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Referierte Aufsätze Web of Science
We evaluate the efficiency of electricity distribution operators (DSOs) as providers of local public infrastructure. In particular, we consider two types of efficiency, i.e., short-term (transient) and long-term (persistent). We apply the recently developed four-component stochastic frontier model, which allows identifying determinants of the two types of efficiency, after controlling for firm heterogeneity ...
In:
The Energy Journal
42 (2021), 4, 20 S.
| Astrid Cullmann, Oleg Badunenko, Subal C. Kumbhakar, Maria Nieswand
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Referierte Aufsätze Web of Science
Against the background of remunicipalisation trends in European public service sectors, this paper estimates firm-level productivity for German electricity retailers and tests whether the ownership type has a significant impact on productivity. We specify a production function for the retail sector with labour and external services as main inputs, which is estimated using a control function approach. ...
In:
German Economic Review
19 (2018), 4, S. 401-425
| Caroline Stiel, Astrid Cullmann, Maria Nieswand
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Referierte Aufsätze Web of Science
Revenue cap regulation is often combined with systematic benchmarking to reveal the managerial inefficiencies when regulating natural monopolies. One example is the European energy sector, where benchmarking is based on actual cost data, which are influenced by managerial inefficiency as well as operational heterogeneity. This paper demonstrates how a conditional nonparametric method, which allows ...
In:
European Journal of Operational Research
265 (2018), 2, S. 710-722
| Endre Bjoerndal, Mette Björndal, Astrid Cullmann, Maria Nieswand
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Referierte Aufsätze Web of Science
We compare three recently developed frontier estimators, namely the conditional DEA (Daraio and Simar, 2005; 2007b), the latent class SFA (Greene, 2005; Orea and Kumbhakar, 2004), and the StoNEZD approach (Johnson and Kuosmanen, 2011) by means of Monte Carlo simulation. We focus on their ability to identify production frontiers and efficiency rankings in the presence of environmental factors. Our simulations ...
In:
European Journal of Operational Research
265 (2018). 1, S. 133-148
| Maria Nieswand, Stefan Seifert
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Referierte Aufsätze Web of Science
Nonparametric efficiency analysis has become a widely applied technique to support industrial benchmarking as well as a variety of incentive-based regulation policies. In practice such exercises are often plagued by incomplete knowledge about the correct specifications of inputs and outputs. Simar and Wilson (Commun Stat Simul Comput 30(1):159–184, 2001) and Schubert and Simar (J Prod Anal 36(1):55–69, ...
In:
Journal of Productivity Analysis
45 (2016), 1, S. 35-51
| Anne Neumann, Maria Nieswand, Torben Schubert
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Referierte Aufsätze Web of Science
In this paper, we analyze the technical efficiency and CO2 reduction potentials of German power and heat plants, using a non-parametric sequential Data Envelopment Analysis. We apply a metafrontier framework to evaluate plant-level efficiency in the transformation of inputs into desirable (energy) and undesirable (CO2 emissions) outputs, taking into account different fossil fuel generation technologies. ...
In:
Energy Economics
56 (2016), S. 9-19
| Stefan Seifert, Astrid Cullmann, Christian von Hirschhausen
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Referierte Aufsätze Web of Science
We analyze the effects of incentive regulation with revenue caps on the investment behaviors of 109 German electricity distribution companies. We hypothesize that with Germany's implementation of incentive regulation in 2009 firms increase their investments in the base year when the rate base is determined for the following regulatory period. We build a model that controls for both firm-specific heterogeneity ...
In:
Energy Economics
57 (2016), S. 192-203
| Astrid Cullmann, Maria Nieswand
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Referierte Aufsätze Web of Science
The German potable water supply industry is regarded highly fragmented, thus preventing efficiency improvements that could happen through consolidation. Focusing on a hypothetical restructuring of the industry, we use a cross-section sample of 364 German water utilities in 2006, applying Data Envelopment Analysis, to analyze the potential efficiency gains from hypothetical mergers between water utilities ...
In:
Journal of Productivity Analysis
44 (2015), 1, S. 97-114
| Michael Zschille
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Referierte Aufsätze Web of Science
Expenditures devoted to research and development (R&D) are scarce and thus need to be used as efficiently as possible given the financial constraints countries are facing. This article assesses the relative efficiency of R&D expenditures for 26 OECD member countries and two nonmember countries. As countries differ in their national innovation systems and states of economic development and industrialization, ...
In:
Applied Economics
46 (2014), 30, S. 3750-3762
| Astrid Cullmann, Petra Zloczysti
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Referierte Aufsätze Web of Science
The restructuring of the allocation of governmental competencies in France has increased the importance of subnational governments by transferring additional tasks. We analyse the efficiency of public spending on the intermediate government level for the 96 départements in metropolitan France in 2008. Spending efficiency is measured using Data Envelopment Analysis. Results indicate significant room ...
In:
Local Government Studies
40 (2014), 5, S. 766-790
| Stefan Seifert, Maria Nieswand