Keyword

Retail sector, productivity growth, efficiency changes, technical progress, panel data

Abstract

This paper analyzes the efficiency and productivity growth of the Spanish retail sector from an aggregate sectoral perspective from 1995 to 2004. The primary interest is on individual comparisons within the Spanish retail sector. For this purpose, DEA methodology is proposed. To test this proposal, a study was carried out using both cross-sectional and panel data. The results obtained in this study confirm that efficiency declined from 1995 to 2004. But, when the role of time is considered, the behavior of the efficiency distribution is different. Productivity growth increased at an average rate of 0.8% per annum over the entire period in the retail sector and, the determinants of the variation in productivity growth will be analyzed here.


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