Port efficiency and privatization: Bayesian approach

초록

So far studies investigating the relationship between port ownership structure and port efficiency have produced mixed results. This paper therefore contributes to the empirical literature by reinvestigating the impact of port privatization on port efficiency based a sample data drawn from the world’s 58 major ports, using the Bayesian approach. Moreover, it tries to compare the results of the Bayesian approach with the classical approach to see if there are any differences in their results. Ownership per se does not affect port efficiency based on our empirical study. If we exclude pure public ports, the efficiency estimates from both Bayesian and econometric studies are similar to those of Tongzon and Heng (2005) which revealed an inverted U-shaped curve. These findings imply that there may exist other more important factors determining port efficiency than privatization. It is therefore possible for a port to improve its efficiency and performance without necessarily resorting to privatization policy.

키워드