ABSTRACT In this study, a normalized quadratic cost function was employed to estimate total factor productivity for the water sector in England and Wales over the period 1993–2016. Productivity was then decomposed into technical change and scale effect. Technical change is further broken down into pure technical change, non-neutral technical change, and effects due to scale-augmenting technical change. The water industry increased its productivity annually by 6.1%, with 1.5% corresponding to technical change and 4.5% attributed to the scale effect. Lastly, we discuss some policy implications by linking the productivity results with the regulatory cycle.

中文翻译：

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自来水公司生产力变化的驱动因素：英格兰和威尔士的实证方法

摘要 在本研究中，使用归一化二次成本函数来估计 1993-2016 年英格兰和威尔士水部门的全要素生产率。然后生产力被分解为技术变革和规模效应。技术变更进一步细分为纯技术变更、非中性技术变更和规模扩大技术变更的影响。水务行业生产率年均增长6.1%，其中技术变革1.5%，规模效应4.5%。最后，我们将生产力结果与监管周期联系起来，讨论了一些政策含义。