Joint estimation of technology choice and technical efficiency: an application to organic and conventional dairy farming

This paper proposes an econometric framework for joint estimation of technology and technology choice/adoption decision. The procedure takes into account the endogeneity of technology choice, which is likely to depend on inefficiency. Similarly, output from each technology depends on inefficiency. The effect of the dual role of inefficiency is estimated using a single-step maximum likelihood method. The proposed model is applied to a sample of conventional and organic dairy farms in Finland. The main findings are: the conventional technology is more productive, ceteris paribus; organic farms are, on average, less efficient technically than conventional farms; both efficiency and subsidy are found to be driving forces behind adoption of organic technology.     

劳动定额在机械制造行业中的运用

劳动定额是指在一定的生产技术组织条件下,采用科学合理的方法,对生产单位合格产品或完成一定工作任务的活劳动消耗量所预先规定的限额。机械加工企业应根据企业实际情况合理采用定额的编制方法,以满足生产和管理需要。文章阐述了劳动定额基本概念和主要作用,劳动定额的基本形式、制定方法,以及在中国燃气涡轮研究院制造部的具体应用。     

Productivity and efficiency scores of dairy farms: the case of Turkey

A greater productivity level in milk production is the best answer to the increasing demand for this essential food. The main material of this study, which aims to determine the total factor productivity (TFP) and efficiency of dairy farms, consists of 100 surveys chosen from 1,429 registered farms of the Cattle Breeders Association of Aydin-Turkey by means of stratified sampling in May, 2006. The TFP decreases with farm size which shows that large farms fail to utilize their labour resource in full. In data envelopment analysis 15 farms work with an efficiency rate of 100%. The lowest efficiency rate was found to be 43%; the highest one was 100% and the mean rate was 79%. The efforts to improve efficiency levels should include participatory extension and coordinated research programs that aim to increase the productivity and efficiency levels of these small farms in the long run.     

The efficiency of Spanish arable crop organic farms,a local maximum likelihood approach

The methodologies that have been used in existing research to assess the efficiency with which organic farms are operating are generally based either on the stochastic frontier methodology or on a deterministic non-parametric approach. Recently, Kumbhakar et al. (J Econom 137:1–27, 2007) proposed a new nonparametric, stochastic method based on the local maximum likelihood principle. We use this methodology to compare the efficiency ratings of organic and conventional arable crop farms in the Spanish region of Andalucía. Nonparametrically encompassing the stochastic frontier model is especially useful when comparing the performance of two groups that are likely to be characterized by different production technologies.

Re-thinking employment quotas in the UAE

Emiratization is a government policy aimed at increasing the share of native workers in the UAE private sector. A distinguishing feature of Emiratization is the use of employment quotas for native workers so that the policy objective is met. We study the impact of the labor quota and find that its effect on native employment is ambiguous. While an increase in the employment quota for native workers increases the share of native workers, it also reduces the industry's production and employment of labor. The policy implications of the employment quota are significant, and ways to mitigate its negative impact include calibrating an optimal quota to maximize native employment, implementing the quota in industries facing less elastic demand for outputs and in industries where native and expatriate labor are closer substitutes.     

Environmental efficiency measurement and the materials balance condition

The materials balance condition is a fundamental adding up condition, which essentially says that: “what goes in must come out”. In this paper we argue that a number of the recently developed methods of incorporating pollution measures into standard productive efficiency models may be inconsistent with this fundamental condition. We propose an alternative method that involves the incorporation of the materials balance concept into the production model in a similar manner to which price information is normally incorporated. This produces a new environmental efficiency measure that can be decomposed into technical and allocative components, in a similar manner to the conventional cost efficiency decomposition. The approach is illustrated with the case of phosphorus emission on Belgian pig-finishing farms, using data envelopment analysis (DEA) methods. Our results indicate that a substantial proportion of nutrient pollution on these farms can be abated in a cost reducing manner.     

福建省内河港散杂货码头劳动定额标准实证研究

对货物装卸的劳动定额进行研究，作为提高港口作业效率、对员工进行激励的基础性工作，在港口间竞争日益激烈的今天，越发显得重要。文中通过使用统计分析法、工作日写实法、经验估值等方法，依托信息系统，以福建省闽江口内散杂货码头企业中货源较为稳定的钢材、石板材、铁矿石、大方料石、煤炭五种主要货种为例，对其装卸工艺流程、定员情况、定额标准进行定量的研究、分析，形成定额数据，为国内同类港口企业推动劳动定额工作、提高企业生产水平，提供方法参考。     

基于时间测定法的工时定额标准化研究

工时定额是企业生产经营需要的一项基础性数据,一套科学合理的工时定额对企业合理安排生产、公平按劳分配、缩短生产(维修)周期等都有着至关重要的作用。在规范工时测定程序的基础上,就如何利用时间测定法对工时定额进行标准化进行了研究,得到了一套从工时测定开始至获得标准工时的科学方法与程序,以及标准工时的量化公式。     

Quotas,Productivity, and Prices: The Case of Anchovy Fishing

I exploit a 2009 reform that introduced individual fishing quotas (catch shares) for Peruvian anchovy—the largest fishery in the world—to assess the causal impact of production quotas on within‐firm productivity and market prices. Unique features of the data allow me to create two alternative counterfactuals: (i) anchovy fishing operations in a region of the country that was mandated to implement quotas with a delay, and (ii) variation in quota allocations across ships. I find that quotas do not increase within‐asset or within‐firm productivity in quantities. Instead, a 200% increase in anchovy prices benefits extraction firms through higher revenues, consistent with two mechanisms enacted by individual fishing quotas: more orderly industry operations reducing excess supply and an increase in bargaining power of extraction firms with respect to fish‐processing. Several market characteristics across geographies differentially affect market prices after the quota regime. Supplementary evidence on fewer operational infractions, higher product quality, and a lower banking delinquency observed during the quota regime suggests the existence of efficiency gains rather than purely rent transfers.     

Should tariff-rate quotas mimic quotas?: Implications for trade liberalization under a supply management policy

This article compares price-equivalent import tariffs and quotas when domestic production is controlled by a marketing board with the power to restrict domestic supply through production quotas. Canada's dairy industry is supply-managed and protected by TRQs to achieve a domestic price target. TRQs are currently set to mimic the import quotas they replaced. However, they could be set to mimic tariffs instead. We provide welfare rankings between (domestic) price-equivalent quotas and tariffs under various assumptions regarding the powers of the marketing board to shed new light on liberalization in the Canadian dairy industry. When the marketing board is allowed to export, quotas can never be welfare-inferior to price-equivalent tariffs when transport costs between the two markets are insignificant. Import licensing methods have important implications for the ranking of the two trade instruments and the ranges of feasible domestic prices. If the marketing board controlled all import licenses and there was no rule preventing it from sleeping on part or all of its import licenses, the quota regime would support a small range of high feasible prices. In contrast, when the quota is a minimum access commitment, there are high prices under the tariff regime that are not feasible under the quota regime.     

基于费效分析的航材有寿件消耗定额模型

航材消耗定额一直利用经验制定,实用性较差。根据有寿件的故障规律,将有寿件的消耗定额分为到寿故障消耗定额和随机故障消耗定额两部分,分别建立了相应的数学模型。其中,随机故障消耗定额模型以航材系统满足率为目标,给定保障经费和最低满足率为约束条件,最优解即为经过优化配置的随机故障消耗定额。与传统的消耗定额制定方法相比,本模型具有良好的科学性和实用性。     

A Production Model With Firm-Specific Temporal Variation in Technical Inefficiency: With Application to Spanish Dairy Farms

This paper introduces a stochastic frontier production model which accommodates firm-specific temporal variation in technical inefficiency. Unlike Cornwell, Schmidt and Sickles (1990), technical inefficiency is not modeled through the intercept of the production frontier, but through an error component model. The proposed model is a generalization of the Battese and Coelli (1992) model, which imposed a common temporal pattern upon all firms. In our application involving Spanish dairy farms, we find that the new model is preferred to the Battese and Coelli (1992) model on the basis of the likelihood ratio test. Results provide a new source of information on the different patterns of technical inefficiency change among the 82 farms in the sample.     

巴氏奶冷链物流配送中心选址模型

物流业的发展和人们生活水平的不断提高,对巴氏奶冷链物流提出了更高的要求。而巴氏奶冷链物流配送中心作为连接巴氏奶生产企业和零售商的中间桥梁,对保证巴氏奶的供应量的品质安全上起着极其重要的作用。因此,科学合理地选择巴氏奶冷链物流配送中心的地点是至关重要的。本文采用了基于计算以选址的土地费用和运输费用为主的综合费用的选址模型,对巴氏奶冷链物流配送中心进行选址决策。     

企业定额与施工定额概念辨析

实行工程量清单计价要求企业自主报价,企业定额的作用变得十分重要。但许多人将"企业定额"与"施工定额"的概念混淆。本文从概念、作用、编制水平及项目设置等几方面对二者进行了比较分析,得出结论:企业定额和施工定额是施工企业内部定额的两个层次,有着不同的作用。     

Dynamic stochastic analysis of the farm subsidy-efficiency link: evidence from France

The existing literature on the subsidy-efficiency nexus is almost exclusively based on static modelling and thus ignores the inter-temporal nature of production decisions. The present paper contributes to this literature by developing a dynamic stochastic frontier model, which is then estimated using a sample of French farms over the period 1992–2011. For comparison purposes, the static counterpart of the dynamic model is also estimated. The results indicate that, in the dynamic case as well as in the static one, public subsidies are negatively associated with farm technical efficiency. Nevertheless, these linkages are found to be weak, and they are much weaker when dynamic aspects are taken into account.     

海洋工程工时定额编制与软件开发

在项目中通过对已有工时定额数据的使用,对几个平台的计划工时与实际工时的比较和分析,并结合工程项目的实际情况,开发了一套适用于海洋工程的工时定额体系,涉及到海洋石油开发建设所包括的结构、配管、电气、仪表、通讯、机械、暖通空调、安全、保温、舾装、涂装、脚手架、检验等专业,并利用Access数据库开发形成工时估算系统。     

Marketing challenges and organic farming in India—Does farm size matter?

The growing health consciousness among the consumer and increasing awareness about organic food has led numerous opportunities for organic producers. Along with opportunities, there also arise challenges; thus, the main purpose of this study is to explore the marketing challenges faced by the organic and conventional farmers in India. The study also aims to examine the differential association of the marketing challenges on various farm sizes. The sample comprised 400 Indian farmers including both conventional and organic producers. A sequential form of mixed‐method design, that is, qualitative–quantitative, was applied. In the first phase, an exploratory study was convened to find out the marketing challenges among organic and conventional farmers. In the second (quantitative) phase, binomial and multinomial logistics regression was applied to ascertain the differential impact of the marketing challenges on the type of farming and different farm sizes. The results of the qualitative analysis revealed six major marketing challenges faced by the farmers, namely, lack of warehousing facility, lack of price information, inadequate demand for crop, costly transportation, market price variations, and lack of government support. The results suggest there are significant differences in the marketing challenges faced by the conventional and organic farmers across farm sizes. This study is among the few to examine the marketing challenges of organic and conventional farmers in a developing country such as India. The findings will help different stakeholders to frame policies and build strategies to promote organic farming, which will lead to sustainable and responsible consumption in India.     

The Social and Environmental Costs of Milk Production: Trends and Resistance in Vermont

The power of social institutions to influence patterns of behavior is evident in the dairy industry. Secondary data from the National Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS) show that dairy operators adapt to market pressures by expanding the size of their herds and/or adopting technologies that intensify milk production. A grounded theory approach using primary data collected in interviews with organic dairy operators reveals active resistance to the power imposed upon them by social institutions.     

Product diversification,production systems,and economic performance in U.S. agricultural production

The U.S. agricultural sector is experiencing significant structural change. Farm size is rising and activities are broadening, including more off-farm employment, implying economic incentives for larger and more diversified farms, and complementarities among agricultural netputs. We quantify such patterns for farms in the corn belt, by measuring scale economies, and output and input contributions and jointness. We estimate the multi-output and -input production technology by stochastic frontier techniques applied to output and input distance functions. We find that both scope and scale economies have important economic performance implications, and that an input-oriented framework including off-farm income best characterizes agricultural production.     

LOWER OIL PRICES AND THE UK ECONOMY

Demand for oil remains weak, and OPEC production is running ahead of quota in most member countries, so the possibility that oil prices could fall in the near future has increased. In this Forecast Release we examine the medium-term impact on the UK economy of lower oil prices. We find that, if the government does not intervene to protect the exchange rate, there is an immediate stimulus to output growth. The inflation rate, though, is 1–2 percentage points higher after three years.