| Responsible Department | Institute of Food and Resource Economics | ||||||||||||
| Earliest Possible Year | MSc. 1 year to MSc. 2 year | ||||||||||||
| Duration | One block | ||||||||||||
| Credits | 7.5 (ECTS) | ||||||||||||
| Level of Course | MSc | ||||||||||||
| Examination | Final Examination written examination All aids allowed Description of Examination: Assessment of one individual project based on a given set of data Weight: 100% 7-point scale, no second examiner | ||||||||||||
| Requirement for Attending Exam | The student has to carry out a critical summary and it has to be apporved; a written thorough investigation of a journal article or a working paper (methodologically, professionally and relevance) | ||||||||||||
| Block Placement | Block 2 Week Structure: C | ||||||||||||
| Language of Instruction | English | ||||||||||||
| Optional Prerequisites | 290055 Micro Economics 290058 The Economics of Food Production | ||||||||||||
| Restrictions | None | ||||||||||||
| Course Content | |||||||||||||
| Subjects in keywords o Efficiency analysis o DEA, statistical uncertainty in DEA o Stochastic frontier analysis (SFA) o Distance functions o Production functions o Meger of firms and units An applied course with focus on practical and empirical applications based on a theoretical foundation. The free software R is used for the empirical calculations; for students new to R an introduction to the relevant parts of R is given. Introduction to various packages is given in the exercises. | |||||||||||||
| Teaching and learning Methods | |||||||||||||
| The course is based on lectures where main part of the course theme is presented. To ensure learning by the students this is followed by practical and empirical exercises individually and in groups under expert guidance. Most of the exercises will be done on a pc. | |||||||||||||
| Learning Outcome | |||||||||||||
| Evaluation of firms, producers, farms, or other units can be done by comparing key indicators as contribution margin (gross margin), contribution margin per unit and various forms of productivity. The course introduces several methods for efficiency analysis that goes further; some of the methods are often referred to as benchmark methods. The course is of relevance for both consulting and decision making for producers and for analysis of branch of industries. The reason for the course is that politicians, business organizations, government administration, financial institutions, EU, and other national and international organizations have a need for knowledge of how contemplated policy in (agricultural) production and market conditions can affect production, prices, income, and resource utilization in agriculture as well as in other industries. The same knowledge is relevant in consulting for the single firm by comparing with other firms, best practice, including the influence and importance of uncertainty in data and in results. Students, after having carried through the course, will have special qualification to make a contribution to such knowledge. Knowledge of production economical facts is also of importance in economic consulting of farmers. After completing the course the student should be able to: Knowledge: 1. Describe the use of mathematical models for efficiency analysis on specific applications 2. Have knowledge of how the various assumptions influence the results. Skills: 3. Apply DEA on real data and real applications 4. Apply SFA on real data and real applications 5. Choose a relevant form for efficiency analysis 6. Evaluate different forms of efficiency analysis Competences: 7. Carry out DEA and SFA in other subject areas 8. Put efficiency analysis and the use into perspective 9. Conduct efficiency analysis under different assumptions. | |||||||||||||
| Course Literature | |||||||||||||
| Lecture notes and journal articles Peter Bogetoft and Lars Otto: Efficiency and technology: Applied production economics. Manuscript. | |||||||||||||
| Course Coordinator | |||||||||||||
| Lars Otto, lo@foi.dk, Institute of Food and Resource Economics/Production and Technology Unit, Phone: 353-36886 | |||||||||||||
| Study Board | |||||||||||||
| Study Committee NSN | |||||||||||||
| Work Load | |||||||||||||
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