Railway transport liberalization in the European Union: Freight,labor and health toward the year 2020 in Spain

The year 2010 is a key year for European railway transport as it marks the liberalization of the railway sector in a context of economic crisis. The railway sector is a driving force behind the economy of any country. In the case of Spain, in particular, the sector is undergoing a process of liberalization following large public investments that have provided the country with one of the most extensive high-speed railway networks in Europe. Using a methodological approach that seeks a balance between future studies and constructivist studies on the interaction between technology and society, we examine the present and future consequences of railway transport liberalization, in the case-study of Spain, focusing on a key aspect of the process: changes in occupational health and safety conditions in a sector that must ensure full passenger, worker and freight safety. Through a comparison of actual risks, perceived risks and foreseeable risks, we analyze the main shortcomings of the liberalization model that is currently being implemented and strategies for dealing with foreseeable risks in a scenario of change.     

论福州-厦门铁路新干线建设计划

福州－厦门铁路新干线是福建省“十五”计划中提出的铁路交通建设重点项目之一。它将从根本上提高福建铁路的线网化水平，从分流作用上缓解鹰厦铁路中段运能饱和压力，确实解决闽东南沿海无直通铁路引起的大港口腹地拓展、市际铁路不合理运输和地区性中远途铁路货运大量中转等交通问题。本文对该建设计划在这些方面的意义，作了深入的分析和论证，以期推进这项计划决策的落实，有助于可能通过市场调节机制介入建设的国内外投资者，增进对这条铁路投资效果前景的认识，从而加快该项目实施建设的进程及我国东南沿海地区交通运输的健康发展。     

TWO DECADES OF DBFO ROADS IN THE UK AND SPAIN: AN EVALUATION OF THE FINANCIAL PERFORMANCE

Road schemes are of major importance in the global PPP market. We focus on Design‐Build‐Finance‐Operate (DBFO) arrangements covered by shadow toll or availability payment mechanisms, where the UK and Spain are key players. Now that a good number of DBFO schemes in the UK and Spain have been operational for well over half the contract period, there is scope for a detailed ex post evaluation of DBFO performance in both countries and an analysis of how the DBFO model has evolved. Preliminary results show that these contracts continue to be very expensive for public administrations, especially in the UK, where the financing costs and fee per kilometre are high. On the other hand, they are an easy source of revenue for the parent companies of the concessionaires, where the increased use of subordinated debt rather than equity seeks to reduce risk. However, despite circumventing the controversial hard‐tolling, some projects in both Spain and the UK present poor outcomes. Several other problems around these projects are identified, including lack of public accountability and transparency or poor governance, raising long‐term questions around affordability and opportunities for further study.     

Institutional Foundations of Heritage Railways: The High Cost of Low Trust in the Preservation of Merit Goods

This article is an empirical inquiry into the nature and causes of the preservation and reuse of railway heritage from a comparative point of view. It addresses the question of why this heritage is not preserved in Andalusia (Spain). Railway heritage is a mixed good, as a public good requires either the public or the not-for-profit sector to intervene to ensure its preservation. In the case of a merit good, it is legitimate for the government to interfere with consumer preferences. The results suggest that three factors directly impact the preservation of railway heritage: (i) the quality of government, (ii) volunteering, and (iii) collective preferences. The first two factors depend on social capital as measured by generalized trust, while the third one is idiosyncratic.     

开辟新亚欧大陆桥南干线研究

新亚欧大陆桥开通后,在促进亚欧经济合作交流中发挥了积极作用。由于陆桥东端经济发展水平不高等因素,大陆桥的通衢、辐射、拉力作用发挥不够。宁(南京)西(安)铁路的建设形成了以上海为东方桥头堡的新的铁路大动脉。开辟新亚欧大陆桥南干线将把东亚和北欧连接起来,把陆桥建成潜力巨大的洲际链和连接我国东、中、西部的经济发展轴。为此,应尽快制定规划、成立协调组织,整合沿陆桥地区产业和资源,更好地发挥南干线的内聚力和辐射力,在加强国际交流和实施西部大开发战略中发挥更大作用。     

我国铁路产业财务可持续：一个基于结构方程的分析

我国铁路建设所需的投资巨大,财务上已经形成了大量的债务性负担.为了实现我国铁路行业的财务可持续,首先要对影响国家铁路集团财务可持续的原因进行充分了解.以治理理论为核心,综合考虑多方面因素分析了中国国家铁路集团有限公司的财务可持续影响因素,通过问卷调查搜集数据,使用解释结构方程模型理清铁路负债的形成路径.结果表明:国家铁路集团的财务可持续是一个市场治理、社会治理、政府治理因素综合影响的结果,其中政府治理因素处于主导地位.建议化解铁路产业存量债务,构建铁路产业的公益性运输补贴机制,推进灵活票制票价实施等.     

Slacks determinants in Brazilian railways: a distance friction minimization approach with fixed factors

This study investigates the drivers for output-increasing/input-saving potentials in the Brazilian railway industry, which has undergone significant transformations since its privatization in the mid-1990s. The main research objective is to determine whether or not different types of cargoes and geographic regions serviced present a significant impact on railway slacks by applying a distance friction minimization (DFM) approach with fixed factors. Based on a balanced panel model, secondary data from the period 2004 to 2012 were collected and analysed. Results support anecdotal evidence regarding a heterogeneous impact of types of cargo and geographic location on input-reducing and output-increasing potentials, besides network length and average speed. Policy implications for railway authorities are also addressed by focusing on the specifics of each railway operator.     

The Discussion on Railway Public Property Right and State-capital Formation Mechanism

During the process of private enterprise and relaxing control, the railway industry of the entire world reserves considerably proportional state enterprise and state capital. One important reason of these economic phenomena is that there are many establishment collectivities in the railway industry. Every railway transportation enterprise uses the railway network, the hinge, the organizing group station and even the control center, take the format of public property and state capital to organize the relative transportation resources, which is more efficient in many instances than the private property right and capital, which is also the important economic reason why in the railway industry all of the world there are still ubiquitous for the public property rights and state-capital.     

中国高速铁路的发展历程与展望

铁路运输历来都与国民经济建设息息相关。所谓高速铁路,通常是指最高运行时速在200公里以上的铁路。历经百十年的技术改革,高速铁路作为一个新型经济产业直接决定着一个国家的基础建设,特别是对于地域广袤的中国。短短十几年,中国实现了从步入高铁时代到引领世界高铁发展的一个大飞跃。高铁对于城市交通的改善作用明显,改变了人们的出行方式,调整了城市民众的出行次数及城市空间结构。     

MEASURING QUANTITY‐QUALITY TRADE‐OFFS IN REGULATION: THE BRAZILIAN FREIGHT RAILWAYS CASE*

ABSTRACT ** ** Résumé en fin d'article; Zusammenfassung am Ende des Artikels; resumen al fin del artículo.
: The quantity vs. quality trade‐offs in network industries are well known from the theoretical literature and have been the subject of many empirical assessments, although mostly for the telecoms and energy sectors. The purpose of this paper is to expand the evidence for the railway sector by documenting the importance of this trade‐off in the context of the Brazilian freight railway industry reform, the first example of a railway sector in which tariff revisions are subject to joint output and quality performance indicators. The analysis is based on the calculation of the Malmquist productivity index proposed by Färe et al. (1995) . The decomposable nature of this total factor productivity (TFP) index reveals the prevalence of quantity‐quality trade‐offs up to the end of the reform period, but a positive correlation between them during the period just afterwards. This type of information would certainly be useful for regulation purposes, particularly as an alternative way of taking into account quality without introducing complex, and very often ineffective, penalty schemes.     

Biotechnology Development in Spain: A Change of Paradigm?

This article presents a quantitative and qualitative analysis of the Spanish biotechnology sector, including its scientific, business, policy and social aspects. The study differentiates two sub-sectors, considered to be the most representative: Biopharma and Agro-food. The results show that biotechnology development in Spain has entered a new phase. Traditionally, research and development in Spain followed an unstructured path built around regional spaces and driven by factors and influences external to Spain. However, the emergence of a fast-growing sector of spin-off companies from the public research system, specifically in the Biopharma sector, points to a change of model of development of the industry, on the national as well as the regional level. The data also show the key role which public policy plays in creating a suitable framework for innovation and point to the need of analyzing the influence of social and cultural factors on the development of the biotechnology sector.     

中国铁路行业产出变化的驱动因素——基于2005—2012年面板数据的实证研究

基于"索洛余值"法建立扩展型索洛模型,利用灰色关联分析方法计算模型的弹性系数,利用2005—2012年中国铁路行业的面板数据,计算了技术进步、政府投资、非政府投资和劳动力投入等对铁路行业产出增长的贡献率,并分析了中国《中长期铁路网规划》颁布实施以来铁路行业产出变化的驱动因素。得出结论:近年来中国铁路行业的巨大成就与技术进步和政府投资密不可分,政府的大规模投资和支持已帮助中国铁路企业步入以技术进步和创新为主导的内生驱动式发展阶段,技术进步已成为影响中国铁路行业产出增长的最重要因素。     

Biotechnology Development in Spain: A Change of Paradigm?

This article presents a quantitative and qualitative analysis of the Spanish biotechnology sector, including its scientific, business, policy and social aspects. The study differentiates two sub-sectors, considered to be the most representative: Biopharma and Agro-food. The results show that biotechnology development in Spain has entered a new phase. Traditionally, research and development in Spain followed an unstructured path built around regional spaces and driven by factors and influences external to Spain. However, the emergence of a fast-growing sector of spin-off companies from the public research system, specifically in the Biopharma sector, points to a change of model of development of the industry, on the national as well as the regional level. The data also show the key role which public policy plays in creating a suitable framework for innovation and point to the need of analyzing the influence of social and cultural factors on the development of the biotechnology sector.     

THE SOCIAL EFFICIENCY OF INSTRUMENTS FOR THE PROMOTION OF RENEWABLE ENERGIES IN THE LIBERALISED POWER INDUSTRY

ABSTRACT ** :  This paper compares the social efficiency of the two main regulatory instruments used to promote renewable energy sources in electricity generation (RES-E), taking into consideration their role in promoting the preservation of the climate. They are based on a purchase obligation and act either by price (feed-in tariffs) or by quantity (RES-E quotas). In their reference design, the instruments show different performances in several dimensions: market incentives intensity, control of the cost for consumers, safeguards of RES-E investments, and conformity with the new market regime of the electricity industry. The comparison shows that neither instrument offers an optimal solution in each of these dimensions. In particular, the intrinsic qualities of the quotas instrument that are put forward to mandate its adoption by the EU members are overestimated. A government will thus select an instrument in accordance with the relative importance of its objectives: environmental policy versus cost control by market pressure.     

铁路产业投资基金：控股权、 收益权与制度补偿

本文研究了铁路产业投资基金有关控股权、收益权与制度补偿等问题，运用实证分析法，对铁路投融资模式的选择及未来融资能力进行了探讨。本文的结论认为，铁路现有的投融资能力已难以支撑铁路大规模的建设需要，设立铁路产业投资基金势在必行。铁路行业的社会公益性、产权的单一性以及管理体制改革的滞后性，使得铁路产业投资基金具有一定的特殊性。发展铁路产业投资基金，首先需要优化基金的控股权，并通过相应的制度性补偿破解基金的收益瓶颈，实现以少量铁路资金带动数倍于己的社会资本投资铁路项目建设的目标。     

HOUSEHOLD NEEDS AND POVERTY: WITH APPLICATION TO SPAIN AND THE U.K.

We examine the sensitivity of U.K.-Spanish poverty comparisons to variations in the dependence of equivalence scales on household size and composition, using evidence from national household budget surveys. We sum up these comparisons using subjective confidence levels. Taking into account the dissimilarities in the distribution of incomes and needs across countries, we find, inter alia , that although the poor are typically more numerous in Spain than in Britain, the actual headcount differences may vary by up to 10 percent of the population when needs allowances are altered, even when kept the same across the two countries. Comparisons of poverty composition across the two countries are also very sensitive to the choice of equivalence scale parameters. Generally, however, the proportion of single adults among the poor is much less important in Spain than in Britain, the reverse being true for households with three or more adults.     

环境规制提高了制造业产业链前沿技术的吸收能力吗*

基于熊比特的创新理论,本文构建了环境规制与产业链前沿技术吸收能力的实证研究框架。本文首先将OECD成员和美国制造业产业发展构建为技术前沿面,以微观企业层面的数据为基础,通过稳健的TFP和价格加成的测度方法,量化了环境规制对产业链内企业绩效的影响效应。实证研究表明：环境规制能够有效地促进制造业产业链对于产业前沿技术的吸收能力,缩小与产业前沿技术面的发展差异,环境规制虽然在短期能够削弱企业的市场势力,但是在长期则能够显著地提升企业的市场势力,两者存在显著的U型曲线关系。据此,本文提出了优化产业链环境规制政策组合、提升产业链国际竞争力的对策建议。     

Regime changes and the impact of currency depreciations: the case of Spanish–US industry trade

Over the past half century, Western Europe has been part of varying currency regimes. Yet, whether under Bretton Woods, the European Monetary System, or the Euro, exchange-rate fluctuations have had an influence on these countries’ trade flows with the United States at the national and the industry level. This study looks at the case of Spain, examining the role of real exchange-rate fluctuations on trade with the United States for 74 industries. We find that the trade balances of only 40 industries are cointegrated with their macroeconomic determinants, but that 26 of these respond positively in the long run to a real depreciation. While industry characteristics do not seem to explain which industries are more likely to do this, we find that a relatively large share of industries in the Machinery sector see their trade balances improve after a depreciation.     

技术进步、结构变迁与中国铁路运输业生产率增长——基于Hicks-Moorsteen生产率指数的实证分析

利用具有完全可乘性的非参数Hi cks-Moorst een生产率指数,对中国铁路运输业在1 997-201 0年期间的全要素生产率进行测算和分解,并对区域铁路运输业生产率进行绝对收敛检验。研究发现,平稳快速的技术进步是样本期间内中国铁路运输业全要素生产率快速增长的主要原因,而投入产出混合效率的下降则是各时段某些地区综合效率下降的重要因素;全国及三大地区的铁路运输业生产率在统计上均存在着显著的绝对收敛。此外,还应用面板计量模型实证检验了结构变迁、资本深化和引致需求等诸多因素对于铁路运输业全要素生产率、技术进步以及效率变动的相关影响。研究发现,产业经济结构和铁路运输内部结构分别与铁路运输业生产率之间存在显著的正相关和负相关关系;资本深化程度则呈现出显著的负向影响;各种引致需求因素和铁路路网密度均呈现出显著的正向影响;国有铁路所占比例与公路设施等替代竞争因素则均呈现出不同程度的负相关影响。     

Railway development from the Japanese occupation period to the present – using Kaohsiung city as an example​​​​​​​​

This study intended to discuss the interactive influence of the emergence, transformation and decline of the railway in Kaohsiung Port on urban development, the population, the activities and the economy in the region during the period of 1895–2010, from the perspectives of urban planning, railway development, population and industry. This study used the crossover analysis method, and used the factors of railway development and urban planning, within a fixed time period, to explore the chain dependence relationship among the industry, the population, the regional economy and the railway stations in Kaohsiung city. This study found that urban planning, economic development, railway development and industry have an interactive influence on the overall urban development. Urban planning promotes the rapid growth of the population, and economic development propels the growth and shaping of the regional economy, thus increasing employment opportunities. In addition, the railway development process moves forward with urban development.