Arunava Bhattacharyya

Bio: Arunava Bhattacharyya is an academic researcher from University of Nevada, Reno. The author has contributed to research in topics: Inefficiency & Allocative efficiency. The author has an hindex of 13, co-authored 19 publications receiving 1554 citations. Previous affiliations of Arunava Bhattacharyya include AT&T.

An Examination of the Effect of Ownership on the Relative Efficiency of Public and Private Water Utilities

Abstract: The behavior of privately and publicly owned water utilities is examined by estimating a generalized variable cost function containing the regular characteristics of the neoclassical cost function without requiring that cost minimization subject to market prices be imposed as a maintained hypothesis. Assuming that unobserved shadow prices reflect the regulatory environment of the water industry, tests for cost minimization are obtained by deriving shadow prices as functions of market prices. The empirical results provide evidence that public water utilities are more efficient than private utilities on average, but are more widely dispersed between best and worst practice.

Price Distortions and Resource-Use Efficiency in Indian Agriculture: A Restricted Profit Function Approach

Abstract: This paper develops a generalized profit function that incorporates price distortions resulting from imperfect market conditions, sociopolitical and institutional constraints, as well as technical and allocative inefficiency. The model is applied to test (1) the appropriateness of the neoclassical profit function and (2) the effect of education and farm size on allocative performance using farm-level data from Indian agriculture. Empirical results reject the neoclassical profit-maximization hypothesis based on market prices in favor of the general model with price distortions and, therefore, help to improve allocation of inputs and output. Farm size is found to reduce price distortions only for small farmers. Copyright 1992 by MIT Press.

Ownership structure and cost efficiency: A study of publicly owned passenger-bus transportation companies in India

Abstract: This paper estimates the determinants of cost inefficiency of several publicly operated passenger-bus transportation companies in India in terms of their ownership structure as well as other firm-specific characteristics. A panel data on publicly operated passenger-bus transportation companies is used to estimate a translog cost system with inefficiency. Inefficiency is specified in such a way that both its mean and variance are firm- and time-specific. For the estimation of production technology and cost inefficiency we have used a multi-step estimation procedure instead of the single-step maximum likelihood (ML) method. In the first step we estimate the translog cost system with heteroskedastic cost function without using any distributional assumptions on the error terms. The second stage uses the ML method to estimate the parameters associated with inefficiency, conditional on the parameter estimates obtained from the first stage. Finally, the residual of the cost function is decomposed to obtain firm-and time-specific measures of cost inefficiency, with ownership type and other firm-specific characteristics as explanatory variables.

Forecasting, Structural Time Series Models and the Kalman Filter

Abstract: In this book, Andrew Harvey sets out to provide a unified and comprehensive theory of structural time series models. Unlike the traditional ARIMA models, structural time series models consist explicitly of unobserved components, such as trends and seasonals, which have a direct interpretation. As a result the model selection methodology associated with structural models is much closer to econometric methodology. The link with econometrics is made even closer by the natural way in which the models can be extended to include explanatory variables and to cope with multivariate time series. From the technical point of view, state space models and the Kalman filter play a key role in the statistical treatment of structural time series models. The book includes a detailed treatment of the Kalman filter. This technique was originally developed in control engineering, but is becoming increasingly important in fields such as economics and operations research. This book is concerned primarily with modelling economic and social time series, and with addressing the special problems which the treatment of such series poses. The properties of the models and the methodological techniques used to select them are illustrated with various applications. These range from the modellling of trends and cycles in US macroeconomic time series to to an evaluation of the effects of seat belt legislation in the UK.

The consolidation of the financial services industry: Causes, consequences, and implications for the future

Abstract: This article designs a framework for evaluating the causes, consequences, and future implications of financial services industry consolidation, reviews the extant research literature within the context of this framework (over 250 references), and suggests fruitful avenues for future research. The evidence is consistent with increases in market power from some types of consolidation; improvements in profit eAciency and diversification of risks, but little or no cost eAciency improvement on average; relatively little eAect on the availability of services to small customers; potential improvements in payments system eAciency; and potential costs on the financial system from increases in systemic risk or expansion of the financial safety net. ” 1999 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.

The Econometric Approach to Efficiency Analysis

Abstract: The Econometrics of Panel DataSpringer Handbook of Science and Technology IndicatorsPanel Data EconometricsThe Econometrics of Panel DataA Practitioner's Guide to Stochastic Frontier Analysis Using StataBenchmarking for Performance EvaluationEssays on Microeconomics and Industrial OrganisationHealth System EfficiencyInternational Journal of Production EconomicsEconometric Analysis of Model Selection and Model TestingInternational Applications of Productivity and Efficiency AnalysisAdvanced Robust and Nonparametric Methods in Efficiency AnalysisEconometrics and the Philosophy of EconomicsThe Measurement of Productive EfficiencyMeasuring Efficiency in Health CareFinancial, Macro and Micro Econometrics Using REconometric Analysis of Cross Section and Panel DataApplied EconometricsProductivity and Efficiency AnalysisEconometric Model SelectionProductivity and Efficiency AnalysisStochastic Frontier AnalysisThe Oxford Handbook of Health EconomicsThe Measurement of Productive Efficiency and Productivity GrowthNew Directions in Productivity Measurement and Efficiency AnalysisA Primer on Efficiency Measurement for Utilities and Transport RegulatorsPanel Data EconometricsProduction and Efficiency Analysis with RApplications of Modern Production TheoryThe Measurement of Productive EfficiencyNonparametric Econometric Methods and ApplicationAn Introduction to Efficiency and Productivity AnalysisHealth, the Medical Profession, and RegulationThe Analysis of Household SurveysData Envelopment AnalysisProgramming Collective IntelligenceEfficiency AnalysisProductivity and Efficiency AnalysisMeasurement of Productivity and EfficiencyProduction Frontiers

Bank Ownership and Efficiency in China: What will Happen in the World's Largest Nation?

Abstract: China's economy has been growing rapidly based on globalization of trade, but the country is only beginning to globalize its banking sector China's current banking reform includes partially privatizing three of its dominant Big Four state-owned banks and taking on minority foreign ownership of these institutions Other state-owned banks are also engaging in this practice Predicting the efficiency effects of these and other reforms is difficult because of little relevant background research evidence This paper helps to fill some of the gaps in the literature, analyzing the profit and cost efficiency of banks representing 95% of commercial banking assets in China over 1994-2003 with different majority and minority ownership structures The key findings are that the Big Four state-owned banks are by far the least efficient, and that minority foreign ownership of other banks is associated with significantly improved efficiency These and other findings suggest that minority foreign ownership of the Big Four and other reforms that allow foreign banks to play larger roles will likely improve the performance of the Chinese banking sector, with positive effects on economic growth