IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/ejores/v245y2015i2p602-611.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Nonparametric measures of scale economies and capacity utilization: An application to U.S. manufacturing

Author

Listed:
  • Ray, Subhash C.

Abstract

An economic measure of scale efficiency is the ratio of the minimum average cost to the average cost at the actual output level of a firm. It is easily measured by the ratio of the total cost of this output under the constant and variable returns to scale assumptions. This procedure does not identify the output level where the average cost reaches a minimum. This paper proposes a nonparametric method of measuring this output level using DEA. The relation between this efficient production scale, the short run physical capacity output, and the most productive scale size (MPSS) is also discussed. An empirical application using state level data from U.S. manufacturing is used to illustrate the procedure. The DEA findings are further analyzed using a smoothed bootstrap procedure.

Suggested Citation

  • Ray, Subhash C., 2015. "Nonparametric measures of scale economies and capacity utilization: An application to U.S. manufacturing," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 245(2), pages 602-611.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:ejores:v:245:y:2015:i:2:p:602-611
    DOI: 10.1016/j.ejor.2015.03.024
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0377221715002313
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.ejor.2015.03.024?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to look for a different version below or search for a different version of it.

    Other versions of this item:

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Coelli, Tim & Grifell-Tatje, Emili & Perelman, Sergio, 2002. "Capacity utilisation and profitability: A decomposition of short-run profit efficiency," International Journal of Production Economics, Elsevier, vol. 79(3), pages 261-278, October.
    2. Kristiaan Kerstens & Niels Vestergaard & Dale Squires, 2006. "A short-run Johansen industry model for common-pool resources: planning a fishery's industrial capacity to curb overfishing," European Review of Agricultural Economics, Oxford University Press and the European Agricultural and Applied Economics Publications Foundation, vol. 33(3), pages 361-389, September.
    3. Léopold Simar & Paul W. Wilson, 1998. "Sensitivity Analysis of Efficiency Scores: How to Bootstrap in Nonparametric Frontier Models," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 44(1), pages 49-61, January.
    4. Segerson, Kathleen & Squires, Dale, 1990. "On the measurement of economic capacity utilization for multi-product industries," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 44(3), pages 347-361, June.
    5. Holland, D. S. & Lee, S. T., 2002. "Impacts of random noise and specification on estimates of capacity derived from data envelopment analysis," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 137(1), pages 10-21, February.
    6. Lawrence R. Klein & Virginia Long, 1973. "Capacity Utilization: Concept, Measurement, and Recent Estimates," Brookings Papers on Economic Activity, Economic Studies Program, The Brookings Institution, vol. 4(3), pages 743-764.
    7. Sahoo, Biresh K. & Tone, Kaoru, 2009. "Decomposing capacity utilization in data envelopment analysis: An application to banks in India," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 195(2), pages 575-594, June.
    8. Kim, Seung-Chul & Horowitz, Ira & Young, Karl K. & Buckley, Thomas A., 1999. "Analysis of capacity management of the intensive care unit in a hospital," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 115(1), pages 36-46, May.
    9. Valdmanis, Vivian & Bernet, Patrick & Moises, James, 2010. "Hospital capacity, capability, and emergency preparedness," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 207(3), pages 1628-1634, December.
    10. Rajiv Banker & Hsihui Chang & Ram Natarajan, 2007. "Estimating DEA technical and allocative inefficiency using aggregate cost or revenue data," Journal of Productivity Analysis, Springer, vol. 27(2), pages 115-121, April.
    11. Banker, Rajiv D., 1984. "Estimating most productive scale size using data envelopment analysis," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 17(1), pages 35-44, July.
    12. Subhash C. Ray & Kankana Mukherjee & Yanna Wu, 2006. "Direct And Indirect Measures Of Capacity Utilization: A Non‐Parametric Analysis Of Us Manufacturing," Manchester School, University of Manchester, vol. 74(4), pages 526-548, July.
    13. Pascoe, Sean & Tingley, Diana, 2006. "Economic capacity estimation in fisheries: A non-parametric ray approach," Resource and Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 28(2), pages 124-138, May.
    14. J. M. Cassels, 1937. "Excess Capacity and Monopolistic Competition," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 51(3), pages 426-443.
    15. Berndt, Ernst R & Morrison, Catherine J, 1981. "Capacity Utilization Measures: Underlying Economic Theory and an Alternative Approach," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 71(2), pages 48-52, May.
    16. Dupont, Diane P. & Grafton, R. Quentin & Kirkley, James & Squires, Dale, 2002. "Capacity utilization measures and excess capacity in multi-product privatized fisheries," Resource and Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 24(3), pages 193-210, June.
    17. Lindebo, Erik & Hoff, Ayoe & Vestergaard, Niels, 2007. "Revenue-based capacity utilisation measures and decomposition: The case of Danish North Sea trawlers," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 180(1), pages 215-227, July.
    18. Fare, Rolf & Grosskopf, Shawna & Kirkley, Jim, 2000. "Multi-output Capacity Measures and Their Relevance for Productivity," Bulletin of Economic Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 52(2), pages 101-112, April.
    19. Fare, Rolf & Grosskopf, Shawna & Kokkelenberg, Edward C, 1989. "Measuring Plant Capacity, Utilization and Technical Change: A Nonparametric Approach," International Economic Review, Department of Economics, University of Pennsylvania and Osaka University Institute of Social and Economic Research Association, vol. 30(3), pages 655-666, August.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Yao-yao Song & Xian-tong Ren & Guo-liang Yang, 2023. "Capacity utilization change over time," Journal of Productivity Analysis, Springer, vol. 59(1), pages 61-78, February.
    2. Salnikov, Vladimir & Galimov, Dmitry & Mikheeva, Olga & Gnidchenko, Andrey & Rybalka, Alexey, 2017. "Russian manufacturing production capacity: Primary trends and structural characteristics," Russian Journal of Economics, Elsevier, vol. 3(3), pages 240-262.
    3. Chen, Zhenling & Zhang, Xiaoling & Ni, Guohua, 2020. "Decomposing capacity utilization under carbon dioxide emissions reduction constraints in data envelopment analysis: An application to Chinese regions," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 139(C).
    4. Lee, Chia-Yen & Charles, Vincent, 2022. "A robust capacity expansion integrating the perspectives of marginal productivity and capacity regret," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 296(2), pages 557-569.
    5. Wang, Delu & Wang, Yadong & Song, Xuefeng & Liu, Yun, 2018. "Coal overcapacity in China: Multiscale analysis and prediction," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 70(C), pages 244-257.
    6. Yang, Guo-liang & Fukuyama, Hirofumi, 2018. "Measuring the Chinese regional production potential using a generalized capacity utilization indicator," Omega, Elsevier, vol. 76(C), pages 112-127.
    7. Wang, Delu & Wan, Kaidi & Song, Xuefeng, 2018. "Quota allocation of coal overcapacity reduction among provinces in China," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 116(C), pages 170-181.
    8. Yang, Jiawei & Li, Yuanyu & Fang, Lei, 2023. "Financing capacity planning with environmental considerations: A non-parametric analysis," Omega, Elsevier, vol. 118(C).
    9. Subhash C. Ray & Shilpa Sethia, 2022. "Nonparametric measurement of potential gains from mergers: an additive decomposition and application to Indian bank mergers," Journal of Productivity Analysis, Springer, vol. 57(2), pages 115-130, April.
    10. Yu, Shiwei & Lu, Tingwei & Hu, Xing & Liu, Lancui & Wei, Yi-Ming, 2021. "Determinants of overcapacity in China’s renewable energy industry: Evidence from wind, photovoltaic, and biomass energy enterprises," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 97(C).
    11. Subhash C. Ray & John Walden & Lei Chen, 2018. "Economic Measures of Capacity Utilization: A Nonparametric Cost Function Analysis," Working papers 2018-02, University of Connecticut, Department of Economics.
    12. Dale Squires & Kathleen Segerson, 2022. "Capacity and Capacity Utilization in Production Economics," Springer Books, in: Subhash C. Ray & Robert G. Chambers & Subal C. Kumbhakar (ed.), Handbook of Production Economics, chapter 24, pages 1001-1037, Springer.
    13. Maha Kalai, 2019. "Nonparametric Measures of Capacity Utilization of the Tunisian Manufacturing Industry: Short- and Long-Run Dual Approach," Journal of the Knowledge Economy, Springer;Portland International Center for Management of Engineering and Technology (PICMET), vol. 10(1), pages 318-334, March.
    14. Kamel Helali & Maha Kalai & Thouraya Boujelbene, 2016. "Short-run decomposition of profit efficiency and its relationship with the Tunisian manufacturing capacity utilisation," International Journal of Applied Management Science, Inderscience Enterprises Ltd, vol. 8(1), pages 38-51.
    15. Ya Wang & Jiaofeng Pan & Ruimin Pei & Guoliang Yang & Bowen Yi, 2020. "A Framework for Assessing Green Capacity Utilization Considering CO 2 Emissions in China’s High-Tech Manufacturing Industry," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(11), pages 1-25, May.
    16. Yang, Guo-liang & Fukuyama, Hirofumi & Song, Yao-yao, 2019. "Estimating capacity utilization of Chinese manufacturing industries," Socio-Economic Planning Sciences, Elsevier, vol. 67(C), pages 94-110.
    17. Delu Wang & Xun Xue & Yadong Wang, 2021. "Overcapacity Risk of China’s Coal Power Industry: A Comprehensive Assessment and Driving Factors," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(3), pages 1-21, January.
    18. Wang, Delu & Wang, Yadong & Jiang, Wuding & Shi, Xunpeng, 2023. "Has outward foreign direct investment alleviated industrial overcapacity in China? An empirical test of the upstream and downstream industrial links," Structural Change and Economic Dynamics, Elsevier, vol. 67(C), pages 250-263.
    19. Fukuyama, Hirofumi & Song, Yao-yao & Ren, Xian-tong & Yang, Guo-liang, 2022. "Using a novel DEA-based model to investigate capacity utilization of Chinese firms," Omega, Elsevier, vol. 106(C).
    20. Mohieddine Rahmouni, 2021. "Determinants of capacity utilisation by firms in developing countries: evidence from Tunisia," International Journal of Technological Learning, Innovation and Development, Inderscience Enterprises Ltd, vol. 13(3), pages 212-245.
    21. Ray, Subhash C. & Walden, John & Chen, Lei, 2021. "Economic measures of capacity utilization: A nonparametric short-run cost function analysis," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 293(1), pages 375-387.
    22. Chaudhuri, Kausik & Kumbhakar, Subal C. & Sundaram, Lavanya, 2016. "Estimation of firm performance from a MIMIC model," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 255(1), pages 298-307.
    23. Fukuyama, Hirofumi & Liu, Hui-hui & Song, Yao-yao & Yang, Guo-liang, 2021. "Measuring the capacity utilization of the 48 largest iron and steel enterprises in China," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 288(2), pages 648-665.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Yao-yao Song & Xian-tong Ren & Guo-liang Yang, 2023. "Capacity utilization change over time," Journal of Productivity Analysis, Springer, vol. 59(1), pages 61-78, February.
    2. Zhuo-wan Liu & Tomas Balezentis & Yao-yao Song & Guo-liang Yang, 2019. "Estimating Capacity Utilization of Chinese State Farms," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(18), pages 1-29, September.
    3. Yang, Guo-liang & Fukuyama, Hirofumi & Song, Yao-yao, 2019. "Estimating capacity utilization of Chinese manufacturing industries," Socio-Economic Planning Sciences, Elsevier, vol. 67(C), pages 94-110.
    4. Dale Squires & Kathleen Segerson, 2022. "Capacity and Capacity Utilization in Production Economics," Springer Books, in: Subhash C. Ray & Robert G. Chambers & Subal C. Kumbhakar (ed.), Handbook of Production Economics, chapter 24, pages 1001-1037, Springer.
    5. Bruno De Borger & Kristiaan Kerstens & Diego Prior & Ignace Van de Woestyne, 2013. "Static efficiency decompositions and capacity utilization: integrating economic and technical capacity notions," Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 45(24), pages 3529-3529, August.
    6. Yang, Guo-liang & Fukuyama, Hirofumi, 2018. "Measuring the Chinese regional production potential using a generalized capacity utilization indicator," Omega, Elsevier, vol. 76(C), pages 112-127.
    7. Mohieddine Rahmouni, 2021. "Determinants of capacity utilisation by firms in developing countries: evidence from Tunisia," International Journal of Technological Learning, Innovation and Development, Inderscience Enterprises Ltd, vol. 13(3), pages 212-245.
    8. Pascoe, Sean & Tingley, Diana, 2006. "Economic capacity estimation in fisheries: A non-parametric ray approach," Resource and Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 28(2), pages 124-138, May.
    9. Fukuyama, Hirofumi & Liu, Hui-hui & Song, Yao-yao & Yang, Guo-liang, 2021. "Measuring the capacity utilization of the 48 largest iron and steel enterprises in China," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 288(2), pages 648-665.
    10. Ray, Subhash C. & Walden, John & Chen, Lei, 2021. "Economic measures of capacity utilization: A nonparametric short-run cost function analysis," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 293(1), pages 375-387.
    11. Briec, Walter & Kerstens, Kristiaan & Prior, Diego & Van de Woestyne, Ignace, 2010. "Tangency capacity notions based upon the profit and cost functions: A non-parametric approach and a general comparison," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 27(5), pages 1156-1166, September.
    12. Sahoo, Biresh K. & Tone, Kaoru, 2009. "Decomposing capacity utilization in data envelopment analysis: An application to banks in India," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 195(2), pages 575-594, June.
    13. Kerstens, Kristiaan & Sadeghi, Jafar & Van de Woestyne, Ignace, 2019. "Convex and nonconvex input-oriented technical and economic capacity measures: An empirical comparison," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 276(2), pages 699-709.
    14. Fukuyama, Hirofumi & Song, Yao-yao & Ren, Xian-tong & Yang, Guo-liang, 2022. "Using a novel DEA-based model to investigate capacity utilization of Chinese firms," Omega, Elsevier, vol. 106(C).
    15. E. Grifell-Tatjé & C. Lovell, 2014. "Productivity, price recovery, capacity constraints and their financial consequences," Journal of Productivity Analysis, Springer, vol. 41(1), pages 3-17, February.
    16. Giovanni Cesaroni & Kristiaan Kerstens & Ignace Van de Woestyne, 2017. "A New Input-Oriented Plant Capacity Notion: Definition and Empirical Comparison," Pacific Economic Review, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 22(4), pages 720-739, October.
    17. Ya Wang & Jiaofeng Pan & Ruimin Pei & Guoliang Yang & Bowen Yi, 2020. "A Framework for Assessing Green Capacity Utilization Considering CO 2 Emissions in China’s High-Tech Manufacturing Industry," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(11), pages 1-25, May.
    18. Walter Briec & Kristiaan Kerstens & Diego Prior, 2009. "Tangency Capacity Notions Based upon the Pro?t and Cost Functions: A Non-Parametric Approach and a Comparison," Working Papers 2009-ECO-05, IESEG School of Management.
    19. Chen, Zhenling & Zhang, Xiaoling & Ni, Guohua, 2020. "Decomposing capacity utilization under carbon dioxide emissions reduction constraints in data envelopment analysis: An application to Chinese regions," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 139(C).
    20. Kristiaan Kerstens & Jafar Sadeghi & Ignace Van de Woestyne, 2019. "Plant Capacity and Attainability: Exploration and Remedies," Operations Research, INFORMS, vol. 67(4), pages 1135-1149, July.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Efficient output; Most productive scale size; Data envelopment analysis;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • C61 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Mathematical Methods; Programming Models; Mathematical and Simulation Modeling - - - Optimization Techniques; Programming Models; Dynamic Analysis
    • L25 - Industrial Organization - - Firm Objectives, Organization, and Behavior - - - Firm Performance
    • D24 - Microeconomics - - Production and Organizations - - - Production; Cost; Capital; Capital, Total Factor, and Multifactor Productivity; Capacity

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:ejores:v:245:y:2015:i:2:p:602-611. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/locate/eor .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.