Analysing the determinants of Lithuanian family farm performance: a double bootstrap inference

2014-05-07
Analysing the determinants of Lithuanian family farm performance: a double bootstrap inference

Abstract. The efficiency analysis often involves the second stage analysis which enables to identify certain drivers of efficiency. However, suchlike inference is problematic due to the nature of the frontier measures. This paper employed the double bootstrap procedure (Simar, Wilson, 2007) to analyse the determinants of the efficiency in Lithuanian family farms. The double bootstrap method was employed to estimate the efficiency scores by the means of the data envelopment analysis and to regress them on the explanatory variables. The analysis was based on the farm-level data from the Farm Accountancy Data Network. Specifically, the second stage analysis included the variables of time, farm size, asset input, specialisation, and subsidy rate. The results did indicate that the period of 2004-2009 was generally associated with an increase in efficiency. Furthermore, larger farms appeared to be more efficient. Even though livestock farming has been declining in Lithuania, the findings of the paper implied that the latter type of farming exhibited higher efficiency in general.

Key words: family farms, efficiency, Lithuania, frontier, double bootstrap.

JEL code: C24, C44, C61, Q12.

Balezentis, T. 2014. Analysing the determinants of Lithuanian family farm performance: a double bootstrap inference, Economic Science for Rural Development 34:66-74. eISSN 2255-9930, ISSN 1691-3078, ISBN 978-9934-8466-1-8 [AGRIS, EBSCO, Straipsnis konferencijos medžiagoje ISI Proceedings].

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