Empirical studies on efficiency in urban railways in Japan: Evaluation of relative performance and the determinants of persistent and transient efficiency

Research Project

Project/Area Number	18K12770
Research Category	Grant-in-Aid for Early-Career Scientists
Allocation Type	Multi-year Fund
Review Section	Basic Section 07040:Economic policy-related
Research Institution	Osaka University
Principal Investigator	Song Yeonjung 大阪大学, 経済学研究科, 助教 (70803203)
Project Period (FY)	2018-04-01 – 2020-03-31
Project Status	Completed (Fiscal Year 2019)
Budget Amount *help	¥1,820,000 (Direct Cost: ¥1,400,000、Indirect Cost: ¥420,000) Fiscal Year 2019: ¥650,000 (Direct Cost: ¥500,000、Indirect Cost: ¥150,000) Fiscal Year 2018: ¥1,170,000 (Direct Cost: ¥900,000、Indirect Cost: ¥270,000)
Keywords	Urban railway / SFA / Persistent efficiency / Transient efficiency / technical efficiency / railway ownership / system type / Firm heterogeneity / urban rail system / efficiency / railway policy
Outline of Final Research Achievements	This research aims to evaluate efficiency of urban rail system in Japan and to provide implications by estimating the model of stochastic production frontier analysis, which disentangles firm effects from persistent and transient inefficiency. In particular, this research identifies the effects influencing the efficiency by focusing on an ownership and system type as well as management strategies. We consider the efficiency as the service effectiveness indicating how the operators deliver produced service to passengers efficiently. The results show that persistent inefficiency related to the firm's fixed characteristics is likely to dominate the operators technical inefficiency. Mostly, major private operators and overground system tend to perform well comparatively and it might be related to their strong motivation towards the market. In addition, the operator's temporary mistake in decision making or resource allocation barely influence the differences among the operators.
Academic Significance and Societal Importance of the Research Achievements	本研究の特徴は、大都市鉄道事業者の効率性に影響を与える要因を、持続的要因と一時的要因の2つの観点から考えたことと、サービスの生産と費用の側面でその影響を評価したことである。本研究で主に用いられた確率的フロンティア分析は、交通分野ではなく、公益事業分野で広く用いられ、同じ事業を行っている事業者間のパフォーマンスを相対的に評価できる手法である。したがって、類似な事業環境の元で競争している鉄道事業者を評価できる客観的な基準を提示し、そして、その効率性に影響を与える要因について具体的に考えることによって、都市鉄道政策について示唆点が得られる意義があると考えられる。