Data and Code for "A Ray-Based Input Distance Function to Model Zero-Valued Output Quantities: Derivation and an Empirical Application"

This data and code archive provides all the data and code for replicating the empirical analysis that is presented in the journal article "A Ray-Based Input Distance Function to Model Zero-Valued Output Quantities: Derivation and an Empirical Application" authored by Juan José Price and Arne Henningsen and published in the Journal of Productivity Analysis (DOI: 10.1007/s11123-023-00684-1).

We conducted the empirical analysis with the "R" statistical software (version 4.3.0) using the add-on packages "combinat" (version 0.0.8), "miscTools" (version 0.6.28), "quadprog" (version 1.5.8), sfaR (version 1.0.0), stargazer (version 5.2.3), and "xtable" (version 1.8.4) that are available at CRAN. We created the R package "micEconDistRay" that provides the functions for empirical analyses with ray-based input distance functions that we developed for the above-mentioned paper. Also this R package is available at CRAN (https://cran.r-project.org/package=micEconDistRay).

This replication package contains the following files and folders:

• README
  This file
• MuseumsDk.csv
  The original data obtained from the Danish Ministry of Culture and from Statistics Denmark. It includes the following variables:
  • museum: Name of the museum. 
  • type: Type of museum (Kulturhistorisk museum = cultural history museum; Kunstmuseer = arts museum; Naturhistorisk museum = natural history museum; Blandet museum = mixed museum).
  • munic: Municipality, in which the museum is located.
  • yr: Year of the observation.
  • units: Number of visit sites.
  • resp: Whether or not the museum has special responsibilities (0 = no special responsibilities; 1 = at least one special responsibility).
  • vis: Number of (physical) visitors.
  • aarc: Number of articles published (archeology).
  • ach: Number of articles published (cultural history).
  • aah: Number of articles published (art history).
  • anh: Number of articles published (natural history).
  • exh: Number of temporary exhibitions.
  • edu: Number of primary school classes on educational visits to the museum.
  • ev: Number of events other than exhibitions.
  • ftesc: Scientific labor (full-time equivalents).
  • ftensc: Non-scientific labor (full-time equivalents).
  • expProperty: Running and maintenance costs [1,000 DKK].
  • expCons: Conservation expenditure [1,000 DKK]. 
  • ipc: Consumer Price Index in Denmark (the value for year 2014 is set to 1).
• prepare_data.R
  This R script imports the data set MuseumsDk.csv, prepares it for the empirical analysis (e.g., removing unsuitable observations, preparing variables), and saves the resulting data set as DataPrepared.csv.
• DataPrepared.csv
  This data set is prepared and saved by the R script prepare_data.R. It is used for the empirical analysis.
• make_table_descriptive.R
  This R script imports the data set DataPrepared.csv and creates the LaTeX table /tables/table_descriptive.tex, which provides summary statistics of the variables that are used in the empirical analysis.
• IO_Ray.R
  This R script imports the data set DataPrepared.csv, estimates a ray-based Translog input distance functions with the 'optimal' ordering of outputs, imposes monotonicity on this distance function, creates the LaTeX table /tables/idfRes.tex that presents the estimated parameters of this function, and creates several figures in the folder /figures/ that illustrate the results.
• IO_Ray_ordering_outputs.R
  This R script imports the data set DataPrepared.csv, estimates a ray-based Translog input distance functions, imposes monotonicity for each of the 720 possible orderings of the outputs, and saves all the estimation results as (a huge) R object allOrderings.rds.
• allOrderings.rds (not included in the ZIP file, uploaded separately)
  This is a saved R object created by the R script IO_Ray_ordering_outputs.R that contains the estimated ray-based Translog input distance functions (with and without monotonicity imposed) for each of the 720 possible orderings.
• IO_Ray_model_averaging.R
  This R script loads the R object allOrderings.rds that contains the estimated ray-based Translog input distance functions for each of the 720 possible orderings, does model averaging, and creates several figures in the folder /figures/ that illustrate the results.
• /tables/
  This folder contains the two LaTeX tables table_descriptive.tex and idfRes.tex (created by R scripts make_table_descriptive.R and IO_Ray.R, respectively) that provide summary statistics of the data set and the estimated parameters (without and with monotonicity imposed) for the 'optimal' ordering of outputs.
• /figures/
  This folder contains 48 figures (created by the R scripts IO_Ray.R and IO_Ray_model_averaging.R) that illustrate the results obtained with the 'optimal' ordering of outputs and the model-averaged results and that compare these two sets of results.