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Exploring Horizontal Mergers in Swedish District Courts Using Convex and Nonconvex Technologies: Usefulness of a Conservative Approach

Author

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  • Xiaoqing Chen

    (School of Economics and Management, Southeast University, Nanjing, Jiangsu, China, and IESEG School of Management, 3 rue de la Digue, F-59000 Lille, France)

  • Kristiaan Kerstens

    (Univ. Lille, CNRS, IESEG School of Management, UMR 9221 - LEM - Lille Economie Management, F-59000 Lille, France)

  • Qingyuan Zhu

    (Nanjing University of Aeronautics & Astronautics, College of Economics and Management, Nanjing, China)

Abstract

Swedish district courts have undergone a major mergers and acquisitions program between 2000 and 2010 to centralize activity in larger and fewer courts. The purpose of this contribution is to conduct an efficiency analysis of these courts to identify the eventual efficiency gains. Distinguishing mainly between technical and scale efficiency and determining the returns to scale of individual observations, we try to find the potential rationales behind this merger wave. We are to the best of our knowledge the first to combine traditional convex with nonconvex nonparametric frontier methods to calculate efficiency before and after the mergers. It turns out that the nonconvex methods provide a more cogent ex post explanation of this merger wave.

Suggested Citation

  • Xiaoqing Chen & Kristiaan Kerstens & Qingyuan Zhu, 2021. "Exploring Horizontal Mergers in Swedish District Courts Using Convex and Nonconvex Technologies: Usefulness of a Conservative Approach," Working Papers 2021-EQM-05, IESEG School of Management.
    • Handle: RePEc:ies:wpaper:e202107
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    Cited by:

    1. Antonio Peyrache & Angelo Zago, 2024. "The inefficiency of courts of justice: industry structure, capacity and misallocation," Journal of Productivity Analysis, Springer, vol. 62(2), pages 217-238, October.
    2. Chen, Xiaoqing & Kerstens, Kristiaan & Tsionas, Mike, 2024. "Does productivity change at all in Swedish district courts? Empirical analysis focusing on horizontal mergers," Socio-Economic Planning Sciences, Elsevier, vol. 91(C).
    3. Kristiaan KERSTENS & Xiaoqing CHEN, 2022. "Evaluating Horizontal Mergers in Swedish District Courts Using Plant Capacity Concepts: With a Focus on Nonconvexity," Working Papers 2022-EQM-02, IESEG School of Management.

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    Keywords

    Horizontal merger; Technical efficiency; Scale efficiency; Data Envelopment Analysis; Free Disposal Hull;
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