Have Spanish port sector reforms during the last two decades been successful? A cost frontier approach

Abstract

The evolution of the port management model in Spain has been marked by three legislative reforms in the last two decades. This legislation was designed so that the Spanish regulatory framework could embrace the forms of port organization and management that would in turn permit the Spanish ports to function competitively and efficiently, and to be suitably positioned within the distribution systems. This paper aims to analyze the impact of these regulatory changes upon the economic efficiency of the Spanish Port Authorities during 1993–2007 period. To do this, we use a short run total cost model after contrasting that it is the more appropriate because our results suggest that this sector is not in long-run equilibrium. The results demonstrate that the impact of these legislative reforms has not been equal. The most significant changes, in terms of economic efficiency, took place in the first period. The results were also positive for the second period, although the efficiency gains were much more modest. Finally the third legislative reform seemed to have had a contrary effect upon economic efficiency