earticle

영어

Distance function introduced by Shephard (1953) can be used to describe multi-inputs multi-outputs production technologies without price information. Estimated distance functions have been used for analyzing the economies of scale, the substitutability of inputs and outputs, the shadow prices of inputs and outputs, the tehcnical and allocative efficiencies of production organizations. Distance functions can be estimated using several techniques which include corrected ordinary least squares (COLS), stochastic frontier analysis (SFA), linear programming model (LPM), and quadratic programming model (QPM). In this paper we compared the merits and demerits of the four distance function estimation methods from a theoretical standpoint. Also we applied the estimation methods to the real data set used in some previous studies and we observed a guideline which allow researchers to select an appropriate distance function estimation method.