Using data envelopment analysis approach to estimate the health production efficiencies in China

By using Data Envelopment Analysis approach, we treat the health production system in a certain province as a Decision Making Unit (DMU), identify its inputs and outputs, evaluate its technical efficiency in 1982, 1990 and 2000 respectively, and further analyze the relationship between efficiency scores and social-environmental variables. This paper has found several interesting findings. Firstly, provinces on frontier in different year are different, but provinces far from the frontier keep unchanged. The average efficiency of health production has made a significant progress from 1982 to 2000. Secondly, all provinces in China can be divided into six categories in terms of health production outcome and efficiency, and each category has specific approach of improving health production efficiency. Thirdly, significant differences in health production efficiencies have been found among the eastern, middle and western regions in China, and among the eastern and middle regions. At last, there is significant positive relationship between population density and health production efficiency but negative relationship (not very significant) between the proportions of public health expenditure in total expense and efficiency. Maybe it is the result of inappropriate tendency of public expenditure. The relationship between abilities to pay for health care services and efficiency in urban areas is opposite to that in rural areas. One possible reason is the totally different income and public services treatments between rural and urban residents. Therefore, it is necessary to adjust health policies and service provisions which are specifically designed to different population groups. __________ Translated from Jingji Yanjiu 经济研究 (Economic Research Journal), 2006, (7): 92–105     

Microfinance in Latin America and the Caribbean: the curse and blessing of ethnic diversity

ABSTRACT

Latin America is one of the most ethnically diverse regions in the world, and is also characterized by high levels of poverty. As a poverty alleviation tool, microfinance emerged in the region and has significantly evolved over the years. However, the implications of the region’s high diversity on the performance of microfinance institutions (MFIs) are however not known. We attempt to fill this gap by providing evidence on the association between MFI performance and indices of ethnic and linguistic fractionalization. Our findings suggest that fractionalization promotes MFI financial performance but is detrimental to outreach depth. These results are robust to various sensitivity tests.     

Macroeconomic determinants of bank spread in Latin America: a recent analysis with special focus on Brazil

Latin America has one of the highest interest margins in the world; furthermore, credit to private sector and bank spread are negatively correlated. Brazil, in particular, has one the highest bank spreads in the world – it is even so far the highest one among the Latin American economies. Indeed, despite of the decline in interest rates since mid‐1999, bank spread in Brazil continues to be extremely high in international terms, and in recent years has stood at around 40 percentage points. This paper intends to explore the discussion in the recent literature on bank spread about what determines bank spread in Latin America, with special focus on the Brazilian case, seeking in particular but not exclusively to analyze the macroeconomic determinants of bank spread in recent times.     

考虑能源、环境因素的中国工业效率评价——基于SBM模型的省级数据分析

如何在提高技术效率的同时,降低工业的资源环境负荷,实现经济与资源环境的多赢,是摆在全世界面前的严峻课题。本文采用SBM模型,利用线性规划技术,对1998-2008年资源环境约束下我国工业的环境效率展开实证分析。我们发现,总体上,在资源环境约束与技术进步的共同作用下,全国SBM环境效率微降;从静态观察,地区尤其是西部与东部沿海地区之间,协调性水平存在明显差距,从动态观察,沿海与中部地区工业与资源环境协调性变化不大,而东北与西部地区均出现了阶段性下降。究其原因:经济结构重型化、工业企业规模过大制约SBM环境效率的提高;生活水平提高、自主创新与技术引进、外商直接投资则有利于工业与资源环境协调发展。     

The future of the future: Strategic foresight in Latin America

With few differences in timing, future studies in Latin America were initiated with a linear conception of reality. Orchestrated with techniques such as the Delphi, future studies were supported by mathematical principles of probability. Several countries have surpassed this stage while moving into strategic foresight. Strategic foresight analyzes the future as a multiple reality. In other words, it means thinking differently and not reading reality in a linear manner. It means accepting that there is not one future but several futures and that one question could have more than one answer.This change has demanded a shift in mentality. The presence of the disciplines in universities is of vital importance. For example, the Technological Institute of Monterrey (Mexico) and the Universidad Externado de Colombia (Bogota) offer foresight and strategy programs at the graduate level.This article describes how different individuals, groups, agencies and institutions in Latin America have emerged thanks to the support provided by the science and technology governmental agencies of each country. The author provides examples from different countries including Colombia, Brazil, Chile and Mexico. Currently, strategic foresight is slowly gaining recognition and acceptance as a compass for productive sectors and as a generator of competitiveness.However, despite the contributions of strategic foresight, Latin American countries, with the exception of some of the above-mentioned countries, have struggled to take off into the future. The role of strategic foresight can become the driving force behind this awakening, if the challenge of linking global trends with local contextualization through scenarios is accepted.     

Wealth in Latin America: Evidence from Chile,Colombia, Mexico and Uruguay

Drawing on recently-available microdata from financial surveys, this paper presents harmonized indicators for household wealth, its components, and its determinants in four Latin American countries (Chile, Colombia, Mexico and Uruguay), using Spain as a comparison benchmark. The paper analyzes the relationship between wealth indicators and sociodemographic characteristics of household heads (age, education, gender, marital status). For Uruguay, we are also able to analyze wealth patterns and intergenerational mobility (inheritance, family businesses and parental education).     

Unfolding Patterns of Unpaid Household Work in Latin America

Although Colombia, Mexico, Peru, and Uruguay show similar empirical patterns in terms of time women devote to unpaid work, they also present important variations in how unpaid work is distributed between men and women. Using time-use surveys for the 2007–10 period, this study finds a uniform pattern across the four countries regarding the main individual-level variables related to the allocation of unpaid work. When decomposing the gender gap in hours devoted to unpaid work, most of the difference cannot be attributed to variations in observable characteristics of men and women: the unexplained part of the gap is the dominant part. Results suggest that both the strength of traditional gender roles and existing welfare architecture are relevant factors in understanding variations in how unpaid work is distributed between men and women in these four countries. The results reaffirm that powerful interventions are needed to shift gender norms about unpaid work.     

Standardised capital stock estimates in Latin America: a 1950-94 update

Capital stock estimates are used extensively in many areas ofeconomic research, in spite of both theoretical and practicaldifficulties with respect to their use, estimation and meaning.The lack of comparable capital stock estimates in Latin Americahas hindered analysis of economic development in the regionand comparisons with other developed and developing countries.Standardised gross and net fixed capital stock estimates forthe 1950-94 period are presented for seven Latin American countries:Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, Mexico and Venezuela.The methodology employed is the 'perpetual inventory method'which estimates capital stocks as a weighted sum of past investmentflows. Several methodological issues are discussed, especiallydepreciation and service life estimation. Capital stocks havebeen disaggregated in machinery and equipment, non-residentialand residential structures with services lives of 15, 40 and50 years respectively.     

Deregulation, consolidation and banks efficiency in Singapore: Evidence from event study window approach and Tobit analysis

A three-year window analysis together with the Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) approach is employed to investigate the effects of mergers and acquisitions on the Singapore banking groups’ efficiency. The results suggest that the merger has resulted in a higher Singapore banking groups’ mean overall efficiency. We do not find evidence of more efficient acquirers compared to the targets and that the acquiring banks’ mean overall efficiency tends to improve from the merger with a more efficient bank. The Tobit regression results suggest that bank profitability has positive impact on bank efficiency, whereas poor loan quality has negative influence on bank performance. (JEL: G21, D24) All findings, interpretations, and conclusions are solely those of the authors’ and do not necessarily represent the views of the institutions to which they belong. We would like to thank the anonymous referees for their comments and suggestions. The remaining errors are of our own.     

Monetary union in Latin America: an assessment in the context of optimum currency area

The article applies the optimum currency area (OCA) theory to Latin America to assess the potential of a monetary union in Latin America and in its major existing regional trade agreements (RTAs). According to OCA criteria we find that Latin America is far from being an optimum currency area, as its countries’ exposure to asymmetric shocks is high and their capacities to adjust in response to macroeconomic disturbances are limited. Using a panel of 20 Latin American countries from 1990 to 2014, we apply the dynamic OLS estimation techniques to estimate the costs and benefits of a potential monetary union in Latin America and in its various RTAs. to estimate the costs and benefits of a potential monetary union in Latin America and in its various RTAs. We find that the costs are high, because Latin America’s economies are vulnerable to severe macroeconomic disturbances and its RTAs differ significantly in their response to negative demand shocks. Most of the monetary efficiency gains are shown to be the result of a common restrictive monetary policy which would result in higher FDI inflows and, to a more limited extent, increased GDP, both overall and per capita. Although Central American countries are shown to be most suitable for further monetary integration, we conclude that Latin American countries should head first towards greater economic and political integration.     

Impact of sovereign rating changes on stock market co-movements: the case of Latin America

We aim to determine if long-term foreign currency sovereign rating assessments (from S&P, Moody’s and Fitch) for the advanced emerging Latin American countries (Brazil, Mexico and Chile) have any significant effect on the correlation between their stock market returns in the last decade. With that purpose in mind, we obtain the time-varying correlation by cDCC modeling using ARX-APARCH filtered returns. The analysis shows that the rating changes do not have a significant effect on the correlations in general. After testing for robustness, we reveal that an upgrade to an investment grade level for a country is more likely to positively diversify it from others in the region instead of creating a common positive regional investment environment. Results have important implications for investors and policymakers.     

Beyond Altruism and Self-interest: The Growing Importance of External Factors in the Determination of Remittances Flowing to Latin America

Remittances have become an important and reliable source of funds for many developing countries, affecting the well-being of its population and the performance of their economies. However, challenging conditions in the economies were migrant workers reside has unveiled the increasing importance of external factors in determining their ability to send money back home. This study relies on migration patterns to create migration and distance-weighted measures of external condition, and uses the Arellano and Bond dynamic panel methodology to gauge the relevance of these external macroeconomic conditions during the 1995–2015 period for a set of 18 Latin American countries. The results indicate that external conditions, irrespective of the way in which they are measured, have a positive and statistically significant effect on the amount of remittances flowing into the region, and that such effect go beyond differences in levels, as relative differences prove to be important as well. While the results also show that remittances are inversely related to the income level of receiving countries and that these flows respond positively to better economic performance and higher interest rates in the receiving country, such altruistic and self-interest factors are less consistent than the one found for foreign economic activity.     

中国财产保险业效率实证分析

据中国财产保险公司1999年-2003年相关数据统计，通过运用数据包络分析方法（DEA）对各家公司的技术效率的测度和实证分析，表明我国财产保险公司5年内综合技术效率呈锯齿形渡动，极不稳定。在对技术效率进行分解后发现，投入要素用拥挤测度和纯技术效率值比较接近生产前沿面，且规模效率值的变化是造成综合技术效益波动的主要因素。     

中国保险机构资金运用效率研究:基于资源型两阶段DEA模型

本文采用中国保险机构1999—2006年共246个样本数据,通过建立资源型两阶段DEA的效率评估模型,测算了保险机构资金运用过程的两阶段效率水平和变化轨迹。研究发现,中国保险业无论是资金筹集阶段和资金收益阶段的子效率,还是资金运用全过程的整体效率,得分都不高,全行业仍有大量的资源因管理不善而被浪费掉。与外资机构相比,中资保险机构在资金运用上的整体效率优势表现出"V"型趋势,具体表现为中资保险机构在资金筹集阶段的效率优势不再显著,在资金收益阶段则被外资机构反超并表现出一定效率差距。进一步的分析发现,虽然中资寿险机构在资金筹集阶段的效率占有一定优势,但在收益阶段的效率亟待提高,而中资财险机构在资金筹集阶段和收益阶段均面临着相当严峻的考验。     

我国主要沿海港口的动态效率评价

本文利用数据包络分析法(DEA)对我国50家主要沿海港口1999—2002年的经营效率进行总体分析与评价,并利用Malmquist生产率指数对这些沿海港口的效率变动进行分析与评价。研究结果表明,我国沿海港口存在严重的投入拥挤与资源浪费现象;同时,各区域的沿海港口在总体效率、纯技术效率与规模效率方面存在地区差异,沿海港口的纯技术效率在下降。这些结果表明,要从根本上提高港口经营效率,一方面,必须整合港口资源,防止盲目扩大港口的基础设施;另一方面,通过港口与其他系统协调发展来消除影响港口效率提高的因素。     

Measuring the efficiency of health systems of OECD countries by data envelopment analysis

This study aims to assess the efficiency of health sectors of 34 OECD countries by employing input-oriented data envelopment analysis (DEA) method both under constant and variable returns to scale assumptions. In the analysis, the number of doctors, number of patient beds and health expenditure per capita were used as input variables and life expectancy at birth and infant mortality rate were used as outputs. At the first stage, DEA analysis was performed for 34 countries, and at the second stage outlier 8 countries were eliminated to form a more homogeneous group and to achieve more accurate results. 11 of the 26 countries were found to have efficient health systems, and there is room for efficiency improvements in health sector in the remaining 15 countries.     

“中国制造2025”上市公司技术创新效率评价

以2012-2014年“中国制造2025”上市公司相关数据为样本,运用数据包络分析方法,从创新效率分析、规模收益分析、有效性分析、行业分析及投影分析5个角度评价了上市公司的技术创新效率。实证研究结果表明：“中国制造2025”上市公司技术创新效率整体波动较大且水平偏低;上市公司研发资源配置不合理;不同行业、不同公司之间的创新效率差异较为明显。最后,就提高“中国制造2025”上市公司技术创新效率提出了相关政策建议。     

Spectrum allocation in Latin America: An economic analysis

As elsewhere, wireless markets play a crucial role in Latin American economic growth. Mobile telephone networks increasingly provide the communications infrastructure that has largely been lacking throughout the region. Yet, governments have generally made only modest allocations of bandwidth available to Latin American wireless operators, either absolutely (in terms of spectrum each country could allocate at modest opportunity cost) or relative to countries in North America, Asia and the European Union. Using an empirical model estimated on mobile phone data for international markets, we show that very large social benefits are available to countries that make more spectrum available for mobile phone markets. We conduct simulations using our calibrated model to provide lower bounds for country-by-country gains from larger allocations. We also discuss the impact of alternative regulatory regimes on the feasibility to achieve those social gains.     

Trade Liberalisation and the Trade‐Off Between Growth and the Balance of Payments in Latin America

The broad purpose of trade liberalisation is to raise the rate of growth of countries on a sustainable basis, consistent with the achievement of other macroeconomic objectives. In this article we consider whether trade liberalisation in 17 countries of Latin America has improved the trade‐off between gross domestic product (GDP) growth and the trade balance, allowing the countries to grow faster without sacrificing foreign exchange. We find that in the aftermath of liberalisation, the majority of countries did grow faster, but at the expense of a deteriorating trade balance. Testing formally for the impact of trade liberalisation in a full model of trade balance determination, we find that only in Chile and Venezuela has the trade‐off unequivocally improved. In other countries there has been a significant deterioration or no change. Nine out of the 17 countries have grown faster post‐liberalisation than pre‐liberalisation but, except for Chile and Venezuela, at the expense of a wider trade or current account deficit.     

On the evolution of technological specialization patterns in emerging countries: comparing Asia and Latin America

This paper explores the role of technological opportunity and cumulativeness in the evolution of technological specialization patterns (TSP) in catching-up processes. Concretely, I assume that opportunity induces mobility while cumulativeness leads to diversification and stability. The empirical analysis uses patent data indicators for nine Asian and Latin American countries between 1978 and 2012. The paper shows that, during economic liberalization (although with different timings), emerging countries caught up and redefined the path of technological accumulation for Asian and Latin American countries. With the exception of Hong Kong, all the countries increased their technology share, but they ran in different directions. Asian countries made greater relative efforts in dynamic technologies, while Latin American countries focused on stagnant technologies. In this sense, Asian countries achieved a more successful performance, building new technological bases and taking a technological leap in some of the more dynamic technologies. Meanwhile, Latin American countries left their technological bases unchanged. The paper also shows that, at the beginning of the catching-up cycle, the TSPs were turbulent. Afterwards, cumulativeness in the technological choice induced the diversification and stabilization of the TSPs.