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Economies of scale and cost efficiency in the postal services: empirical evidence from Switzerland

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  • Massimo Filippini
  • Marika Zola
Abstract
This paper investigates the scale and cost efficiency of the Swiss Post using an econometric approach. Our empirical analysis considers a sample of postal offices operating in the Italian-speaking part of Switzerland. The paper considers estimation of a log-log cost function employing a data set for the year 2001 with information on 47 small local post offices. The empirical evidence indicates the existence of economies of scale. Further, the outcome of this analysis shows that approximately 50% of the postal offices operate close to the regional standard for efficiency.

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  • Massimo Filippini & Marika Zola, 2005. "Economies of scale and cost efficiency in the postal services: empirical evidence from Switzerland," Applied Economics Letters, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 12(7), pages 437-441.
    • Handle: RePEc:taf:apeclt:v:12:y:2005:i:7:p:437-441
    DOI: 10.1080/13504850500109709
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    6. Mehdi Farsi & Massimo Filippini, 2004. "Regulation and Measuring Cost-Efficiency with Panel Data Models: Application to Electricity Distribution Utilities," Review of Industrial Organization, Springer;The Industrial Organization Society, vol. 25(1), pages 1-19, August.
    7. Jondrow, James & Knox Lovell, C. A. & Materov, Ivan S. & Schmidt, Peter, 1982. "On the estimation of technical inefficiency in the stochastic frontier production function model," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 19(2-3), pages 233-238, August.
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    Cited by:

    1. Christian Jaag & Martin Koller & Urs Trinkner, 2009. "Calculating the Cost of the Universal Service Obligation: The Need for a Global Approach," Chapters, in: Michael A. Crew & Paul R. Kleindorfer (ed.), Progress in the Competitive Agenda in the Postal and Delivery Sector, chapter 8, Edward Elgar Publishing.
    2. Frank Asche & Subal C. Kumbhakar & Ragnar Tveterås, 2007. "Testing cost vs. profit function," Applied Economics Letters, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 14(10), pages 715-718.
    3. Massimo Filippini & Martin Koller & Urs Trinkner, 2010. "Do opening hours and unobserved heterogeneity affect economies of scale and scope in postal outlets?," Quaderni della facoltà di Scienze economiche dell'Università di Lugano 1007, USI Università della Svizzera italiana.
    4. Cho, Seong-Hoon & Kim, Taeyoung & Larson, Eric R. & Armsworth, Paul R., 2014. "Economies of Scale in Costs of Land Acquisition for Nature Conservation," 2014 Annual Meeting, July 27-29, 2014, Minneapolis, Minnesota 177182, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association.
    5. Bender, Christian M. & Kalevi Dieke, Alex & Junk, Petra & Niederprüm, Antonia, 2014. "Produktive Effizienz von Postdienstleistern," WIK Discussion Papers 395, WIK Wissenschaftliches Institut für Infrastruktur und Kommunikationsdienste GmbH.
    6. Cho, Seong-Hoon & Kim, Taeyoung & Larson, Eric R. & Armsworth, Paul R., 2017. "Economies of scale in forestland acquisition costs for nature conservation," Forest Policy and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 75(C), pages 73-82.
    7. Blagojević, Mladenka & Ralević, Predrag & Šarac, Dragana, 2020. "An integrated approach to analysing the cost efficiency of postal networks," Utilities Policy, Elsevier, vol. 62(C).
    8. Tochkov, Kiril, 2015. "The efficiency of postal services in the age of market liberalization and the internet: Evidence from Central and Eastern Europe," Utilities Policy, Elsevier, vol. 36(C), pages 35-42.
    9. Massimo Filippini & Martin Koller, 2012. "Cost Efficiency Measurement in Postal Delivery Networks," Quaderni della facoltà di Scienze economiche dell'Università di Lugano 1206, USI Università della Svizzera italiana.

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