Estimating size and scope economies in the Portuguese water sector using the Bayesian stochastic frontier analysis

被引:41
作者
Carvalho, Pedro [1 ,2 ]
Marques, Rui Cunha [2 ]
机构
[1] Univ Fed Rio de Janeiro, Dept Civil Engn, Computat Modelling Engn & Geophys Lab LAMEMO, COPPE, Ave Pedro Calmon Ilha Fundao, BR-21941596 Rio De Janeiro, Brazil
[2] Univ Lisbon, Inst Super Tecn, Ctr Urban & Reg Syst CESUR, CERIS, Ave Rovisco Pais, P-1049001 Lisbon, Portugal
关键词
Bayesian stochastic frontier analysis; Economies of size; Economies of scale; Economies of scope; Water utilities; Portugal; VERTICAL INTEGRATION; COST FUNCTION; SCALE; UTILITIES; EFFICIENCY; INDUSTRY; DENSITY; MODELS; OUTPUT;
D O I
10.1016/j.scitotenv.2015.11.169
中图分类号
X [环境科学、安全科学];
学科分类号
08 ; 0830 ;
摘要
This study aims to search for economies of size and scope in the Portuguese water sector applying Bayesian and classical statistics to make inference in stochastic frontier analysis (SFA). This study proves the usefulness and advantages of the application of Bayesian statistics for making inference in SFA over traditional SFA which just uses classical statistics. The resulting Bayesian methods allowovercoming some problems that arise in the application of the traditional SFA, such as the bias in small samples and skewness of residuals. In the present case study of the water sector in Portugal, these Bayesian methods provide more plausible and acceptable results. Based on the results obtained we found that there are important economies of output density, economies of size, economies of vertical integration and economies of scope in the Portuguese water sector, pointing out to the huge advantages in undertaking mergers by joining the retail and wholesale components and by joining the drinking water and wastewater services. (C) 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
引用
收藏
页码:574 / 586
页数:13
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