Mass tourism and water efficiency in the hotel industry: A case study

Mass tourism, which has traditionally been associated with an unsustainable use of natural resources and intensive land use, is frequently identified as a major environmental stressor in coastal regions. Nonetheless, mass tourism resorts typically have a compact and vertical urban configuration and have been shown to make more efficient use of water resources than other low-density tourist destinations. This article investigates how the main variables identified by the literature as determinants of water consumption by hotels influences water efficiency in hotels in Lloret de Mar, a well-known mass tourism destination on the Costa Brava in Spain. The results of a generalized linear mixed model show that large, high-rise hotels that attract thousands of tourists annually also benefit from economies of scale in terms of water efficiency.     

On discrimination in the optimal management of teams

We study the optimal management of teams in which agents’ effort decisions are mapped (via a production technology) into the probability of the team’s success. Optimal wage schemes in such context are largely discriminatory, but we show that the extent of the discrimination crucially depends on the existence of moral hazard. More precisely, for teams with a flat structure, the domain of production technologies giving rise to discrimination is broader when agents’ actions are observable and contractible. For teams with a sequential structure, the result reverses and the domain of production technologies giving rise to discrimination is broader when there exists moral hazard. Finally, in more cooperative environments in which agents are allowed to collude, optimality does not entail discrimination, with or without moral hazard.     

股权性质、环境不确定性与技术资本配置效率

技术转化为资本，资本创造价值已经成为共识，技术资本在不同公司创造价值的作用程度不同，根源是技术资本配置效率问题。选取沪深两市2008-2013年间制造业上市公司为样本，检验了基于不同股权性质的公司环境不确定性对企业技术资本配置效率和价值的影响，研究结果表明：①企业环境不确定性程度越高，技术资本配置效率越低，并且技术资本配置偏离度在国有公司中表现为配置过度，在非国有公司表现为配置不足；②在股权性质为国有的公司中，由环境不确定性引发的技术资本配置偏离将降低企业价值，在非国有控股公司中，由环境不确定性导致的技术资本配置偏离将增加企业价值。     

Accounting for the Gender Technology Gap Amongst Smallholder Rice Farmers in Northern Ghana

Narrowing the gender technology gap in agricultural production has become a critical policy issue in sub‐Saharan Africa. A better understanding of the gender technology gap is essential for policy formulation and programme planning to ensure equity in resource allocation, and household‐level food security in low and middle income countries, such as Ghana. We employ a metafrontier approach to analyse the differences in the efficiency of male and female farmers, recognising the endogeneity of some of the variables in the inefficiency effects model, in particular the credit constraints of the rice farmers under study. Our findings show that while the rice farms themselves are very similar, average yields for male managed farms tend to be significantly higher than female managed farms reflecting higher seeding and fertiliser application rates on male managed farms. However, there is no significant difference between the genders in either land used for rice or total output per farm household. We find some evidence that relative to the metafrontier, male managed farms are less efficient than female managed farms. The results further show gender technology gap amongst the smallholder rice farmers with females’ technology gap ratio being significantly greater than that of males, with females operating on a production frontier closer to the metafrontier. Policies that provide females more access to productive resources and other agricultural services could assist in the generation of relatively higher output.     

效率视角下"一带一路"沿线国家创新影响力研究

从效率差异视角构建国家创新影响力评价方法，揭示“一带一路”沿线国家创新要素流动倾向性以促进交流合作。运用DEA模型测算各国创新效率，根据DEA原理识别国家间的认可关系，构建创新网络并用节点特征向量中心度表示各国创新影响力，分析创新影响力类型、创新网络特征及创新投入冗余率与产出不足率。结果发现，各国创新效率存在显著差距;各国分别处于创新网络中心、核心和边缘位置，国家创新影响力依次递减;按照创新要素相对强度，沿线国家可分为6种创新类型;最后，提出沿线国家间开展创新交流与合作的必要性和途径。     

国家重点科技资源支撑区域创新经济产出的空间差异研究

根据2011-2014年科技部《国家重点科技基础条件资源调查表》以及国家统计年鉴数据,首先,使用赫芬达尔指数定量描述了利用国家重点科技资源进行创新活动的非均衡性。其次,使用网络DEA方法,实证分析了2012-2014年中国(内地)各省份国家重点科技资源对区域创新发展的支撑作用。研究表明,国家重点科技资源对区域创新发展的支撑作用不仅取决于资源创新生产阶段,而且受制于重点科技资源支持下的区域创新发展阶段。重点科技资源的支撑作用还有较大提升空间,70%的省份创新成果转化能力有待提高,且大部分省份的国家重点科技资源未实现优化配置。此外,全国及东部、中部和西部国家重点科技资源对区域创新发展的支撑效率不存在绝对收敛趋势。     

外资进入和我国企业的生产率：“溢出”抑或“挤出”效应

我国改革和开放是同时推进的，引进了众多外资企业来推动我国经济发展。那么，外资企业的进入是否有助于我国内资企业的成长？本文分析我国工业企业超大样本数据，探讨外资进入的影响，研究我国内资企业的生产率能否向效率前沿收敛。结果发现，我国不同类型的内资企业均存在效率前沿的收敛趋势，内外资企业生产率差距不断缩小。外资进入对我国内资企业的短期影响主要表现为溢出效应，但是对于同行业的其他外资企业呈现挤出效应，特别是其他独资外企。我们进一步发现外资进入的长期影响是挤出效应，但是对于国有企业和民营企业的影响却不尽相同。     

Evaluating the multi-period efficiency of East Asia airport companies

The aim of this study is to analyze how internal operating sub-processes and annual operations of airport companies influence the overall efficiency. The multi-period Network Data Envelopment Analysis is used to evaluate the efficiencies and the efficiency changes for East Asia airport companies. The results indicate that the overall efficiencies of airport companies during a specified period of time are affected by the system efficiency and the sub-processes’ efficiencies in individual periods. Furthermore, the overall efficiency change is determined by the sub-processes’ efficiency changes. According to the operating decision analysis matrix, managers can discover the inefficient sub-processes and formulate the improvement countermeasures.     

Financial networks,bank efficiency and risk-taking

Networks with a core–periphery topology are found in many financial systems across different jurisdictions. Though the theoretical and structural aspects of core–periphery networks are clear, the consequences that core–periphery structures bring for banking efficiency stand as an open question. We address this gap in the literature by providing insights as to how the structure of financial networks can affect bank efficiency. We find that core–periphery structures are cost efficient for banks, which is a characteristic that encourages the participation of banks in financial networks. On the downside, we also show that core–periphery structures are risk-taking inefficient, because they imply higher systemic risk levels in the financial system. In this way, regulators should be aware of the excessive risk inefficiency that arises in the financial system due to individual decisions made by banks in the network.