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Assignment at the Frontier: Identifying the Frontier Structural Function and Bounding Mean Deviations

Dan Ben-Moshe, David Genesove

arXiv 28 Apr 2025 · Econometrics · 1 citations (OpenAlex)

arXiv:2504.19832 · PDF · DOI · OpenAlex · Extracted main text

Abstract

This paper analyzes a model in which an outcome equals a frontier function of inputs minus a nonnegative unobserved deviation. We allow the distribution of the deviation to depend on inputs. If zero lies in the support of the deviation given inputs -- an assumption we term assignment at the frontier -- then the frontier is identified by the supremum of the outcome at those inputs, obviating the need for instrumental variables. We then estimate the frontier, allowing for random error whose distribution may also depend on inputs. Finally, we derive a lower bound on the mean deviation, using only variance and skewness, that is robust to a scarcity of data near the frontier. We apply our methods to estimate a firm-level frontier production function and mean inefficiency.

Citation extraction

59
references
71
in-text mentions
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distinct cited
2
self-citations
13,930
main-text words

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Most heavily cited references

The works this paper leans on most, across its whole bibliography — not restricted to papers in our corpus. Ranked by composite intensity, which combines how often a work is mentioned, how many sections mention it, and how much of that falls in the main text rather than the appendix.

ReferenceIntensityMentionsSectionsMain text
1Olley, G Steven and Pakes, Ariel (1996) The Dynamics of Productivity in the Telecommunications Equipment Industry0.73732100%
2Parmeter, Christopher F. and Simar, Léopold and Van Keilegom, Ingrid… (2024) Inference in the nonparametric stochastic frontier model0.73732100%
3Aigner, Dennis and Lovell, CA Knox and Schmidt, Peter (1977) Formulation and estimation of stochastic frontier production function models0.64422100%
4Fan, Jianqing and Yao, Qiwei (1998) Efficient estimation of conditional variance functions in stochastic regression0.64422100%
5Gandhi, Amit and Navarro, Salvador and Rivers, David A (2020) On the identification of gross output production functions0.64422100%
6Hall, Peter and Carroll, Raymond J (1989) Variance function estimation in regression: the effect of estimating the mean0.64422100%
7Levinsohn, James and Petrin, Amil (2003) Estimating production functions using inputs to control for unobservables0.64422100%
8Olson, Jerome A and Schmidt, Peter and Waldman, Donald M (1980) A Monte Carlo study of estimators of stochastic frontier production functions0.64422100%
9Ben-Moshe, Dan and Genesove, David (2026) Unbiased Estimation of Central Moments in Unbalanced Two- and Three-Level Models self0.5112250%
10Ben-Moshe, Dan and Genesove, David (2026) Regulation and frontier housing supply self0.5112250%

Showing the top 10 of 59 scored citations.

Cited by, within the corpus

arXiv econ.EM papers that cite this one, ranked by how heavily they lean on it.

Citing paperIntensityMentionsSections
1Unbiased Estimation of Central Moments in Unbalanced Two- and Three-Level Models0.40511