Productivity Growth, Efficiency and Outsourcing in Manufacturing and Service Industries

This paper is a survey of recent contributions to, and developments of, the relationship between outsourcing, efficiency and productivity growth in manufacturing and services. The objective is to provide a thorough and up–to–date survey that provides a significant discussion on data, as well as on the core methods of measuring efficiency and productivity. First, the readers are introduced to the measurement of partial and total factor productivity growth. Different parametric and non–parametric approaches to the productivity measurement in the context of static, dynamic and firm–specific modelling are discussed. Second, we survey the econometric approach to efficiency analysis. The issues of modelling, distributional assumptions and estimation methods are discussed assuming that cross–sectional or panel data are available. Third, the relationship between outsourcing and productivity growth in manufacturing and services is discussed. The correspondence between a number of hypotheses and empirical findings are examined. Examples of varieties of relevant empirical applications, their findings and implications are presented. Fourth, measurement of inputs and outputs in manufacturing and services are discussed. Finally, to promote useful research, a number of factors important to the analysis of outsourcing, efficiency and productivity growth in the service sector are summarised.     

Volatility in the knowledge economy

Summary. We seek to explain the economic volatility of the last 6 years, in particular the rapid expansion and contraction of the knowledge sectors. Our hypothesis is that these sectors amplify the business cycle due to their increasing returns to scale, growing faster than others in an upswing and contracting faster in a downswing. To test this hypothesis we postulate a general equilibrium model with two sectors: one with increasing returns that are external to the firm and endogenously determined - the knowledge sector - and the other with constant returns to scale. We introduce a new measure of volatility of output, a real beta, and derive a resolving equation, from which we prove that the increasing return sectors exhibit more volatility then other sectors. We validate the main results on US macro economic data of real GDP by industry (2-3 digits SIC codes) of the 1977-2001 period, and provide policy conclusions.Received: 18 March 2002, Revised: 16 February 2004, JEL Classification Numbers: D5, D58, E10, L50, L52, O38, O51.Correspondence to: Graciela Chichilnisky     

阴山北麓农牧交错带观光农业资源优势与开发构想--以武川为例

随着经济的发展,在人们生活条件改善和物质水平提高的同时,城乡居民对高质量的生存环境和丰富的业余生活提出了强烈要求,观光农业作为一种全新的旅游方式受到了人们的青睐。内蒙古武川县属阴山北麓农牧交错带,县境内以缓坡丘陵为主,结合当地的带状种植,形成优美的田园风光,且地理条件优越,具有很大的旅游潜力。本文从武川县发展观光农业旅游的意义、区位、资源及政府扶持等优势出发,分析了在武川县建立观光农业园区的可行性,并提出建立田园景观观光区、采摘区、高新技术农业园区和人文历史名胜旅游区的开发构想和建议。     

基于城市群生成视角的都市农业发展研究--以长株潭为例

随着城市化水平不断提高,我国将进入城市群快速建设期。如何促进地理位置相近、交通便捷的城市间融合,是一个值得探讨的问题。实践表明,都市农业作为一种崭新的现代农业形态,在促进城市群生成、实现城乡融合工农互动方面意义重大。文章以长株潭为例,分析了都市农业的促进作用,剖析了发展都市农业的优势条件,对城市群生成期都市农业建设框架进行了设计,并提出若干发展对策。     

影响我国农民市场主体地位确立的制度因素

拥有自主产权是农民成为真正市场主体的必要条件,包括诸如组织制度、户籍制度、金融制度、社会保障制度等在内的产权支持系统是影响农民成为市场主体的充分条件。市场主体地位的高低在某种意义上是由经济实体在参与市场经济活动时所拥有的权利束决定的。推进农村经济市场化的过程就是加强农民市场主体地位的过程。进一步深化农村体制改革,从根本上消除不合理制度对农民的束缚,使农民成为真正的市场主体是解决当前“三农”问题的根本出路。     

三峡库区第三产业发展与城镇功能恢复重建的基本思路探析

本文从优化三峡库区产业结构,合理布局三峡库区第三产业,提高商贸流通业现代化水平,全方位拓展三峡旅游业,大力发展非公有制经济,优化调整库区网点与业态,加大招商引资和对口支援力度,大力发展劳务经济,构建功能完备各具特色的三峡库区城镇市政设施系统和社会事业发展系统,落实优惠扶持政策等方面,探析了三峡库区第三产业发展与城镇功能恢复重建及完善提升的基本思路。     

养老保险基金安全运行的风险因素分析

目前中国养老保险基金运行中存在着一定风险，为确保养老保险基金的安全运行，需要完善养老保险法律体系、建立财政对养老保险基金的拨付机制、探索高效的基金运营管理体制，以及强化养老保险信息化建设等。     

Assessing the impact of patent infringement on new product sales

In order to assess the impact of patent infringement on the growth of a new product, a model is developed through the intervention model development processes of Box-Jenkins and Box-Tiao. Physical interpretations of model parameters and determination of associated damages suggest that the model can provide a sound basis for analyzing patent infringement disputes.     

促进中部崛起的科学基础与国家援助政策

本文在对“中部塌陷”现象进行深入分析的基础上,探讨了促进中部崛起的科学基础、战略目标和定位以及国家援助政策。作者认为,近年来中部地区出现的塌陷现象并非是全国最严重的,其“增长塌陷”不如东北地区,而“水平塌陷”不如西部地区。促进中部崛起是一项长期的艰巨任务,当前应针对中部地区的典型问题区域,实施有差别的国家援助政策。     

新古典生产函数的质疑与货币量值的生产函数

新古典理论以生产函数和效用函数为基础,建立了技术关系的稀缺资源有效配置理论,其核心是表明商品和要素稀缺性的相对价格.生产函数在微观尚可应用,但并不能用于解释总量经济和经济增长与波动问题.尤其是总供给完全取决于实物生产函数的投入产出关系,这与总需求分析所采用的货币支出是不协调的.货币量值的生产函数的推导表明,总供给只是企业的货币成本函数而不联系到技术上的投入产出关系,而所有的国民收入核算中的货币量值都只是表明人们经济关系的名义变量而与实物的技术关系或生产函数是完全无关的.