Index Numbers: Essays in Honour of Sten Malmquist

Professor Sten Malmquist constructed the Malmquist quantity index and in doing so developed a distance function defined on a consumption space. This function is the consumer analog to the Shephard input distance function of producers and is used in ratio form to define the quantity index. This volume contains new contributions based on Malmquist's work nearly 50 years ago and provides modern perspectives on the value of this research.

Inhalt
ESSAY 1 Distance Functions In Consumer and Producer Theory.- 1.1 Introduction.- 1.2 Distance-Function Representations of Technologies or Preference Orderings.- 1.3 Distance Functions as Technical Efficiency Indexes.- 1.4 Duality and the Distance function.- 1.5 Distance Functions and Index Numbers.- 1.6 Concluding Remarks.- ESSAY 2 Input Price, Quantity, and Productivity Indexes For A Revenue-Contrained Firm.- 2.1 Introduction.- 2.2 Primal and Dual Direct Representations of the Technology.- 2.3 The Indirect Input Distance Function, Cost Function, and Efficiency Measures.- 2.4 The Indirect Input Price Index and Quantity Index.- 2.5 The Indirect Input Based Productivity Indexes.- 2.6 Conclusion.- ESSAY 3 Malmquist Productivity Indexes: A Survey of Theory and Practice.- 3.1 Introduction.- 3.2 Theory.- 3.3 Empirical Applications.- 3.4 Concluding Remarks.- ESSAY 4 Implementing The Malmquist Productivity Index: The Case of The National Corporation of Swedish Pharmacies.- 4.1 Introduction.- 4.2 Implementation of Malmquist Productivity Indexes.- 4.3 Performance Indicators, Incentives, and Malmquist Indexes.- 4.4 Concluding Remarks.- ESSAY 5 Malmquist Productivity Indexes: An Empirical Comparison.- 5.1 Introduction.- 5.2 The Malmquist Indexes.- 5.3 Data.- 5.4 Empirical Results.- 5.5 Quo Vadis, Malmquist?.- ESSAY 6 Input and Output Indicators.- 6.1 Introduction.- 6.2 Notation, Assumptions, and Definitions.- 6.3 Previous Work on Input and Output Indexes.- 6.4 Exponential Input and Output Indicators.- 6.5 Exact Measures of the Luenberger Exponential Input and Output Indicators.- 6.6 Transitivity of Input and Output Indicators.- 6.7 Conclusion.- Appendix Contributors.