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Relative Performance of U.S. and Japanese Electricity Distribution: An Application of Stochastic Frontier Analysis

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An Erratum to this article was published on 01 January 2003

Abstract

This paper estimates and compares the technical efficiency of the U.S. and Japanese electric utilities during the period 1982–1997 using a stochastic frontier analysis. Our focus is on electricity distribution services of major investor-owned utilities. We employ translog input distance functions to represent the technology of electricity distribution. Empirical results show that after controlling for environmental variables, on average, the Japanese electric utilities are more efficient. It is shown, however, that some U.S. utilities are as efficient as the most efficient Japanese utilities, indicating that the estimated frontier is not necessarily dominated by Japanese utilities.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Socio-economic Research Center, Central Research Institute of Electric Power Industry, 1-6-1 Ohtemachi, Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo, 100-8126, Japan

    Toru Hattori

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  1. Toru Hattori
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An erratum to this article can be found at http://dx.doi.org/10.1023/A:1021881716323

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Hattori, T. Relative Performance of U.S. and Japanese Electricity Distribution: An Application of Stochastic Frontier Analysis. Journal of Productivity Analysis 18, 269–284 (2002). https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1020695709797

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