Impact of Economic Liberalization on Technical Efficiency of Firms: Evidence from India’s Electronics Industry

Abstract

The purpose of the paper is to analyze the impact of economic liberalization on technical progress and technical efficiency of electronics hardware manufacturing firms in India. In this study, Translog stochastic frontier production function is estimated in order to measure technical progress and technical efficiency of firms in an era of economic liberalization. The results indicate that electronics hardware manufacturing firms in India have experienced a significant improvement in technical progress during 2002-2010 but the average level of technical efficiency of firms has declined during the same period. The study therefore, concludes that a number of firms have failed to appropriate the benefits of technical progress in India’s electronics industry. It has also been observed that implementation of the Information Technology Agreement (ITA) of World Trade Organization (WTO) does not have any significant impact on technical efficiency of firms operating in the electronics industry.