The nexus between competition and efficiency: The European banking industries experience

In this paper, we investigate competition in banking systems in the EU27 as a whole for the period 2004–2010, but also for old members’ banking systems compared with new members’ banking systems and for banking systems from countries member of euro zone compares with banking systems from countries non-member of euro zone. In order to investigate this issue, we estimate a non-structural indicator of banking competition, using the H-statistic indicator that is estimated using bank-level data. Also, we apply two tests of convergence, β- and σ-convergence, for assessing competition evolution during the specified period. We want to fill the gap in the banking literature testing the validity of the Competition–Efficiency Hypothesis, analysing the impact of the banking competition measures on two alternative measures of efficiency, cost and profit efficiency, in the European banking systems in a Granger-causality manner. The results confirm us that in the EU the convergence process occur from the banking systems with higher competition level than the mean score of all countries. The evidence for all groups of countries, except non-euro zone group, where results are not statistically significant, confirm the Competition–Efficiency Hypothesis in terms of cost and profit efficiency.     

不同类型建设用地扩张的时序及空间特征——加速失效模型在静海区的应用

研究目的：分析城市扩展中交通用地、商住用地和工业用地扩张的时序特征、空间关系以及扩张时点的影响因素。研究方法：农地—建设用地转换最优时机理论；加速失效模型。研究结果：（1）不同类型建设用地在扩张过程中具有相互关联的时序和空间特征；（2）静海区交通用地引导了其他建设用地扩张的方向，而不同级别交通用地由于对建设用地和农用地影响的差异，加快或延缓了建设用地扩张的时机；（3）商住和工业用地在200— 400 m 范围内相互集聚，且商住用地产生的集聚效应强于工业用地。研究结论：细化建设用地类型以分析城市扩张的特征和机制，有助于城市扩展区的布局优化和集约发展。     

Determinants of island tourism development: The example of Dachangshan Island

Islands possess their own patterns of spatial and temporal evolution as tourist destinations. Taking Dachangshan Island as an example, two key stages were identified: a 'landscape-oriented' period from 2002 to 2009, and a 'background' stage from 2009 to 2012. Co-existing with both periods was changing spatial and land-use patterns of expansion and intensification. Using spatial mapping techniques, it was found that tourist resources were found to be the original driving force, tourist transportation and social and economic factors were endogenous determinants of change, and tourist enterprises and source markets subject to government policies the exogenous factors.     

The Relationships Amongst Emotional Experience,Cognition, and Behavioural Intention in Battlefield Tourism

The objective of this study was to identify the hypothesized relationships amongst emotional experience, cognition, and behavioural intention in battlefield tourism. A face-to-face questionnaire survey was administered and 655 valid questionnaires were collected at heritage site related to the Sino-French War in Keelung, Taiwan. The results revealed significant positive relationships between emotional experience and cognition as well as between cognition and behavioural intention. Structural equation modelling verified that cognition fully mediated the effects of emotional experience on behavioural intention. Moreover, this study suggests that cognition may be an accurate predictor of behavioural intention, particularly in regard to battlefield tourism.     

环渤海地区区域经济空间网络关联结构研究

采用网络分析方法，对1995—2014年环渤海地区区域经济空间网络关联结构进行分析，研究发现：环渤海地区区域经济空间网络关联特征显著，分为“辽宁”和“京津冀鲁”两个子网络；网络密度稳步上升，但仍然较低；核心区域的经济比重有所降低，但份额始终较大；网络效率在波动中趋降，空间溢出效应趋于显著。其中，北京、天津、济南等9地属于“主受益”板块，石家庄、保定、潍坊等19地属于“经纪人”板块，沈阳、大连、鞍山等4地属于“双向溢出”板块，而秦皇岛、承德、葫芦岛等12地属于“净溢出”板块。产业结构转型升级、控制FDI区域差异以及投资多元化等有利于环渤海地区增强区域经济空间关联。应多途径构建区域经济关联通道，打造“环型”网状关联经济，并通过产业转型升级和经济多元化发展增进区域经济空间关联。     

“省直管县”财政体制如何促进经济增长——基于江苏省2004-2009年数据的实证分析

近几年来,"省直管县"财政体制在各省陆续实施,其主要目的在于克服既有的市管县体制存在的各种弊端。可以预期,这项改革措施有减少行政管理成本、解决县乡财政困难、促进县域经济增长等多种潜在作用。但可能存在的问题是,该财政体制如何促进经济增长?文章利用江苏省51个县(市)2004-2009年的空间面板数据进行分析发现,"省直管县"财政体制对经济增长的作用主要是通过县(市)扩权而产生的"政府竞争效应"实现的。     

Quantitative Analysis of Foreign Trade and Environmental Efficiency in China

This article analyzes the relationships among trade, the economy, and environmental quality in China. First, in the context of these relationships, the Super-SBM model is used to calculate the environmental efficiencies of thirty Chinese provinces and cities to obtain the degrees of regional disparity. Second, China’s provincial panel data from 2003 and 2012 are used to establish an influential factor indicator system of environmental efficiency. A section-weighted fixed effect model then provides insights about influential factors such as spatial heterogeneity. Third, the article establishes a variable coefficient model to identify the relationships among the objects of the study and divides the Chinese regions into four types. The suggestions include enhancing environmental and business regulations to ensure equilibrium between trade, the environment, and local economies.     

Raising the bar (4)

This editorial summarizes and comments on the papers published in issue 11(4) so as to raise the bar in applied spatial economic research and highlight new trends. The first paper deals with common factors and spatial dependence in the error term specification of a production function model. The second paper sets forth a New Economic Geography (NEG) model with production activities that vary in their complexity, so as to analyse the impact on specialization patterns across different regions. The third paper measures the efficiency of local public investments using a relatively unknown econometric technique in which the time span over which the variables in the regression equation are measured is increased by one time period every run. The fourth paper adopts a conditional quantile regression approach to determine the impact of people employed in informal jobs on the wage distribution in Colombia and five of its regions. Finally, the last paper proposes and tests two new Bayesian variable selection approaches for spatial econometric models.     

Spatial Pattern and Spatiotemporal Evolution of China＇s National Historic Cities

基于地理信息系统空间分析技术,从微观、中观、宏观三个尺度对我国国家历史文化名城的地域分布差异和发展演变特征进行分析探讨,结果表明：在微观的市县级范围内,县级及以下名城的分布相对分散,地级及以上名城在我国东部和中部县市相对集中;在中观的省域范围内,1982年以来的一、二、三批名城在省域覆盖范围内具有较为明显的东南部、北部、中西部重心格局演变的特征;从全国范围来看,国家历史文化名城空间上总体表现为由东到西数量递减的非均衡分布特征,时空演变总体表现为由大中城市向中小城市,由中心城市、中部城市向边缘城市、地域特色城市,由直辖城市、省会城市向地级城市、县级城市、甚至城市的一个行政区扩展的特征。国家历史文化名城的批复发展在考虑各尺度区域范围内的等级差异和不均衡分布的基础上走向了科学化、细致化。     

广州市外来人口的空间分布变动分析

利用第三、四、五次人口普查资料,对广州市外来人口空间分布进行分析。1980年代以来广州市外来人口在数量急剧增长的同时,其空间分布格局也发生了根本变化,即由原来主要集中于中心区转向主要集中于近郊区,并逐渐向远郊区延伸。针对外来人口的空间变化规律,提出了加强城市人口管理和城市规划建设的建议。