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Regulation and cost efficiency in the European railways industry

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  • Miguel Urdánoz
  • Catherine Vibes

Abstract

The objective of this article is to analyze European railways’ incentives to improve efficiency in the recent liberalization context. We build and estimate a structural model accounting for regulatory pressures faced by the firms. Our model includes demand equations, capacity constraints and a cost function, in which are specified an exogenous technical efficiency component and an endogenous cost reducing effort parameter. We find a significant positive effect of implementing the reforms on cost reducing activities, and a smaller cost of effort for firms choosing a more advanced separation of infrastructure from operation activities. Copyright Springer Science+Business Media, LLC 2013

Suggested Citation

  • Miguel Urdánoz & Catherine Vibes, 2013. "Regulation and cost efficiency in the European railways industry," Journal of Productivity Analysis, Springer, vol. 39(3), pages 217-230, June.
    • Handle: RePEc:kap:jproda:v:39:y:2013:i:3:p:217-230
    DOI: 10.1007/s11123-012-0284-0
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Gagnepain, Philippe & Marin, Pedro L, 2006. "Regulation and Incentives in European Aviation," Journal of Law and Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 49(1), pages 229-248, April.
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    7. Gathon, H. -J. & Pestieau, P., 1995. "Decomposing efficiency into its managerial and its regulatory components: The case of European railways," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 80(3), pages 500-507, February.
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    9. Jondrow, James & Knox Lovell, C. A. & Materov, Ivan S. & Schmidt, Peter, 1982. "On the estimation of technical inefficiency in the stochastic frontier production function model," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 19(2-3), pages 233-238, August.
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    Cited by:

    1. Obeng, K., 2019. "Public transit cost efficiency studies: The impact of non-contracting regulations," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 126(C), pages 247-258.
    2. Link, Heike, 2019. "The impact of including service quality into efficiency analysis: The case of franchising regional rail passenger serves in Germany," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 119(C), pages 284-300.
    3. Obeng, K. & Sakano, R. & Naanwaab, C., 2016. "Understanding overall output efficiency in public transit systems: The roles of input regulations, perceived budget and input subsidies," Transportation Research Part E: Logistics and Transportation Review, Elsevier, vol. 89(C), pages 133-150.
    4. Massimo Geloso Grosso & Hildegunn Kyvik Nordås & Asako Ueno & Frédéric Gonzales & Iza Lejárraga & Sébastien Miroudot & Dorothée Rouzet, 2014. "Services Trade Restrictiveness Index (STRI): Transport and Courier Services," OECD Trade Policy Papers 176, OECD Publishing.
    5. Bhatia, Vinod & Sharma, Seema, 2021. "Expense based performance analysis and resource rationalization: Case of Indian Railways," Socio-Economic Planning Sciences, Elsevier, vol. 76(C).

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Cost efficiency; Asymmetric information; Network industries; Passenger and freight traffic; L92; L43; L51; C23;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • L92 - Industrial Organization - - Industry Studies: Transportation and Utilities - - - Railroads and Other Surface Transportation
    • L43 - Industrial Organization - - Antitrust Issues and Policies - - - Legal Monopolies and Regulation or Deregulation
    • L51 - Industrial Organization - - Regulation and Industrial Policy - - - Economics of Regulation
    • C23 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Single Equation Models; Single Variables - - - Models with Panel Data; Spatio-temporal Models

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