Technical efficiency in farming: a meta-regression analysis Boris E. Bravo-Ureta Æ Daniel Solı´s Æ Vı´ctor H. Moreira Lo ´ pez Æ Jose ´ F. Maripani Æ Abdourahmane Thiam Æ Teodoro Rivas Published online: 19 December 2006 Ó Springer Science+Business Media, LLC 2006 Abstract A meta-regression analysis including 167 farm level technical efficiency (TE) studies of develop- ing and developed countries was undertaken. The econometric results suggest that stochastic frontier models generate lower mean TE (MTE) estimates than non-parametric deterministic models, while parametric deterministic frontier models yield lower estimates than the stochastic approach. The primal approach is the most common technological representation. In addition, frontier models based on cross-sectional data produce lower estimates than those based on panel data whereas the relationship between functional form and MTE is inconclusive. On average, studies for animal production show a higher MTE than crop farming. The results also suggest that the studies for countries in Western Europe and Oceania present, on average, the highest levels of MTE among all regions after accounting for various methodological features. In contrast, studies for Eastern European countries exhibit the lowest estimate followed by those from Asian, African, Latin American, and North American countries. Additional analysis reveals that MTEs are positively and significantly related to the average income of the countries in the data set but this pattern is broken by the upper middle income group which displays the lowest MTE. Keywords Meta-Regression  Frontier Models  Technical Efficiency  International Agriculture JEL Classifications Q12  D24 1 Introduction As is well established in the literature, productivity growth can be decomposed into technological change (TC) and technical efficiency (TE). This decomposition makes it possible to study the sources of productivity growth from different points of view (Nishimizu and Page 1982). Specifically, TE can be interpreted as a relative measure of managerial ability for a given B. E. Bravo-Ureta (&) Office of International Affairs, University of Connecticut, 843 Bolton Road, U-1182, Storrs, CT 06269-1182, USA e-mail: boris.bravoureta@uconn.edu B. E. Bravo-Ureta  J. F. Maripani Department of Agricultural Resource Economics, University of Connecticut, Storrs, CT, USA D. Solı´s Division of Marine Affairs and Policy, Rosenstiel School of Marine and Atmospheric Science, University of Miami, 4600 Rickenbacker Causeway, Miami, FL 33149, USA e-mail: d.solis@miami.edu V. H. Moreira Lo ´ pez Department of Agricultural Economics, University Austral de Chile, Valdivia, Chile e-mail: vmoreira@uach.cl J. F. Maripani Department of Business and Economics, University of Magallanes, Punta Arenas, Chile e-mail: jose.maripani@umag.cl A. Thiam Ecole Nationale d’Economie Applique ´ e, Dakar, Senegal e-mail: abdourahmane_thiam@yahoo.com T. Rivas Department of Agricultural Policies in the Studies and Agrarian Policies Bureau, Ministry of Agriculture, Santiago, Chile e-mail: teorivas@tie.cl J Prod Anal (2007) 27:57–72 DOI 10.1007/s11123-006-0025-3 123