认证中介的效率基础:信托市场监管规则选择的例子

在资产管理领域中 ,投资者面对的信息劣势来源于实体项目收益的不确定性和理财机构专业水平的不确定性两个方面。我们的研究着力于分析 ,对项目风险和理财机构评估项目专业水平的信息缺乏导致的柠檬效应 ,以及引入认证中介机构后市场效率的改善。本文以信托市场为例 ,比较了认证中介面临不同市场结构时 ,效率后果的差异 ,说明完全竞争市场中的认证中介对信息不对称问题的解决更加有效。     

Contract Responsibility Systems and Productive Efficiency: A Case Study on State-Owned Enterprises in China

In late 1994, it became known that around two-thirds of the state-owned enterprises in China were running at a loss or yielding no profit. For more than a decade, China has been searching for a management system for state-owned enterprises to improve their efficiency. Various ‘contract responsibility systems’ have been tried. This paper studies the productive efficiency of enterprises and the impact of various types of management system on productive efficiency. A better understanding of past experiences should enable management reform to move ahead on solid ground. This study is particularly meaningful in view of the present bleak future of state-owned enterprises.     

Efficiency of hospitals in Germany: a DEA-bootstrap approach

Various attempts to assess the performance of German hospitals have generated a wide range of estimates regarding their efficiency. These attempts were based on different, often rather small data sets consisting of heterogeneous hospitals; the techniques applied range from simple benchmarking approaches to studies which employ Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA). Some studies report ‘dramatic differences in efficiency’ and propose savings potentials of 50%; others find an average efficiency in excess of 95% and characterize almost 75% of their observations as fully efficient. This study presents results for two datasets representative of two segments of the German hospital system. These segments comprise all hospitals that have one internal medicine and one surgery department; the hospitals are located in the old federal states of Germany. None of the hospitals provides tertiary care. DEA can be applied because all hospitals offer a comparable quality and range of services. The results were estimated with a DEA-bootstrapping procedure and suggest an average bias–corrected efficiency of around 80%.     

我国全要素生产率变化解构及区域收敛性分析

笔者利用Malmquist生产力指数将1991年~2007年间中国29个省(自治区、直辖市)的全要素增长率按照构成分解为技术变动和技术效率变动,并对区域技术效率的收敛性进行了分析。结果表明:(1)以1997年为界限,东部、中部和西部三大区域的全要素生产率和技术变动均呈现先升后降的趋势,而技术效率在整个研究期间都是逐步降低的。(2)技术变动解释了全要素增长率区域差异的75%,技术效率变动则解释了剩余的25%。1997年之前的全要素生产率及其构成因素的变化有利于缩小地区生产差距,1997年之后则成为区域差距扩大的重要原因之一。(3)29个省份之间以及三大区域内部各省份之间的技术效率随时间变化均呈现出明显的发散趋势。     

Integrating Sex and Drugs into the Principles Course: Market-Failures Versus Failures-of-Market Outcomes

The author's central argument in this article is that the current micro principles course is structured around an approach to policy that avoids many of the controversial but central issues of policy. These include (1) the interplay of moral issues and efficiency, (2) questions of consumer sovereignty, and (3) questions of the interrelation between measures of efficiency and income distribution. The current market-failure organizing framework of microeconomics principles textbooks excludes discussion of a broader set of failures of market outcomes: situations in which the market is doing everything it is supposed to be doing, but society is still unhappy with the result. The author suggests a dual market-failure and failure-of-market-outcome policy framework that encourages discussion of these broader issues.     

How substitutable is natural capital?

One of the recurring themes in the sustainability literature has been the extent to which a loss of natural capital can be made up for in welfare terms by an increase in other forms of capital. This issue was raised early on in the debate on sustainability by Pearce and has never really been resolved. This paper is an empirical attempt to measure the degree of substitutability between different forms of capital. A nested CES production function is used to allow flexibility in the estimated elasticities of substitution. Also, within this specification, natural resources and other inputs are combined in different levels of the function, thus allowing for different levels of substitutability. Institutional and economic indicators are also incorporated in the production function estimated. Results show that the elasticities derived from functions involving land resources were generally around one or greater, implying a fairly high degree of substitutability. Furthermore, changes in trade openness and private sector investment have a statistically significant and direct relationship on the efficiency of production and hence on income generation. No statistically significant relationship between income and any of the institutional indicators was found.      

An Assessment of Bank Merger Success in Germany

Abstract. German banks have experienced a merger wave since the early 1990s. However, the success of bank mergers remains a continuous matter of debate.This paper suggests a taxonomy to evaluate post-merger performance on the basis of cost and profit efficiency (CE and PE). I identify successful mergers as those that fulfill simultaneously two criteria. First, merged institutes must exhibit efficiency levels above the average of non-merging banks. Second, banks must exhibit efficiency changes between merger and evaluation year above efficiency changes of non-merging banks. I assess the post-merger performance up to 11 years after the mergers and relate it to the transfer of skills, the adequacy to merge distressed banks and the role of geographical distance. Roughly every second merger is a success in terms of either CE or PE. The margin of success in terms of CE is narrow, as efficiency differentials between merging and non-merging banks are around 1 and 2 percentage points. PE performance is slightly larger. More importantly, mergers boost in particular the change in PE, thus indicating persistent improvements of merging banks to improve the ability to generate profits.     

Technological catching-up and structural convergence among US industries

Using a non-parametric programming framework, we analyze technological catching-up and structural convergence among 63 North American industries over the period 1987–2016. These two convergence processes can be estimated by efficiency gaps decomposed into two components: a technical efficiency effect taking into account industry size heterogeneity and a structural component which highlights the impacts of an input-output deepening or expanding effect over time. Secondly, a panel data analysis is performed to link input and output price evolutions with changes in technological catching-up and structural convergence. Results clearly show that convergence is observed for both technical and structural components. The impact of these convergence processes on the US economy is estimated at around 0.56 percentage points of additional growth and could be related to the liberalization of international trade and the increase of import competition. Moreover, these two convergence processes have positive influence on final demand prices and profitability but negative impact on suppliers' prices while no effect can be established on employees' wages or capital providers' remunerations.     

中国钢铁行业能源内部的替代弹性分析

本文运用中国钢铁行业滞后一期的产出代替劳动和资本变量,把钢铁行业能源投入要素分解为煤炭、石油、天然气和电力的投入,建立了一个超越对数生产函数模型,用岭回归估算了中国钢铁行业各能源品种投入要素的产出弹性、替代弹性。结果表明:煤炭与石油、煤炭与天然气、煤炭与电力的替代弹性在1左右,中国钢铁行业可通过用石油、天然气、电力替代煤炭来实现其行业全要素能源效率的提高。     

Shock Persistence and Stochastic Trends in Australian Aggregate Output and Consumption*

The distinction between transitory and permanent shocks is at the centre of the debate on which class of models is best suited to represent economic variables: stationary models around a deterministic trend, or stationary models around a stochastic trend The debate u here focused on the Australian case. It is found that both aggregate output and consumption are characterized by stochastic trends, but without a transitory component This corresponds to a measure of shock persistence equal to one for both variables. For the specific case of aggregate output, this result may be interpreted as indicating the absence of business cycles     

Cost-efficiency and financial and geographical characteristics of banking sectors in the MENA countries

We utilize the translog stochastic frontier model to estimate the cost-efficiency levels for conventional and Islamic, Cooperation Council (GCC) and non-GCC banks in the Middle East and North African (MENA) countries. The estimated cost-efficiency averages around 77% for those MENA banks, but with slight changes in this score for the individual countries. The results also show that the banks in the GCC countries are the most efficient in the region and the efficiency scores for the conventional and Islamic banks are similar. Finally, the recent financial crisis seems to have a slight impact on the observed efficiency scores of those banks.     

Are bid preferences benign? The effect of small business subsidies in highway procurement auctions

Bid preferences in procurement auctions allow firms from an identifiable group an advantage in bidding against unfavored firms. While economic efficiency is expected to fall as a result of bid preferences, government procurement costs may either increase or decrease depending on the competitive response of favored and unfavored firms. This paper uses data from California auctions for road construction contracts, where small businesses receive a 5-percent bid preference in auctions for projects using only state funds and no preferential treatment on projects using federal aid. I show that while firms' bidding behavior matches theoretical predictions, procurement costs are 3.8 percent higher on auctions using preferences. The higher procurement cost in preference auctions is attributed to reduced participation by lower cost large firms.Structural estimates of latent firm costs are then used to evaluate how efficiency and the division of surplus between firms and the government are impacted by bid preferences. Firm profits are 3.1 percent lower under bid preferences, however this is overwhelmed by the efficiency loss due to reduced large firm participation. The efficiency loss conditional on firm participation is estimated to represent around 0.1 percent of overall procurement costs. Including the adverse effect of preferences on the participation of large firms increases the estimated efficiency loss to 3.6 percent, which represents 27 cents for each additional dollar awarded to small businesses through the program. Counterfactual simulations indicate that if participation were instead inelastic to bid preferences, the 5-percent bid preference would be close to the optimal level.     

Hospital efficiency under global budgeting: evidence from Taiwan

Global budgeting sets a predetermined cap to restrain health expenditure, but the fixed budget for medical providers could result in less efficient services. This paper measures hospital efficiency under global budgeting using simultaneous stochastic frontier analysis, stressing that physicians and dentists within a hospital were under separate budgets in Taiwan. Empirical results show that hospital efficiency was not improved after global budgeting, and physicians were found to be less efficient than dentists. The physicians and dentists within the same hospital were also found to be less integrated after global budgeting. Empirical results show that a joint analysis improves the estimation efficiency from separate analysis and suggest that the aggregate inefficiency came mostly from physicians in hospitals that were small, public, non-teaching, located in small markets and had a low market share. Except for public hospitals, physicians and dentists in the above hospitals were also found to be less integrated.     

Evolving Efficiency of Dually-Listed Indian Stocks: A Nonlinear Perspective

This paper examines the degree of efficiency of Indian ADRs and their underlying stocks trading in NSE/BSE from an adaptive markets hypothesis (AMH) perspective that is theoretically grounded in nonlinear serial dependence. For this purpose, the authors employ the windowed as well as the rolling hinich bicorrelation test procedures on ADRs and the underlying stocks issued by Indian firms such as, and limited to, Dr. Reddy’s Laboratories, HDFC Bank, ICICI Bank, Infosys, Wipro, Tata Motors, and Sterlite Industries. The study’s findings indicate that the degree of market efficiency witnessed at the level of individual scrips (ADRs or underlying domestic stocks) differs considerably from the degree of efficiency of the broader stock market in which such scrips trade. Further, the degree of efficiency witnessed amidst all US and Indian scrips considered for this study was found to be heterogeneous in nature and in-turn warrants a ranking approach. Lastly, the degree of efficiency witnessed in certain (not all) dually-listed Indian scrips was found to be homogenous across trading locations. However, this does not happen to be the case for all other dually-listed scrips considered for this study. The study’s findings bring to light the need for disaggregated, firm level market efficiency studies aimed at examining firm-level market efficiency at different trading locations and in-turn identifying the antecedents behind homogeneity (or lack-thereof) in firm-level market efficiency across multiple trading locations.

     

The role of environmental factors in water utilities’ technical efficiency. Empirical evidence from Spanish companies

This article computes input-specific scores of technical efficiency for a sample of water utilities located in the southern Spanish region of Andalusia. In addition, differences in efficiency between different operating environments are investigated. Concerning the debate about ownership and efficiency, we find that privately owned companies outperform public utilities in their management of labour. Furthermore, technical efficiency is found to be greater among firms located in highly populated areas and for utilities providing water services to tourist municipalities. Finally, no empirical evidence supporting the greater technical efficiency of consortia of water utilities, a managerial strategy strongly encouraged by regional politicians, is found.     

The symbiosis of scientific and technological innovation efficiency and economic efficiency in China — an analysis based on data envelopment analysis and logistic model

In this study, data envelopment analysis (DEA) is used to estimate the scientific and technological innovation efficiency and economic efficiency of China’s provinces and cities from 2000 to 2016. Based on these two efficiency measures, a logistic model is used to calculate their symbiosis. The results show that, while the high scientific and technological innovation efficiency are concentrated in the eastern coastal areas, the high economic efficiency spread from the eastern coastal zones to the inland regions. Further, these efficiencies have gradually shifted from independent development to symbiotic development between 2000 and 2007. From 2008 to 2011, the symbiotic point largely spread, emphasising the difference between regions. After 2012, the symbiotic point gathered around 0 again, indicating that external influences greatly influenced the symbiotic patterns in all regions. Finally, we introduce relevant policy recommendations based on the symbiotic condition.     

MEASUREMENT AND DETERMINANTS OF EFFICIENCY AND PRODUCTIVITY IN THE FURTHER EDUCATION SECTOR IN ENGLAND

This study uses data for nearly 200 further education providers in England to investigate the level of efficiency and change in productivity over the period 1999–2003. Using data envelopment analysis we find that the mean provider efficiency varies between 83 and 90 percent over the period. Productivity change over the period was around 12 percent, and this comprised 8 percent technology change and 4 percent technical efficiency change. A multivariate analysis is therefore performed, which shows that, in general, student-related variables such as gender, ethnic and age mix are more important than staff-related variables in determining efficiency levels. The local unemployment rate also has an effect on provider efficiency. The policy implications of the results are that further education providers should implement strategies to improve the completion and achievement rates of white males, and should also offer increased administrative support to teachers.     

Local government type and municipal bond ratings: what’s the relationship?

There is an extensive literature analysing the executive branch within local U.S. government jurisdictions. This has largely revolved around the differences between elected mayors and appointed city managers. Much of the academic work has considered the potential efficiency gains that may be associated with either form of government and comparative analyses between the two. However, the empirical literature has been divided regarding the relative efficiency of either form. This article attempts to add to that literature by considering how bond markets may perceive potential efficiencies that emerge from one executive type over the other by evaluating bond ratings for a sample of large municipal governments in the United States. Overall, the results suggest that municipalities headed by a city manager are associated with increased bond ratings (and thus lower borrowing costs), which may lend support that this form of administration is, on some margin, relatively more efficient than others. These results are robust to a number of specifications.     

水耦合装药爆破的研究现状与发展

从水耦合装药爆破的理论研究现状，得出孔壁周围压力能够得到增强，爆炸能量利用率高，破岩能力强；从水耦合装药爆破试验研究现状，得出爆破作用强度大、能量利用率高；从水耦合装药爆破现场应用研究现状，得出水耦合装药爆破还有能够提高原矿大块合格率和降低炸药单耗，从而达到安全增效、降耗的特点，并给水耦合装药爆破研究方向提出了几点建议。