource Economics at the University of Copenhagen. He is specialized in econometric production analysis, e.g. using stochastic frontier analysis, nonparametric kernel regression, and other microeconometric methods. The author has published (with co-authors) several R packages (e.g. "frontier" for stochastic frontier analysis, "micEcon" for microeconomic analysis, "micEconCES" for estimating the Constant Elasticity of Substitution (CES) function, "micEconSNQP" for estimating the normalized quadratic profit function; "micEconAids" for estimating the Almost Ideal Demand System (AIDS), "systemfit" for estimating systems of equations, "sampleSelection" for estimating Heckman-type sample selection models, "censReg" for censored regression, and "maxLik" for general maximum likelihood (ML) estimation.

Table of Contents

1 Introduction

1.1 Objectives of the course and the lecture notes

1.2 An extremely short introduction to R

1.3 R packages

1.4 Data sets

1.5 Mathematical and statistical methods

2 Primal Approach: Production Function

2.1 Theory

2.2 Productivity measures

2.3 Linear production function

2.4 Cobb-Douglas production function

2.5 Quadratic production function

2.6 Translog production function

2.7 Evaluation of different functional forms

2.8 Non-parametric production function

3 Dual Approach: Cost Functions

3.1 Theory

3.2 Cobb-Douglas cost function

3.3 Cobb-Douglas short-run cost function

3.4 Translog cost function

4 Dual Approach: Profit Function

4.1 Theory

4.2 Graphical illustration of profit and gross margin

4.3 Cobb-Douglas profit function

4.4 Cobb-Douglas short-run profit function

5 Efficiency Measures

5.1 Technical efficiency

5.2 Allocative efficiency, revenue efficiency, cost efficiency

5.3 Profit efficiency

5.4 Scale efficiency

6 Stochastic Frontier Analysis

6.1 Stochastic production frontiers

6.2 Stochastic cost frontiers

6.3 Analyzing the effects of z variables

6.4 Decomposition of cost efficiency

7 Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA)

7.1 Preparations

7.2 DEA with input-oriented efficiencies

7.3 DEA with output-oriented efficiencies

7.4 DEA with “super efficiencies”

7.5 DEA with graph hyperbolic efficiencies

8 Distance Functions

8.1 Theory

8.2 Cobb-Douglas output distance function

8.3 Translog output distance function

8.4 Cobb-Douglas input distance function

8.5 Translog input distance function

9 Panel Data and Technological Change

9.1 Average production functions with technological change

9.2 Frontier production functions with technological change

9.3 Analyzing productivity growths with Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) 

The Leanpub 60 Day 100% Happiness Guarantee

Within 60 days of purchase you can get a 100% refund on any Leanpub purchase, in two clicks.

Now, this is technically risky for us, since you'll have the book or course files either way. But we're so confident in our products and services, and in our authors and readers, that we're happy to offer a full money back guarantee for everything we sell.

You can only find out how good something is by trying it, and because of our 100% money back guarantee there's literally no risk to do so!

So, there's no reason not to click the Add to Cart button, is there?

See full terms...

Earn $8 on a $10 Purchase, and $16 on a $20 Purchase

We pay 80% royalties on purchases of $7.99 or more, and 80% royalties minus a 50 cent flat fee on purchases between $0.99 and $7.98. You earn $8 on a $10 sale, and $16 on a $20 sale. So, if we sell 5000 non-refunded copies of your book for $20, you'll earn $80,000.

(Yes, some authors have already earned much more than that on Leanpub.)

In fact, authors have earnedover $13 millionwriting, publishing and selling on Leanpub.

Learn more about writing on Leanpub

Free Updates. DRM Free.

If you buy a Leanpub book, you get free updates for as long as the author updates the book! Many authors use Leanpub to publish their books in-progress, while they are writing them. All readers get free updates, regardless of when they bought the book or how much they paid (including free).

Most Leanpub books are available in PDF (for computers) and EPUB (for phones, tablets and Kindle). The formats that a book includes are shown at the top right corner of this page.

Finally, Leanpub books don't have any DRM copy-protection nonsense, so you can easily read them on any supported device.

Learn more about Leanpub's ebook formats and where to read them

Write and Publish on Leanpub

You can use Leanpub to easily write, publish and sell in-progress and completed ebooks and online courses!

Leanpub is a powerful platform for serious authors, combining a simple, elegant writing and publishing workflow with a store focused on selling in-progress ebooks.

Leanpub is a magical typewriter for authors: just write in plain text, and to publish your ebook, just click a button. (Or, if you are producing your ebook your own way, you can even upload your own PDF and/or EPUB files and then publish with one click!) It really is that easy.

Learn more about writing on Leanpub