Inflation, Shadow Prices and the EMU: Evidence From Greece

The paper examines whether inflation systematically distorts the informational content of price signals. A shadow cost function is specified, and the deviation of shadow from actual prices is modeled as a function of the level of economy‐wide inflation, as well as other conditioning variables like budget deficits and changes in inflation rate. It is found that inflation is associated with significant allocative costs in most Greek manufacturing sectors. Measures of cost gains resulting from Greece's convergence towards the EMU are provided and the policy implications are explored.     

Aggregation of Directional Distance Functions and Industrial Efficiency

Three main objectives are pursued in this paper. First, we intend to analyze the aggregation problem of directional distance functions from a constructive viewpoint. We provide necessary and sufficient conditions concerning the structural properties of the production technology and of the nature of groups of firms. Indeed, exact additive aggregation holds for a linear technology and for a direction solely defined in the output space. Second, since these conditions are somewhat restrictive, we are interested in providing a measure for the aggregation bias through the relationship between industrial and structural technical efficiency. Finally, we show that this aggregation bias is a lower bound for industrial allocative efficiency.     

中国大中城市生猪大规模养殖模式的成本效率分析

本文利用2002—2008年《全国农产品成本收益资料汇编》中有关大中城市生猪大规模养殖模式的成本收益数据,采用DEA方法测算与分析了中国大中城市生猪大规模养殖模式的成本效率(包括技术效率与配置效率)。得到如下结论:我国大中城市生猪大规模养殖模式的成本效率的改进可以通过提高技术效率与配置效率实现;2001—2007年我国大中城市生猪大规模养殖模式的技术效率与配置效率都较高,且有不断提高的趋势;2001—2007年我国大中城市生猪大规模养殖模式的配置效率总体上低于技术效率。     

What determines the productivity growth? Evidence from Chinese renewable energy firms by using Bayesian stochastic frontier approach

This paper examines the determinants of the total factor productivity (TFP) growth of Chinese renewable energy firms from 2011 to 2016, using a Bayesian stochastic frontier approach. Employing the “Bauer–Kumbhakar” decomposition method, the TFP growth is decomposed into the technology part and the market part. The empirical results reveal that the TFP improvement of Chinese renewable energy firms is mainly due to technical progress, followed by technical efficiency change. With regard to the market part, the misallocation of production factors has hindered the TFP growth. Our findings also indicate that only for large firms, the TFP growth can benefit from the scale economy effect. Compared with non‐state‐owned firms, state‐owned firms suffer much lower allocative efficiency.     

The persistent institutional effect of liberal colonialism: evidence from China’s financial policies

ABSTRACT

The effect of liberal colonialism on the allocation of capital persists to this day. We exploit the colonial history of China during 1896-1911 with qualitative evidence to measure liberal colonialism. We document that liberal colonialism promotes the subsequent efficiency of financial policies on the capital allocation in 2004 through the quality of economic institutions.     

中国粮食生产资源配置效率及其区域差异——基于动态Malmquist指数的经验

提高生活水平是人类社会永恒的主题,而资源配置的有效性是保证这一主题实现的必要手段。文章基于非参数生产前沿面理论,将资源配置效率分解为规模效率、纯技术效率和要素可处置度,分析中国粮食流通体制市场化以来,粮食生产资源配置效率及其时空特征、变化态势以及主要制约因素。结果表明,全国及其三大流域粮食生产资源投入要素并没有得到充分利用;但中国粮食生产资源配置效率的平均水平是上升和改善的;中国及其三大流域制约粮食生产资源配置效率的因素是产出规模效率。因此,政府应该加大力度以提高粮食生产资源配置效率,加快农业剩余劳动力转移,有效消除制约中国粮食生产资源配置效率的因素,最大程度地发挥规模效益;同时还应根据市场化进程中我国粮食生产所表现出来的新特点,适时做出进一步激励粮食生产、最大程度提高资源配置效率的政策安排,同时这也是弥补市场失灵、稳定粮价、促进粮食高产稳产的有效手段。     

Prices or Quantities Can Dominate Banking and Borrowing*

The possibility of intertemporal banking and borrowing of tradable permits is often viewed as tilting the various policy debates about optimal pollution control instruments towards favoring such time-flexible quantities. This paper shows that this view can be misleading, at least for the simplest dynamic extension of the original “prices versus quantities” information structure. The model of this paper allows firms to know and act upon the realization of uncertain future costs two full periods ahead of the regulators. For any given circumstance, the paper shows that either a fixed price or a fixed quantity is superior in expected welfare to time-flexible banking and borrowing. Furthermore, the standard original formula for the comparative advantage of prices over quantities contains sufficient information to completely characterize the regulatory role of intertemporal banking and borrowing. The logic and implications of these results are analyzed and discussed.     

Efficiency Measurement in Network Industries: Application to the Swiss Railway Companies

The persistence of increasingly high government subsidies in Switzerland’s railroads has led the federal and cantonal authorities to discussing the possibility of high-powered incentive contracts such as those based on cost efficiency benchmarking. Railways are however, characterized by a high degree of unobserved heterogeneity that could bias the efficiency estimates. This paper examines the performance of several panel data models to measure cost efficiency in network industries. The unobserved firm-specific effects and the resulting biases are studied through a comparative study of several stochastic frontier models, applied to a panel of 50 railway companies operating over a 13-year period.* The authors wish to thank Michael Crew and two anonymous referees for their helpful suggestions. Aurelio Fetz provided an excellent assistance, which is gratefully acknowledged. Any remaining errors are the responsibility of the authors.This revised version was published in June 2005 with corrections in the author affiliations.     

Inefficiencies in Public Environmental Services

The paper discusses efficiency issues in the public provision of environmental services, in particular waste water treatment. It is shown that in the face of increasing, respectively decreasing returns to scale the zero profit constraint of a cost minimizing public firm induces underinvestment, respectively overinvestment in public capacity compared with efficient allocation between public purification and effluent control by private polluters. X-inefficiency of the public firm counter-acts the inefficiency in allocation arising from overinvestment, and it reinforces the inefficiency in allocation in case of underinvestment in public purification capacity. As subsidy can bring down the user's charge imposed on sources, but it will also increase X-inefficiency. The subsidy counteracts underinvestment but reinforces overinvestment in public capacity.     

Estimating the market value of collegiate football players from professional factor shares

Although the level and growth of revenue in college football has drawn increasing public attention, reliable estimates of the value of college and associated rents remain elusive. Many players do not have easily observable performance statistics and there are significant complementarities. Using a simple estimation strategy based on professional factor shares and rooted in economic theory, we generate estimates of market value for college players across seven National Collegiate Athletic Association conferences using professional football and basketball salaries from 2011 to 2013 as shadow prices. With this method, market value of an average starting football player in a Bowl Championship Series (BCS) conference ranges from $120,000 to $1.7 million per year. The value of superstar players may exceed $4 million per year. We find that rents can flow from the institutions to players in some cases at relatively low-revenue institutions outside the BCS.     

混业经营条件下银行集中与效率--基于面板单位根与面板协整分析

基于亚洲国家的面板数据,运用面板单位根与面板协整方法研究混业经营下银行集中与银行效率的关系.理论研究表明银行集中会带来两种相反作用的效应:规模经济和专业化经济,银行集中度提高所带来规模经济上升促进银行效率;相反专业化经济下降损害银行效率.实证分析(1)支持理论所表明的均衡关系,银行效率与银行集中等变量存在协整关系.(2)混业经营条件下,银行集中与银行效率有显著的正相关关系,规模经济效应大于专业化经济效应.因此混业条件下,提高银行效率必须寻求有效途径,加强竞争,适度提高商业银行的集中度.     

国际商品价格波动与中国出口贸易的能源成本:一个实证分析

中国的出口贸易面临着国际市场能源价格快速上涨与工业品价格滞涨的双重压力。本文对2002—2007年中国出口商品所包含的能源成本进行的估算发现,以2002年不变价计算的能源成本在5年间增长了7.53倍。与此对应,能源成本在中国出口总额中所占的比例从2002年的8.4%上升到了2007年的21.2%。通过计算价格弹性发现,国际市场上能源相对价格的波动是引起我国能源成本率上升的主要因素。能源成本快速上升大大降低了我国出口商品的利润空间,表明我国的外贸质量在下降,这主要是由国际市场进出口价格体系以及我国出口商品结构不合理所造成的。     

影子经济影响绿色创新效率的门槛效应

首先构建包含影子经济和绿色创新效率的微观模型,探讨影子经济对绿色创新效率的影响机理,研究发现,影子经济与绿色创新效率之间存在非线性关系。然后,选取“自主创新”和“两型社会”示范区的湖南省地级市面板数据,采用多指标多原因模型(MIMIC)测算影子经济和DEA-SBM模型度量绿色创新效率,结果表明:2000—2016年,湖南省影子经济和绿色创新效率均呈不断上升趋势。基于此构建面板门槛回归模型,实证检验影子经济影响绿色创新效率的非线性关系,实证结果显示:影子经济与绿色创新效率之间存在双重门槛,且呈现出倒“N”型特征;此外,政府管制、交通条件、受教育程度、外商直接投资水平、产业结构、城市化水平也不同程度地影响绿色创新效率。     

Free banking and the stability of early joint-stock banking

Proponents of free banking argue that systems adopting theirpolicies will be stable. In this paper, we present evidencesuggesting that, in general, early joint-stock banking systemsdid not adopt free banking, and those that did proved to beunstable. In particular, we demonstrate that those systems imposingregulations were generally stable. We rationalise the successof regulation as a pragmatic solution to the time-inconsistencyproblem arising from the peculiar nature of the banking firm.Notably, we find that the ‘golden age’ of free bankingstability can be attributed to restrictions on the organisationalform of the early banking firm.     

政府管制与房价持续上升

本文认为房价持续上升的原因是政府对房地产市场的资本进入限制。消费者对住房的需求旺盛。拉高了房价，房地产公司的利润丰厚。问题是房地产公司为什么能一直保持丰厚的利润？其原因就是政府对房地产市场的资本进入限制所造成的房地产市场的垄断。本文比较了都存在信息不对称性的家庭装修市场和房地产市场不同的市场结构，不同的发展结果。最终得出结论：只有房地产市场的激励竞争才能解决房价持续上涨的根本问题．所以在强化政府这只看得见的手的作用的同时，不要抑制了市场这只看不见的手的作用。