Productivity and Efficiency Analysis

A special issue of Economies (ISSN 2227-7099).

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (15 October 2019) | Viewed by 28241

Special Issue Editor


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Guest Editor
Department of Economics, Eastern Illinois University, 600 Lincoln Ave, Charleston, IL 61920, USA

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

It is generally recognized that productivity is a synonym for economic progress. In a free society, an individual with rising productivity will have rising incomes. For an organization, the more efficient it is the more productive it is, and the longer it will likely survive. Similarly, a nation with a high median income for its people may have become rich because of the high productivity of its workers.

To enhance our understanding of the many dimensions of productivity, Economies will publish a Special Issue in 2019 on productivity around the world, including productivity within nations or sub-national units. What causes the growth or slowdown of productivity in a country or across countries? What factors might constrain productivity increases in some countries but not in others? What role does the efficiency of the factors of production play compared to technological progress in leading to higher productivity? Many countries seem to experience wide variations in productivity across sectors for extended periods of time. Do such differences persist because of sustained variations in the way technology progresses in some sectors relative to others? If so, why does the pattern of resource allocations not respond to productivity differences rapidly enough?

We also invite papers on several other dimensions of productivity. Does a higher productivity automatically lead to higher wages? Or, does higher productivity increase happiness? What is the evidence on productivity convergence or lack thereof across countries or across regions of a country? We welcome papers on labor productivity, total factor productivity, or a comparison between them. Critical surveys analyzing historical or modern literature on productivity are also welcome. Papers can explore one or more of several other themes related to the broad topic of productivity.

Papers should be submitted to Economies by the link https://susy.mdpi.com/.

Prof. Dr. Mukti P. Upadhyay
Guest Editor

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Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Economies is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

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Published Papers (4 papers)

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Research

15 pages, 412 KiB  
Article
Does the Source of Remittance Matter? Differentiated Effects of Earned and Unearned Remittances on Agricultural Productivity
by Shankar Ghimire and Kul Prasad Kapri
Economies 2020, 8(1), 8; https://doi.org/10.3390/economies8010008 - 23 Jan 2020
Cited by 8 | Viewed by 5529
Abstract
This paper analyzes the effect of earned and unearned remittances on agricultural productivity in Nepal. This approach differs from the existing practice of studying the impact of total remittances on socio-economic outcomes. In particular, we disaggregate total remittances into earned and unearned remittances, [...] Read more.
This paper analyzes the effect of earned and unearned remittances on agricultural productivity in Nepal. This approach differs from the existing practice of studying the impact of total remittances on socio-economic outcomes. In particular, we disaggregate total remittances into earned and unearned remittances, and isolate their impacts on productivity—an individual household’s per labor-hour production of all agricultural output at the market value. Methodologically, we follow a three-stage least squares (3-SLS) approach to overcome the potential endogeneity concerns. We provide evidence that unearned remittances are more effective than earned remittances in increasing agricultural productivity. These results can be useful in understanding the migration-remittance-productivity nexus in Nepal as well as other similar socioeconomic societies from South Asia. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Productivity and Efficiency Analysis)
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13 pages, 381 KiB  
Article
Determinants of Food Security and Technical Efficiency among Agricultural Households in Nigeria
by Zainab Oyetunde-Usman and Kehinde Oluseyi Olagunju
Economies 2019, 7(4), 103; https://doi.org/10.3390/economies7040103 - 10 Oct 2019
Cited by 25 | Viewed by 7384
Abstract
The challenge of food security in Nigeria hinges on several factors of which poor technical efficiency is key. Using a stochastic frontier framework, we estimated the technical efficiency of agricultural households in Nigeria and tested for the significance of mean technical efficiency of [...] Read more.
The challenge of food security in Nigeria hinges on several factors of which poor technical efficiency is key. Using a stochastic frontier framework, we estimated the technical efficiency of agricultural households in Nigeria and tested for the significance of mean technical efficiency of food-secure and food-insecure agricultural households. We further assessed the determinants of agricultural households’ inefficiencies within the stochastic frontier model and adopted a standard probit model to assess the determinants of households’ food security status. The results of our analyses revealed that; on the overall, the agricultural households had a mean technical efficiency of 52%, suggesting that agricultural households have the tendency of improving their technical efficiency by 48% using the available resource more efficiently. We found that households that are food-secure are more technically efficient than food in-secure households and this was significant at one-percent. Our results provide useful insights into the role of land size and number of assets as determinants of agricultural households’ food security and technical efficiency status. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Productivity and Efficiency Analysis)
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25 pages, 1006 KiB  
Article
Toward Sustainability or Efficiency: The Case of Smallholder Coffee Farmers in Vietnam
by Nguyen Hung Anh, Wolfgang Bokelmann, Do Thi Nga and Nguyen Van Minh
Economies 2019, 7(3), 66; https://doi.org/10.3390/economies7030066 - 4 Jul 2019
Cited by 18 | Viewed by 9580
Abstract
This study attempts to uncover the truth behind an increasing number of smallholder farmers participating in sustainable coffee farming in Vietnam. Using stochastic frontier and cost-benefit analysis, a sample of 316 smallholder farmers in Dak Lak was chosen to analyze the economic impacts [...] Read more.
This study attempts to uncover the truth behind an increasing number of smallholder farmers participating in sustainable coffee farming in Vietnam. Using stochastic frontier and cost-benefit analysis, a sample of 316 smallholder farmers in Dak Lak was chosen to analyze the economic impacts of sustainable and conventional coffee farming on farmers’ welfare. In addition, we conducted field observation and key informant interviews to describe several farming practices. The results highlight the fact that farmers’ decisions to participate in sustainable coffee farming are mainly driven by economic benefits. Sustainable farming is more cost-effective and profitable than conventional farming, despite the insignificant difference in production efficiency. Improvement of education, farming knowledge, and collective actions could mitigate negative effects of small-scale production for sustainable coffee farmers. Pesticide management, shade coffee encouragement, and reduction of excessive fertilization, over-irrigation, and unproductive coffee varieties are recommended for sustainable development of the sector. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Productivity and Efficiency Analysis)
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19 pages, 1240 KiB  
Article
Diffusion Efficiency of Innovation among EU Member States: A Data Envelopment Analysis
by Henry Junior Anderson and Jan Stejskal
Economies 2019, 7(2), 34; https://doi.org/10.3390/economies7020034 - 30 Apr 2019
Cited by 21 | Viewed by 5073
Abstract
Innovation, in contemporary times, has been established as the lynchpin of growth and national competitive advantage among countries. Supranational and national resources have jointly combined to create sound innovation strategies and diffusion policies for member states in recent times. However, there is the [...] Read more.
Innovation, in contemporary times, has been established as the lynchpin of growth and national competitive advantage among countries. Supranational and national resources have jointly combined to create sound innovation strategies and diffusion policies for member states in recent times. However, there is the question of whether increased innovation translates to effective diffusion of innovation. With this in mind, the present research aims to comparatively assess and evaluate the efficiency of diffusion of innovation of European Union member states in reference to their European Innovation Scoreboard (EIS) rankings. Using the Charnes, Cooper and Rhodes (CCR) model of Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA), the present research found contrasting diffusion efficiency scores of member states with different innovation performances as most innovative member states had much lower efficiency scores compared to some supposedly weak innovating member states. We also computed the input-redundancy and output-deficiency of member states, provided recommendations for efficient input-output combinations based on findings of respective member states and innovation groups, and finally, outlined directions for future studies. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Productivity and Efficiency Analysis)
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