Approaches to measuring technical efficiency on Philippine rice farms

This paper reviews three approaches to measuring technical efficiency and presents empirical results using various data sets on Philippine rice farms over the period 1970‐84. First, a production function is estimated using covariance analysis for panel data; second, cross‐section data are used to estimate a stochastic production frontier; and third, a stochastic production frontier is estimated again using panel data. Large ranges of efficiency from the first two methods and a much narrower range from the third are observed. Thus, efficiency measurement is sensitive to methodology, the data period and sample.