This article identifies different groups in a cost function framework of soccer clubs in the Spanish Football League First Division. In particular, we have clustered the sample— comprising data for seasons 1994/1995 to 2004/2005—into three groups. To do so, we have implemented a stochastic frontier latent class model, a procedure that also permits us to analyze the efficiency of the clubs with respect to their own frontiers. The results reveal that some of the clubs could improve their efficiency levels substantially.
Aigner, D.J., Lovell, C.A.K., & Schmidt, P. (1977). Formulation and estimation of stochastic frontier production function models. Journal of Econometrics, 6, 21-37.
2.
Ascari, G., & Gagnepain, P. (2006). Spanish football. Journal of Sports Economics, 7, 76-89.
3.
Ascari, G., & Gagnepain, P. (2007). Evaluating rent dissipation in the Spanish football industry. Journal of Sports Economics, 8, 468-490.
4.
Barros, C.P. (2003). Incentive regulation and efficiency in sports organisational training activities. Sport Management Review , 6, 33-52.
5.
Barros, C.P., & Leach, S. (2006a). Performance evaluation of the English Premier Football League with data envelopment analysis. Applied Economics , 38, 1449-1458.
6.
Barros, C.P., & Leach, S. (2006b). Analyzing the performance of the English Football League with an econometric frontier model. Journal of Sports Economics, 7, 391-409.
7.
Barros, C.P., & Leach, S. (2007). Technical efficiency in the English Football Association Premier League with a stochastic cost frontier. Applied Economics Letters, 14, 731-741.
8.
Barros, C.P., & Santos, A. (2003). Productivity in sports organisational training activities: A DEA study. European Journal of Sport Management Quarterly, 1, 46-65.
9.
Battese, G.E., & Corra, G.S. (1977). Estimation of a production frontier model: With application to the pastoral zone of Eastern Australia. Australian Journal of Agricultural Economics, 21, 169-179.
10.
Carmichael, F., Thomas, D., & Ward, R. (2001). Production and efficiency in association football . Journal of Sports Economics, 2, 228-243.
11.
Charnes, A., Cooper, W., Lewin, A., & Seiford, L. (1995). Data envelopment analysis: Theory, methodology and applications. Boston: Kluwer .
12.
Dawson, P., Dobson, S., & Gerrard, B. (2000a). Stochastic frontier and the temporal structure of managerial efficiency in English soccer. Journal of Sports Economics, 1, 341-362.
13.
Dawson, P., Dobson, S., & Gerrard, B. (2000b). Estimating coaching efficiency in professional team sports: Evidence from English Association Football. Scottish Journal of Political Economy, 47, 399-421.
14.
Espitia-Escuer, M., & García-Cebrian, L.I. (2004). Measuring the efficiency of Spanish First-Division soccer teams. Journal of Sports Economics, 5, 329-346.
15.
Fizel, J.L., & D'Itri, M.P. (1997). Managerial efficiency, managerial succession and organizational performance. Managerial and Decision Economics , 18, 295-308.
16.
García, J., & Rodríguez, P. (2002). The determinants of football match attendance revisited: Empirical evidence from the Spanish Football League. Journal of Sports Economics, 3, 18-38.
17.
Garcia-del-Barrio, P., & Pujol, F. (2007). Hidden monopsony rents in winner-take-all markets . Managerial and Decision Economics, 27, 1313-1327.
18.
Gerrard, B. (2001). A new approach to measuring player and team quality in professional team sports. European Sport Management Quarterly , 1, 219-233.
19.
Greene, W. (2001). New developments in the estimation of stochastic frontier models with panel data. Efficiency Series Paper 6/2001, Department of Economics, University of Oviedo.
20.
Greene, W. (2005). Reconsidering heterogeneity in panel data estimators of the stochastic frontier model. Journal of Econometrics , 126, 269-303.
21.
Greene, W. (2007). The econometric approach to efficiency analysis . In H. Fried, K. Lovell, & S. Schmidt (Eds.). The measurement of productive efficiency and productivity growth . New York: Oxford University Press .
22.
Haas, D.J. (2003a). Technical efficiency in the Major League Soccer . Journal of Sports Economics, 4, 203-215.
23.
Haas, D.J. (2003b). Productive efficiency of English football teams-A data envelopment approach. Managerial and Decision Economics , 24, 403-410.
24.
Hofler, R.A., & Payne, J.E. (1997). Measuring efficiency in the National Basketball Association. Economics Letters, 55, 293-299.
25.
Jondrow, J., Lovell, C.A.K., Materov, I., & Schmidt, P. (1982). On the estimation of technical inefficiency in the stochastic frontier production function model. Journal of Econometrics, 19, 233-238.
26.
Kahane, L.H. (2005). Production efficiency and discriminatory hiring practices in the National Hockey League: A stochastic frontier approach. Review of Industrial Organization, 27, 47-71.
27.
Kraft, E., Hofler, R., & Payne, J. (2006). Privatization, foreign bank entry and bank efficiency in Croatia: A form-flexible function stochastic cost frontier analysis. Applied Economics, 38, 2077-2088.
28.
Kumbhakar, S., & Lovell, K. (2000). Stochastic frontier analysis. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.
29.
Meeusen, W., & van den Broeck, J. (1977). Efficiency estimation from a Cobb-Douglas production function with composed error. International Economic Review, 18, 435-444.
30.
Orea, L., & Kumbhakar, S. (2004). Efficiency measurement using stochastic frontier latent class model. Empirical Economics, 29, 169-183.
31.
Porter, P., & Scully, G.W. (1982). Measuring managerial efficiency: The case of baseball . Southern Economic Journal, 48, 642-650.
32.
Scully, G.W. (1994). Managerial efficiency and survivability in professional team sports. Managerial and Decision Economics, 15, 403-411.
33.
Slack, T. (1997). Understanding sport organizations: The application of organization theory. Champaign, IL: Human Kinetics.
34.
Varian, H.R. (1987). Intermediate microeconomics: A modern approach . New York: Norton.
35.
Zak, T.A., Huang, C.J., & Siegfried, J.J. (1979). Production efficiency: The case of professional basketball. Journal of Business, 52, 379-392.
