Measuring the Turkish natural gas distribution firms' effectiveness by data envelopment and stochastic frontier anaysis

The fact that the share of natural gas in the country is the main source of energy depend on imports in general is an indisputable fact for the importance of the country's economy. The effectiveness of the distribution of this gas in the country is the main factor determining the cost of this resource which is already relatively scarce for our country. In the micro sense, effective distribution of firms is the main target of firm behavior, while in macro sense, it creates the maximization of economic growth and prosperity concepts. As a result of the globalization economies, the transfer of natural resources from one country to another such as goods has started to import more modern and more environmentally friendly natural resources. However, the imported natural resource, as well as the imported goods or services, also has a cost. Due to the fact that its production is quite difficult, the distribution and use of natural gas, which is one of these sources, which has extremely limited supply on the earth, must be realized in the most balanced way. In fact, the distribution of the use of natural gas in the case of a low income elasticity for firms and households by these economic units is also a distribution case. The most effective state of this natural resource, which is necessary for such economic units, will provide an incentive for companies to reduce their costs and to continue production, while ensuring that they meet many basic requirements for households. They will be able to reduce the percentage allocated for this goods from their budgets and meet their other needs. The fact that the scarce resources in the literature of economics meet the endless needs are also seen in the answer to the questions about how and how much natural gas is consumed in the market. In our country, the natural gas, which has been used both as heat and intermediate goods before and after the sources that are not environmentally friendly, has started to be used in almost all of our cities and a unique market has been formed. This study, which tries to measure the efficiency (or ineffectiveness) of the distribution companies that are responsible for the delivery of this resource to the related economic units, tries to achieve this goal based on the Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA / DEA) and Stochastic Frontier Analysis (SFA / SSA) approaches. Our study, which aims to measure the average activity scores of the data of 63 natural gas distribution companies compiled from the Energy Market Regulatory Authority between the years of 2013-2016, was primarily aimed at calculating the scores obtained from both methods and then to deepen the analysis by comparing these activity scores with each other. Keywords: Microeconomics, Monopoly, Efficiency and Efficiency, Distribution, Natural Gas Market, Energy Markets, Market Efficiency, Industrial Economics, Data Envelopment Analysis, Stochastic Frontier Analysis, Total Factor Productivity, Natural Monopoly, Network Externalities.