Autor: Ferro Gustavo Adolfo*, Depetris-Chauvin Nicolás**
Institución: (*)UCEMA - CONICET, (**)HES-SO, Haute Ecole de Gestion de Genève, Switzerland
Año: 2025
JEL: D24, L66
Resumen:
The global wine market is increasingly segmented by quality, yet little is known about how production technologies and efficiency differ across these segments internationally. We address this gap by estimating separate stochastic production frontiers for wineries specializing in 'value' and 'premium' wines. Using a unique cross-sectional database of 1,254 wineries across eight Old and New World countries, we employ Stochastic Frontier Analysis to compare their production technologies and technical efficiency. Our results reveal three key findings. First, the production technologies for value and premium wines are structurally different; value wine production exhibits stronger diminishing returns to land, while premium wine production shows greater complementarity between capital and labor. Second, a significant efficiency gap exists within our sample, with Old World producers being, on average, more efficient than their New World counterparts in both quality segments. Third, factors such as product diversification (number of labels) are positively associated with output, suggesting the presence of economies of scope. These findings challenge a monolithic view of the wine industry and provide nuanced insights for firm strategy and regional competitiveness.