Technical efficiency and productivity measurement of Spanish suburban railways

Using a new database we measure the technical efficiency in the provision of suburban railway services in different Spanish cities during the period 2000-2004. The panel structure of the data also makes it possible to measure total factor productivity changes and decompose them into technical, efficiency and scale components. The results show the important contribution that technical change has had for productivity improvements. These results contribute to the debate about the effects of regulatory reform of railway services in Europe at suburban level. JEL codes: D24; L51, L92; R48

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