Determinants of Firm-level Technical Efficiency: Evidence Using Stochastic Frontier Approach

By estimating stochastic frontiers we investigate the determinants and dynamics of firm efficiency. We use a representative sample of Estonian firms for the period 1993-1999 – and are able to address problems that plague much previous work, such as the endogeneity of ownership. Our main findings are that: (i) foreign ownership increases technical efficiency; (ii) firm size and higher labor quality enhance efficiency, while soft budget constraints adversely affect efficiency; (iv) Estonian firms operate under constants returns to scale; (v) the percentage of firms operating at high levels of efficiency increases over time. As such our findings provide support for hypotheses that a firm’s ownership structure and its characteristics such as firm size, labor quality, soft budget constraints and time of privatization are important for its technical efficiency.