Pablo Coto Millán

• Professor at University of Cantabria

This research studies the operational effectiveness of the tourism industry in the Caspian regions of Kazakhstan, Russia and Azerbaijan during the 2003–2022 period, with a particular emphasis on the impact of the recent crises (COVID-19, Ukrainian war). To this end, the paper uses the data envelopment analysis meta-frontier model, the Simar and Wil...

Background: Logistics has become a key driver of global economic production. This study investigates the role of logistics in global economic production by presenting a novel theoretical framework that integrates logistics performance into traditional models as a determinant production factor. Methods: Using panel data from 85 countries between 200...

This paper aims to analyze the role of research and development (R&D) in the production efficiency of European Union Member States. Utilizing Bayesian methods within a dynamic framework, the study jointly estimates production functions and efficiency for a sample of 27 countries over the 2000–2021 period. The findings reveal that human capital inve...

The objective of this study is to contribute to the analysis of the factors that determine the efficiency of tourism in the context of Covid-19 crisis in the Caspian regions of Kazakhstan, Russia, and Azerbaijan for the period 2003-2022. The results suggest that there is no convergence in the level of efficiency between regions within countries. Th...

As shared mobility expands, ridesourcing has become its most popular manifestation. However, users’ mode choice has not yet been sufficiently explored. Thus, this study aims to model ridesourcing mode choice across different latent classes to ascertain who chose ridesourcing and why. We conducted a mode choice study by collecting revealed preferenc...

En este artículo se presenta una recopilación de los estudios de impacto económico llevados a cabo en los puertos del Sistema Portuarios español, y que nos ha permitido realizar un diagnóstico de situación sobre las metodologías aplicadas y la zona de influencia objeto de estudio. Además de detallar la metodología clásica, se plantean tres posibles...

Using two-stage modeling (DEA, and the bootstrapping method proposed by Simar and Wilson, 2007) this study aims to assess the efficiency of 17 regions of Spain (2008-2020) in the context of the Covid-19 crisis. The study uses data from the Spanish National Statistical Institute (INE) on tourist arrivals, spending, bedroom availability and tourism e...

Finding low-dimensional chaos is a relevant issue as it could allow short-term reliable forecasting. However, the existence of chaos in shipping freight rates remains an open and outstanding matter as previous research used methodology that can produce misleading results. Using daily data, this paper aims to unveil the nonlinear dynamics of the Bal...

The primary goal of this paper is to present a literature survey on the application of data envelopment analysis (DEA) in tourism and hospitality studies. The secondary goal is to categorize the studies by tourism products and tourism industries according to the United Nations World Tourism Organization (UNWTO). The tertiary goal is to identify the...

This paper studies the relationship between logistics, intermodality and airport efficiency. To this end, using Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA), the efficiency of the 21 largest European airports has been estimated over the 2009-2014 period. In a second stage, this research analyses the effect of Logistics and Modal Integration on airport efficienc...

There is evidence of specialisation around containerised cargo but also a lack of literature regarding its impact on ports’ performance. This paper studies the relationship between the level of containerisation and port efficiency and investigates whether the containerisation–efficiency relation varies according to the degree of containerisation. T...

In recent years, sustainable mobility policy analysis has used Hybrid Choice Models (HCM) by incorporating latent variables in the mode choice models. However, the impact on policy analysis outcomes has not yet been determined with certainty. This paper aims to measure the effect of HCM on sustainable mobility policy analysis compared to traditiona...

In this study we address the main aspects shaping the profile of creative women in Spain. The creativity concept is based on Richard Florida's approach that takes into account the type of occupation in which women develop their work activities. From this occupational-based approach we define a list of creative jobs and characterize the types of the...

This paper analyses the effect of port devolution on the Spanish port authorities’ allocative efficiency across periods with different regulations during the port devolution process in Spain. To do this, we first obtain a measure of allocative efficiency from a distance system of equations using two different approaches: the error components approa...

This study analyses the possible existence of spatial interdependence in port authorities’ capacity expansions in the port industry. We propose a dynamic model that allows quantifying the degree of port authorities’ interdependence in capacity decisions and simulating a hypothetical scenario of cooperation agreements among different port authoritie...

There is evidence of specialisation in tourism destinations, but also a lack of literature regarding its impact on tourism regional performance. This study aims to contribute to the analysis of the determinants of tourism performance. To this end, the efficiency of 17 Spanish regions has been estimated by meta-frontier data envelopment analysis tec...

This paper examines the airline competition after liberalization through an empirical specification of a demand and pricing equation system. The system is estimated for the Scandinavian (Denmark, Norway, and Sweden) domestic airline market using a simultaneous-equations procedure. The purpose of this study is to gather the various reactions of the...

Modelling and forecasting port traffic are of major importance for the shipping industry. Existence of chaos implies that while long term forecasting is vain, reliable short-term forecasting would be possible. The objective of this research is to uncover the nonlinear dynamics and chaotic behavior of the liquid bulk cargo shipping, using monthly da...

This study analyses the effect of cargo specialisation on Spanish Port Authorities’ technical efficiency. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first study to contend that the effect of cargo specialisation on port efficiency may vary at different levels of specialisation. Specialisation/diversification strategies are examined under different s...

This article provides an original theoretical model for air transport companies in the U.S. air travel market. The theoretical model of competition among airlines is empirically tested by estimating two equations of demand and price fixing. This estimate is made for 239 routes and 23 airports. This research provides estimates of the elasticity of...

The withdrawal of the United Kingdom (UK) from the European Union (EU) opens an unprecedented scenario for the UK and EU economy. One of the sensitive points concerns the banking sector. This paper considers the impact of the Brexit referendum on the bank efficiency. Using stochastic frontier analysis (SFA) methods, an input-oriented distance funct...

El objetivo de esta investigación es analizar el comportamiento del tráfico mundial de contenedores durante las últimas décadas estudiando su comportamiento respecto al ciclo económico. Para ello se estima un modelo econométrico dinámico para un panel de 49 países durante el periodo 2000-2016 que nos permite identificar las relaciones en el corto y...

This study evaluates the impact of deregulation and the introduction of competition in the hydrocarbon sector on the efficiency of 11 Spanish ports of import of hydrocarbons. To this end, using stochastic frontier analysis (SFA), an input-oriented distance model has been estimated for the 1986-2013 period. This paper contributes to the literature b...

This paper considers the impact of tourism on airports efficiency. Using stochastic frontier analysis (SFA) methods, an input-oriented distance function was estimated for a sample of 35 Spanish airports over the 2009 to 2016 period. Air transport and tourism are highly connected. Results suggest that tourist-oriented airports may achieve higher eff...

The growing dependence of economies on electricity makes essential the improvement of the power sector efficiency levels. This study aims to assess the factors that influence the efficiency of companies operating in the European electricity sector. To this end, a Stochastic Frontier Analysis has been applied to 4639 companies, located in 26 Europea...

The analysis presented in this paper is innovative, due to the lack of studies analysing how airlines compete in managing demand for domestic passenger air transport from mainland Spain to the Canary Islands. This research examines five Canary Island airports on 52 routes in order to explain the determinants of tourist air travel in this market. Th...

This research shows estimates of price and income elasticities for agribusiness product transportation of air imports and exports in Spain. Quarterly data obtained from the Directorate General of Customs were disaggregated by type of goods according to the Standard International Trade Classification (United Nations, 2006) for the period 1997 :I- 20...

El objetivo de este estudio es analizar la industria del transporte aéreo en España. Este trabajo se ha centrado en el segmento de negocio y presentamos un modelo teórico de competencia oligopolística que puede ser empíricamente probado a través de tres ecuaciones: de demanda, de cuota de mercado y de precio. Contribuimos a desarrollar la creativid...

Desde la década de los noventa, se han desarrollado diversos procesos –liberalización del transporte aéreo, globalización, irrupción de las compañías aéreas de bajo coste- que han tenido implicaciones relevantes sobre el sistema aeroportuario español. Este artículo estudia los cambios acaecidos en la productividad y eficiencia técnica de los aeropu...

This paper considers the impact of UK visitors on Spanish tourism efficiency over the 2008 to 2017 period. To this end, using Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) and Stochastic Frontier Analysis (SFA) methods, the tourism efficiency of 17 Spanish regions were estimated. Furthermore, the relationship between the UK incoming tourists and the Spanish tour...

This paper analyses generalised passenger transport costs for the period 2005 to 2014, following the launch of high-speed rail in Spain for routes on which this mode competes with air travel. Demand functions for air links are analysed using an empirical methodology. Demand functions depend on income, generalised cost of air transport, and the pric...

The main objective of this research is to assess the levels of technical efficiency of European electricity companies depending on whether energy is generated through nuclear or other sources in their country of origin. To this end, stochastic frontier models were used to analyze the period from 2005 to 2014. The results show a significant negative...

This article analyses regulation, competition, crisis and technical efficiency of companies operating in Spanish ports in the following sectors: shipping agents, stevedoring, logistics and storage, towage, ancillary services for inspection, repair and maintenance of ships and goods and port terminals, over the period 2002–2011. The results show tha...

Las terminales de contenedores en los puertos son los nodos del sistema de transportes derivado de un sistema abierto y complejo como es el del flujo de las mercancías en el intercambio de bienes.La eficiencia técnica se da en economía, utilizando todos sus recursos de manera eficiente, produciendo el máximo de producción con el mínimo de recursos....

The last decade has seen a significant upsurge of studies seeking to examine the impacts of port agents' strategic decisions. The outcome has been a wide range of results and conclusions. The aim of this work is to provide a review of this recent research in the port industry that uses strategic interaction approaches from industrial organization a...

This research analyses the impact of public regulation on the efficiency of the Spanish Ports Authorities during the last three decades. To this end, using Stochastic Frontier Analysis (SFA), an input-oriented distance model has been estimated for a sample of 26 Port Authorities during the period 1986-2012. This paper contributes to the literature...

This paper studies the “effect procargo” (or effect of the proportion of cargo traffic relative to total traffic) on technical and scale efficiency at airports. To this end, using Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) methodology, a comparative technical efficiency analysis is developed for 35 Spanish airports over the 2009 to 2011 period. In a second st...

This paper analyses the determinants of global innovation with a focus on technical efficiency. To this end, we propose a theoretical model which specifies a transcendental logarithmic production function, which includes a number of inputs that influence innovation, such as technological capital, human capital and scientific capital. Subsequently,...

This work studies the technical efficiency of fifty European airline companies over the period 2003-2012. In the period under study, European airlines have suffered a decline in profits due to the 2007 crisis and rising oil prices in Europe. These phenomena have increased competition in the airline industry. Using stochastic frontier methods, this...

This paper tries to assess the possible existence of excess of capacity for the Spanish port infrastructures. In order to do this, we estimate a cost function system considering the existence of demand uncertainty of cargo and passengers for port authorities. We find that, in order to fulfil the regularity conditions of the cost function system, we...

Despite its contribution to the Spanish economy, as far as the authors are aware, the technical efficiency of the Spanish construction industry has neither been measured nor have the factors influencing it been analyzed. This paper measures the technical efficiency of the Spanish construction sector before and during the current financial crisis an...

This paper analyses the determinants of knowledge in the European Union of the 27, through estimates of transcendental logarithmic production functions (translog) in different scenarios. For this, a data panel for the period 2003-2010 has been elaborated, selecting the production stochastic frontier as the most reliable model to estimate technical...

The need to make transport more efficient in order to make it less dependent on fossil fuels, more sustainable and reduce GHG emissions is included in the guidelines of the European Union. One measure to achieve this objective has been for manufacturers to improve engine performance so as to reduce GHG emissions according to regulations EURO I to V...

This paper analyses the sensitivity of the subjective value of travel time (SVT) by considering different models based on the microeconomic theory of time allocation, as well as different econometric specifications of discrete choice models, and provides empirical evidence of this. Thus, the objective is to estimate wage rate and expenditure rate m...

This paper carries out a comparative technical efficiency analysis of 35 Spanish airports using panel data for 2009–2011 with a data envelopment analysis (DEA) methodology. The results suggest that airport size has a positive impact on the technical and scale efficiency and that the presence of low cost carriers has positively affected the scale ef...

This paper analyses the technical efficiency of European road freight transport companies over the period 2004-2012. The results show that road freight companies that use logistic platforms appropriately are more efficient. Other interesting results were also obtained showing that the liberalisation of transport sectors, inventory management and th...

This research analyses the demand functions for imports and exports of Spanish ports by type of good for the period 1995.I-2007.IV. From a conventional theoretical model, basic hypotheses are formulated regarding the behaviour of traded goods prices, transport prices and the different levels of income. The use of cointegration econometric technique...

This research provides a new theoretical approach to innovation. Innovation relies on collaborative relationships between universities, private companies and public administration. This theoretical approach offers an opportunity for scientific discovery in an environment of collaboration. Innovative ideas are not self-contained items; they are more...

This paper analyzes how knowledge platforms that combine technology, human capital and relational capital, affect creativity, innovation and technical efficiency on collaborative relation in the European regions. From a panel of data for the period from 2002 to 2006, the study particularly analyzes the determinants of creativity and innovation, and...

This research proposes a global aggregate production function in dynamic terms which captures the contribution of logistics performance to world economic growth. The well-known model of Mankiw et al. (1992) is used, incorporating the logistics performance index as an explicative production factor, with good results. The production function is estim...

Green corridors are a European concept denoting long-distance freight transport corridors where advanced technology and co-modality are used to achieve energy efficiency and reduce environmental impact. Green corridors consider all types of agents acting in the door-to-door co-modality chains, including ports. Carbon footprints (CF) provide compani...

This article studies the necessary techniques to determine the economic impact of a port infrastructure, not only on the region where it is located but also on its area of influence. In particular, the present study reflects the analysis carried out in order to obtain the economic impact of Santander's Port on the economy of Cantabria and its hinte...

The objective of the present paper is to assess the railway investment project in Spain for the Santander-Madrid route, using the Cost-Benefit Analysis method. The paper aims at answering the following question -what is more viable: a High Speed Train for passengers between Santander and Madrid, or rather a High Performance Train for passengers and...

En esta investigación se propone, a partir de la teoría económica de las clases creativas de Florida (2002a), un modelo de desarrollo económico regional para el caso de las provincias españolas. Este modelo caracteriza la producción regional como un proceso de tres etapas que envuelve: 1) factores exógenos, como por ejemplo, territorio, amenidades,...

The model proposed in this paper characterizes economic development as a three-phase process that involves: 1) non-market exogenous factors such as territory, amenities, tolerance, diversity, artists and University, which attract and produce talent; 2) talent that leads to the production of innovation and technology; and, 3) the combination of exog...

One of the tools used to determine and measure corporate sustainability is the corporate ecological footprint (CEF). CEF is useful both to understand the impact of human activities on the ecosystem and to provide the correcting measures necessary to minimize the impact produced. This impact, measured in hectares, can be transformed, so it is possib...

This research provides a new theoretical approach to innovation called Serempathy: Serendipity (which is achieved by chance) + Empathy (putting your self in the other). Serempathy relies on collaborative relationships between: University, private companies and public administration. In this theoretical approach adds chance to scientific discovery a...

This article analyses the behaviour of the functions of importing and exporting goods by maritime transport in Spain during the period 1994.I–1998.IV. Cointegration techniques are used in the estimations to obtain long-term price and income elasticities. These estimations can be used to assess the effects of price modifications in the volume of imp...

Because ports are conceived and designed mainly to be the transfer point of various types of freight, passengers tend to be forgotten in the analysis of port costs. In this paper first we investigate the importance of passengers in port infrastructure costs by means of a multi-output cost function estimated from 20 annual observations (1986-2005) f...

Panel data is used to determine the incidence of airport fees on fares in the Spanish leisure market airlines. We also study its structure through an empirical specification of a pricing and demand equation system. The results show the existence of market power, strategic behavior and density economics. We also demonstrate that airlines pass all th...

In this study, the benefit-cost analysis technique for projects evaluation is applied to determine the minimum level of demand that makes a high-speed rail project economically viable in Spain. To get this goal, it is nec-essary to take into account not only the costs and benefits of the high speed railway but also the analysis of the costs and ben...

In this study, a stochastic frontier cost function is used to estimate the econmic efficiency of Spanish ports through panel data. The sample covers annual data of 27 Spanish ports from 1985–1989. By comparing a Cobb-Douglas function with a translog, it is found that the latter best represents the technology according to the data. Analysing the eff...

The aim of Essays on Port Economics is to offer further reading for specialist and postgraduate courses, Master’s degrees and doctorates in Economics, Business Administration, Engineering, the merchant navy and other port professionals. The editors all teach at the University of Cantabria: Pablo Coto-Millán has a Ph.D. in Economics and is a Profess...

The main methodologies applied to obtain the economic impact of a port, are discussed in this paper. A systematic classification which allows to evaluate the availability of the resources as well as the advantages, and disadvantages of every methodology, is offered according to the aims. Moreover, with these methodologies, the impact of port indust...

This article presents an approach to the impact of new technology on the management of port services. After an introduction on motivation, there are three sections of a descriptive nature in which the methods used to incorporate new technology in the management of the port sector are presented. In the fourth section an empirical approximation is ca...

This paper present a cost–benefit analysis approach applied to measure benefits involving the expansion of container capacity in a seaport context. The paper starts by setting out the theoretical background for identifying and measuring the project benefits. There have been identified and calculated three different benefits: benefits from existing...

This study presents the calculations needed to obtain the overall economic impact of the Port of Santander in 2005. Clearly, to obtain this impact we must calculate the direct, indirect en induced impact, both of the Port Community and the Community of Port Users. This study will show the analyses carried out to obtain the economic impact of the Po...

This study highlights the impact that investment in a project to expand the Port of Santander would have, and the effects of this investment on economic growth and employment in Cantabria. To this end a methodology based on estimating an aggregate production function has been used which, by applying econometric techniques of cointegration, detects...

In the present section, we estimate cost functions for Solid Bulk shipping transport by 34 private firms for 1991. The functional form used is the Translog drawn by Christensen et al. (1973). We also estimate the Allen and Morishima elasticities of substitution, and compare and interpret the results as well.

In this paper we use a theoretical model for sea transport demand services in Spain for the period 1975–1990. Using quarterly data, we estimate separate equations for the different of sea traffic, focus in Liquid Bulk traffic.

This chapter presents an analysis of the main results of the calculation of the ecological footprint and carbon footprint (or CO2 emissions into the atmosphere) produced by the economic activity of a Port Authority of the North Coast of Spain, using a compound financial accounts method (MC3). Furthermore, the results will be compared with those obt...

The empirical analysis of production functions can be directed at least in two different ways which may have the same results. Firstly, we may directly assume a particular and flexible production function, and then test the different restrictions stage by stage, in order to find the most suitable functional form. An alternative way would be to assu...

This article carries out a comparative technical efficiency analysis of investment in 27 Spanish ports using panel data over 20 years (1986–2005) and Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) methodology. Results from the Tobit model suggest that the size of port has a negative impact on the total technical and scale efficiency of the ports. The results also...

In this paper we estimate both a technical efficiency measure and the evolution of allocative efficiency in the infrastructure services of Spanish ports during the period 1986–2005. To achieve this aim, we estimate a system of equations consisting of a multioutput translog input distance function and cost shares equations. The results show that Spa...

In this paper, we propose a methodology to estimate the economic impact of the ports of a country. Inspired by traditional literature about the research on port impact, we obtain the estimation of the impact of ports on the Spanish economy in 1993. Input–output techniques are used to obtain direct, indirect and induced economic impacts for the diff...

This paper analyses the behaviour of the functions of importing and exporting goods by maritime transport mode in Spain during the period 1994.I–1998. IV Cointegration techniques are used in the estimations to obtain long-term price and income elasticities. These estimations can be used to assess the effects of price modifications in the volume of...

In this paper we use a theoretical model for sea transport demand services in Spain for the period 1975-1990. Using quarterly data, we estimate separate equations for the different of sea traffic, focus in Liquid Bulk traffic.

The aim of this book is to offer a comprehensive overview of the economics of ports for scientists, students and professionals. The text is divided into five self-contained parts: the first chapter defines the demand for port services using an econometric approach. The second part analyzes the provision of port services using the production, cost,...

This paper tries to analyse the evolution of total factor productivity and its decomposition between 1986 and 2005 in the Spanish port authorities using a parametric distance function approach. Panel data for different outputs and inputs for the last 20 years have been constructed. During this period, the Spanish port authorities suffered three imp...

This article sets out to compare the economic efficiency (EE) and decomposing of the changes in productivity of international air transport companies, during the period of 1996-2000. In these years, competition has been increased with the low-cost carriers and changes in Asian markets. Our purpose is to prove if these kinds of changes have damaged...

The objective of this paper is to determine the changes in the probability of choosing a private car for travelling, these changes being caused by variations in the generic variables of travel time and cost. For that purpose, we adjust discrete choice models in relation to private or public transport election, analysing passenger behaviour with reg...

En este articulo se presenta el análisis de los principales resultados del cálculo de la huella ecológica y de la huella de carbono (o emisiones de CO2 a la atmósfera), que se produce por la actividad económica de una Autoridad Portuaria de la Fachada Norte de España, además, se realizará una comparación de los resultados obtenidos con los de la Au...

Durante los últimos años, los agentes económicos que integran el sistema regional de innovación en Cantabria han logrado hacer crecer el gasto en actividades de Investigación, Desarrollo e Innovación (I+D+i) de forma que, en la actualidad, se está produciendo un proceso de convergencia con respecto a las comunidades autónomas más dinámicas en mater...

The first high-speed rail was inaugurated in Spain in April 1992 on the Madrid–Seville route with great success in passenger occupancy and notable impact on the regional development. The Madrid–Barcelona–French Border high speed rail has not been inaugurated yet, as it has been subject to delay in the engineering work. These facts have led public o...

In this paper, we have studied the behaviour of state company RENFE costs from 1964 to 1992. Translog function with the restriction of grade-one homogeneity in the factor prices, has been analized and acceptable results have been obtained for the vehicles-km output. The cost function estimated has an good behaviour since it meets the conditions of...

The previous models, based on the conventional demand theory, provide us with empirical evidence for road, railway and air transport in Spain from 1980 to 1988. We obtain the Marshallian demand functions with respect to relevant income and price variables for each modes of transport analyzed. In this work we offer income and price elasticities esti...

The volume of investments in railway infrastructure has exceeded those directed to road in the recent decades in Spain. The first significant feature inferred from the evolution of Spanish passenger and goods transport demand is its marked growth over the last fifty years. Deep transformations have taken place in the productive structure of the dif...

The values of saving in the time spent in journeys to study locations range from 3.04 €/hour for students with low preference for leisure (α=0), to 1.35 €/hour for students with very high preference for leisure. The estimated coefficients of supply variables are affected by negative signs, results which are intuitively appropriate and show us that...

This paper discusses whether a public firm such as RENFE satisfies the cost minimization condition. Through the estimation of the shadow prices of the production inputs we obtain the grade of the firm’s allocative inefficiency and its origin. The methodology used is based on the estimation of a Shephard distance function for the input, the dual of...

Port impact studies and their possible applications to policy design have been reviewed methodologically. There is no agreement on the opinions about the different methodologies to be applied to port economic impact studies, or on the evaluation of the added value generated by the port. Methodology I was applied, among others, to the study of the p...

The most efficient airports are the ones of Madrid, Barcelona, Palma de Mallorca, Malaga, Gran Canaria, Tenerife South, Alicante, Ibiza, Fuerteventura, Menorca and Bilbao. These airports have the highest traffic of passengers (between 3 million and 19 million). Airports of medium efficiency are the ones of Tenerife North, Valencia, Seville, Santiag...