Deregulation of wholesale petrol prices: what happened to capital city petrol prices?

Wholesale petrol prices were deregulated in August 1998. This paper will quantify the effect associated with the deregulation of wholesale petrol prices on relative retail prices for unleaded petrol in Adelaide, Melbourne and Sydney. This is done through Box–Jenkins autoregressive integrated moving average methodology coupled with Box and Tiao intervention analysis. Weekly price data will be used for Adelaide, Melbourne, and Sydney. It finds that from the beginning of 1999, deregulation coincided with relatively lower retail petrol prices for all three cities. In the absence of any other possible alternative explanation for the simultaneous fall in relative retail petrol prices across all three cities, it is concluded that this change was most likely associated with deregulation. These results suggest that regulation of wholesale petrol prices were ineffectual in terms of constraining capital city retail petrol prices at the very least and may have actually contributed towards relatively higher retail petrol prices. This also suggests that future policy interventions designed to constrain prices in the downstream petroleum industry should be very carefully considered.     

Short- and Long-Run Credit Constraints in French Agriculture: A Directional Distance Function Framework Using Expenditure-Constrained Profit Functions

This empirical application investigates the eventual presence of credit constraints using a panel of French farmers. The credit-constrained profit maximization model proposed by Färe, Grosskopf, and Lee is extended in three ways. First, we rephrase the model in terms of directional distance functions to allow duality with the profit function. Second, we model credit constraints in the short-run and investment constraints in the long-run using short- and long-run profit functions. Third, we lag the expenditure constraint one year to account for the separation between planning and production. We find empirical evidence of credit and investment constraints. Financially unconstrained farmers are larger, perform better, and seem to benefit from a virtuous circle where access to financial markets allows better productive choices.     

基于柯布-道格拉斯生产函数的黑龙江省环境产业发展潜力研究

在分析黑龙江省环境产业发展现状的基础上，指出黑龙江省环境产业发展中存在的主要问题。并以柯布——道格拉斯生产函数为工具导出黑龙江省环境产业的资本产出弹性系数和劳动产出弹性系数，在此基础上计算各因素的贡献率。得出当黑龙江省环境产业进入成长期阶段时，应注重开辟环境产业发展的资金来源渠道，尽可能地加大政府、企业对环境产业的资金投入，促进环境产业潜在市场向现实市场的转化。并结合黑龙江省环境产业的实际提出具体的对策，以期为环境产业的发展提供理论指导。     

Decomposition of Productivity Growth Using Distance Functions: The Case of Dairy Farms in Three European Countries

Within an output distance function framework, the Total Factor Productivity growth index is decomposed into four components (technical change, technical and allocative efficiency, and scale component). We estimate stochastic translog output distance functions using panel data from dairy farms over the period 1991–94 for three European countries (Germany, the Netherlands, and Poland). Results indicate that the change in the productivity growth index in Germany (+6%) and Poland (−5%) are mainly dictated by the technical change component. In contrast, the productivity growth index in the Netherlands (+3%) is influenced by allocative efficiency components.     

海南农垦2002～2003年度干胶生产影响因素实证分析

在分析农业生产函数原理和应用基础上,选用Cobb Douglas生产函数,引入分别反映自然、技术、物质投入的10个影响海南农垦干胶产量的因素,拟合生产函数模型,并应用SPSS软件对各影响因素进行了显著性分析,得出结论为:单位面积平均开割株数,年均干含,单位面积年有机肥施用量,胶工人数对海南农垦干胶产量具有显著的正效应影响,年割刀数和单位面积年压青有显著的负效应影响,其他因素为不显著因素。分析可能造成这种结果的原因,并提出对策。     

Deregulation as (Welfare Reducing) Trade Reform: the Case of the Australian Wheat Board

State trading enterprises are distinguishable from private, commercial firms by the nature of their exclusive rights and objectives. Deregulation of the Australian Wheat Board is used to illustrate the effects of these rights and objectives on trade and welfare. Theoretical models are specified and the effects measured through calibrated, partial equilibrium models. It was found that the successive deregulations of the Australian Wheat Board caused it to switch from being equivalent to an export subsidy to, today, being equivalent to an export tax. At the same time, deregulation has not necessarily been welfare enhancing.     

林业技术效率及其影响因素研究——基于随机前沿生产函数

文章运用随机前沿生产函数估计了林业生产投入要素劳动力和资本的产出弹性,测量了各省区2002～2009年的林业技术效率,并分析了林业技术效率的影响因素。结果表明:林业产业存在明显的技术效率损失,随机前沿生产函数的误差主要是由技术非效率引起;林业产业劳动力和资本的产出弹性分别为0.58和0.47,林业生产仍处于规模报酬递增阶段。总体上,各省区林业技术效率水平相差不大,且林业的平均技术效率水平呈现缓慢上升的趋势;森林病虫鼠害的发生率显著降低了林业技术效率,而基层林业工作站人员文化水平的提高能有效的改善林业生产的技术效率。     

中国污水处理中碳排放的影子价格研究

采用参数化方向距离函数方法,以拥有超过170家污水处理厂的10家上市公司为研究对象,基于2016年的相关数据,估算污水处理过程中碳排放的影子价格,并将市场化方法引入碳排放相关政策的制定中,拟为碳交易市场的建立与碳排放权的分配提供一个方法支撑,从而提高污水处理行业的碳减排效率,充分控制碳排放量。     

土地利用功能权衡协同关系及其驱动因子研究 ——以武汉市为例

研究目的：揭示2021年武汉市“农业生产—非农生产—生活—生态”土地利用功能系统间的权衡协同关系,探索不同主体功能情形设定下驱动因子的影响差异性,为促进当地土地资源的优化利用与空间精细化管理提供参考依据。研究方法：地理空间分析法,皮尔逊相关系数法,贝叶斯网络模型。研究结果：（1）武汉市不同土地利用功能空间分异特征明显,农业生产功能的高值与较高值主要集中在武汉市北部与南部地区,非农生产与生活功能基本呈现“中心城区高、远城区低”的特征,生态功能的低值、高值分布特征则与建设用地、林地等土地利用类型高度关联;（2）研究区非农生产与生活功能互为协同关系（r = 0.84）,农业生产与非农生产功能（r = -0.25）、生活功能（r = -0.25）互为权衡关系,生态功能与非农生产功能（r = -0.36）、生活功能（r = -0.4）互为权衡关系,生态与农业生产功能则无明显相互关系（r = -0.027）;（3）人类活动强度、距区中心远近、土地利用强度、地表径流量是影响当地土地利用功能差异化发展的关键驱动因子,且在不同主体功能情形设定下,各因子的状态变化不尽相同。研究结论：武汉市应注重不同区域间的非农生产、生活功能平衡发展,通过建成区的生态宜居建设与城乡均衡发展改善土地利用功能间的权衡关系,并基于不同地区的主体功能制定差异化的管控策略。     

To Mix or Specialise? A Coordination Productivity Indicator for English and Welsh farms

This paper introduces a nonparametric measure of coordination productivity growth where the subprocesses are explicitly modelled in the production technology. The coordination productivity indicator is decomposed into a coordination technical inefficiency change component and a coordination technical change component. This decomposition allows assessment of reallocation impacts on the different sources of productivity growth. The empirical application focuses on a large panel of English and Welsh farms over the period 2007–2013. The results show that coordination inefficiency significantly increases with the proportion of resources allocated to livestock production in economic and statistical terms. Coordination inefficient farms should generally allocate more land to crop production. Depending on the region, the average coordination productivity growth ranges from ?9.7% to 15.9% per year. It is driven by coordination technical change rather than coordination inefficiency change.