Estimating Heterogeneous Production in Fisheries

Stochastic production frontier models are used extensively in the agricultural and resource economics literature to estimate production functions and technical efficiency, as well as to guide policy. Traditionally these models assume that each agent’s production can be specified as a representative,...

Full description

Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Kurt E. Schnier, Christopher M. Anderson, William C. Horrace
Other Authors: The Pennsylvania State University CiteSeerX Archives
Format: Text
Language:English
Subjects:
Online Access:http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/summary?doi=10.1.1.528.2430
http://faculty.maxwell.syr.edu/whorrace/workingpapers/FINAL_AJAE_5084.pdf
Description
Summary:Stochastic production frontier models are used extensively in the agricultural and resource economics literature to estimate production functions and technical efficiency, as well as to guide policy. Traditionally these models assume that each agent’s production can be specified as a representative, homogeneous function. This paper proposes the synthesis of a latent class regression and an agricultural production frontier model to estimate technical efficiency while allowing for the possibility of production heterogeneity. We use this model to estimate a latent class production function and efficiency measures for vessels in the Northeast Atlantic herring fishery. Our results suggest that traditional measures of technical efficiency may be incorrect, if heterogeneity of agricultural production exists.