Returns to scale in the United States intercity bus industry

This paper has taken into account the a priori restrictions available from neoclassical cost theory in evaluating the relationship between cost and the level of output and input prices for U.S. intercity bus service. A general translog cost function is used which allows tests of the degree of returns to scale, homotheticity and non-constant elasticities of substitution among input pairs. Major empirical findings are: (i) the intercity bus service can be modeled by a homothetic production function, (ii) operators can substitute labor for capital by using vehicles more extensively, (iii) there are potential economies of scale in the provision of intercity bus service, and (iv) the Cobb-Douglas functional form used in earlier studies of the industry is inappropriate.     

The translog production function: Some evidence from establishment data

This paper uses cross-section data from individual establishments to estimate directly, i.e., without using side conditions, translog functions for 44 four-digit ISIC Chilean manufacturing industries. Main results are: (1) The null hypothesis that the production function is Cobb-Douglas cannot be rejected for 39 out of 44 four-digit ISIC industries. (2) The null hypothesis of constant returns to scale cannot be rejected for 35 out of 44 industries; the remaining 9 sectors show evidence of increasing returns to scale.     

基于生产函数和成本函数的我国航空运输业规模经济计量研究

运用了规模经济的一般含义和计量方法,并深入分析航空运输业规模经济的成因,然后借鉴规模经济常用的成本函数计量方法,通过柯布-道格拉斯生产函数构造了我国航空运输业成本函数模型,最后利用1990-2009年相关数据对我国航空运输业进行了实证研究,得出了我国航空运输业整体而言存在规模经济的结论,从而为指导我国航空运输业实践提供了依据。     

Explaining economic growth in the Soviet Union, 1950–86

Production function estimates are provided for Soviet industrial production and gross national product for the period 1950–86. A variety of alternative specifications is tested, including Cobb-Douglas, constant elasticity of substitution and variable elasticity of substitution production functions, and an error correction mechanism is used to investigate the long-run properties of the estimated equation. The structural stability of the estimates is also examined. Constant-returns-to-scale Cobb-Douglas production functions suggest that the rate of total factor productivity growth in the Soviet economy has declined steadily over time, becoming negative sometime in the period between 1970 and 1980. However the extensive statistical tests can doubt on the validity of any production function estimated on Soviet data.     

山东无棣滨海盐碱地甜高粱生产经济效益分析

本研究通过对山东省无棣县100户甜高粱种植户进行调查,并系统研究了在盐碱地种植甜高粱的成本和收益,通过构建Cobb-Douglas生产函数模型,进行投入-产出分析,结论如下:种植面积和科技投入是增收的重要因素,人力投入对收益的影响不显著。应进一步提高技术水平,适当地扩大种植规模。     

Estimating regional construction cost differences: Theory and evidence

The economic theory of cost functions is employed to derive geographic cost differentials for construction projects located across the United States. Assuming a Cobb-Douglas production technology, cost function estimates are obtained and used to calculate the regional cost differentials for major US cities relative to Washington, DC. Explanations are provided for adjusting these regional cost differentials according to additional information available on input prices or expected future inflation rates specific to particular locations.     

Efficiency measurement with multiple outputs and multiple inputs

This paper discusses modeling technical and allocative inefficiencies in both cost minimizing and profit maximizing frameworks with special emphasis on multiple inputs and multiple outputs. Both primal and dual models are considered for this purpose. In the primal approach we use a separable output and input function (the constant elasticity of transformation output function and Cobb-Douglas input function). The dual models assume translog cost or profit functions. Technical inefficiency is assumed to be random in the cross-sectional models, and fixed firm-specific parameter in the panel data models. Allocative inefficiencies are always treated as input-specific parameters. We derive exact relations linking technical inefficiency and allocative inefficiencies to cost and profit when the underlying technology is represented by a flexible functional form such as the translog. It is shown that appending a one-sided homoscedastic error term to model technical inefficiency, or neglecting technical inefficiency altogether in a translog profit tunciton results in model misspecification and inconsistent parameter estimates.     

物流系统的数学模型

作为企业“第三利润源泉”的物流,对其成本的控制目前已经成为物流合理化进程中的热点问题。文章把物流系统看成是一个特殊的生产系统,用柯布一道格拉斯生产函数方程对其进行建模。把物流系统的产出——满足服务需求看成是此方程的产出,把运输费用、储存费用和管理费用看戍是投入．对物流系统的数学建模提供了一个新的方法。最后用这个物流系统模型对社会物流系统进行了实例验证。     

Scale and scope economies of Japanese private universities revisited with an input distance function approach

This paper examines the scale and scope economies of higher education institutions in Japan assuming the presence of productive inefficiency. The standard approach to testing the scope economies is to apply the cost function. However, the cost function approach often entails the difficulty of obtaining reliable data on input prices, especially the input prices of capital for higher education institutions. This paper proposes a duality approach based on the input distance function. The scope economies are tested under a necessary and sufficient condition by retrieving the costs of joint and separate production from the input distance function. We apply the testing procedure to data pertaining to 218 Japanese private universities in 1999 and 2004. The results indicate the scale economies and the scope diseconomies.     

The stochastic frontier production function and average efficiency: An empirical analysis

This paper provides an empirical estimation of a stochastic frontier Cobb-Douglas production function using micro data from a cross-section of Brazilian manufacturing firms. Following a procedure developed by Aigner, Lovell and Schmidt incorporating both stochastic and efficiency disturbance terms in the estimating model, maximum likelihood techniques are used for the estimation of the stochastic frontier. A measure of mean technical efficiency is also developed and employed with the Brazilian data. Unlike the previous empirical exercises carried out with aggregated data, the efficiency disturbance with the Brazilian micro data estimates is not swamped by the stochastic disturbance.     

A micro-econometric analysis of the role of R&D spillovers using a nonlinear translog specification

This paper assesses the impact of Research and Development (R&D) spillovers on production for a panel of 1,203 Italian manufacturing firms over the period 1998–2003.The estimations are based on a nonlinear translog production function augmented by a measure of R&D spillovers which combines the geographical distance between firms, the technological similarity within each pair of firms and the technical efficiency of each firm. The estimation method takes into account the endogeneity of regressors and the potential sample selection issue regarding the decision by firms to invest in R&D. Results show that the translog production function is more suitable than the Cobb-Douglas for modelling firm behaviour and that returns to scale are increasing. Moreover, the internal and external stocks of technology exert a significant impact on firms’ production. Finally, it emerges that, for Italian manufacturing firms, R&D capital and R&D spillovers are highly substitutes.     

Endogenous technology and sectoral productivity: Chile 1962–1982

The choice of sectoral productivity in Chile is studied within the choice of technique approach. The choice of production techniques is an economic problem in that the techniques implemented at any time reflect the prevailing economic environment, as well as its history. Incorporating this choice in the analysis adds another channel through which market conditions can influence productivity while neglecting this simple fact leads to a distorted view of the production process. This view of production is applied here to present an econometric framework for estimating sectoral production functions. The derived function has the form of a Cobb-Douglas function, but its coefficients are allowed to vary in response to the economic environment and to factor utilization. The results show the important effect that macro, external, and institutional shocks have on the level and cyclical behavior of productivity.The editor of this paper was Jaime de Melo.     

Duality theory and pitfalls in the specification of technologies

Principles of duality enable the investigator to model the technology of a multiple-input-single- output firm either by means of a production function or a cost function. For empirical implementation, both alternatives employ the assumption of competitive market behaviour. Recently, functional forms have been developed which are sufficiently flexible to describe the substitution possibilities among factors when the technology consists of more than two factors. However, contrary to the strongly separable multi-factor Cobb-Douglas and CES forms, these functional forms are not self-dual. This poses the problem of choosing between two different maintained hypotheses. In this paper, we compare the inferences with respect to substitution possibilities obtained by imposing the two alternative specifications of a production function and a cost function on the same set of data. We find that they give very different inferences with respect to substitution possibilities between factors. Furthermore, these inferences continue to differ even when we explicitly adopt the position that both the production and cost functions are each approximations of the true technology.     

A Disaggregated Econometric Model Based on Flexible Functional Forms

This paper introduces an econometric input—output model for Western Germany in a disaggregation of 12 commodities and sectors. The ‘Jorgenson’-type equilibrium model is based on flexible functional forms on the supply and on the demand side of the commodity markets. For intermediate demand, the relationship between the translog function and its special cases—the Cobb-Douglas function— is exploited. Prices and production are endogenized by market-clearing conditions. The fully integrated model also endogenizes capital accumulation, a rudimental govern-ment budget and income distribution, as well as wages and labour demand on rationed labour markets. The results of a dynamic ex post simulation show that the model is able to depict the sectoral economic development in Germany in the sample period from 1970 to 1986.     

Price-endogenized Input–Output Model: A General Equilibrium Analysis of the Production Sector of the Japanese Economy

This paper considers a generalization of the open Leontief model, by endogenizing the input coefficients on the basis of the neoclassical multi-sectoral produc-tion function. The adopted production function is of the two-level CES type, which is quite effective for avoiding the multi-collinearity problem. As a result, the estimates obtained are quite stable, satisfying the quasi-concavity conditions of the production function for all the sectors. Comparative statics based on the Jacobian of the excess supply function for each commodity market reveal that, owing to the factor substitution the effect of an increase in the final demand on the level of the production is significantly smaller than that which occurs in the open Leontief model with fixed input coefficients.     

An examination of the relative economic efficiency of commercial vs. cooperative telephone companies

In this study, the authors examine the relative economic efficiency of the commercial and cooperative telephone companies in the United States. A national sample of over 900 firms using annual data for the years 1973 through 1980 is analyzed. A Cobb-Douglas profit function is employed in the study. The results indicate that commercial firms are more profitable than cooperatives (and, therefore, are more economically efficient), that both types of firms are price takers in the output market, that there is evidence of regulatory effectiveness, that market density affects profits, and that commercial firms experience increasing returns to scale while cooperatives do not.     

全要素生产率与人力资本--基于中国经验数据的实证研究（1979-2010）

本文旨在运用中国数据（1979-2010）检验全要素生产率与人力资本之间存在的经验关系,其研究价值在于首次以较完整数据来总结两者30年来的互动发展。首先运用Malmquist指数法和Cobb-Douglas生产函数推导法估算出该期间中国全要素生产率的贡献率,然后以社会平均教育年限及公共教育经费占GDP比重作为人力资本代表指标,运用计量方法进行实验检验。结果发现,社会教育年限的提高有助于全要素生产率的增加,公共教育经费规模也是影响全要素生产率的重要因素。     

A production function analysis of English maternity hospitals.

In recent years, a number of attempts have been made to explain the output of hospitals by means of production function analysis and, in this particular study, the authors estimate Cobb-Douglas and log-quadratic functions from data for the 193 English maternity hospitals. Of the various inputs into maternity care, the numbers of beds and nurses appear as the most significant determinants of throughput, although the relative quantities actually employed differ from the “technical” optimum. Returns to scale in the maternity service appear to be, at best, constant. The effects of hospital location and type are also analysed and they suggest the existence of significant disparities in levels of efficiency between different hospitals.     

Categorical and continuous non-discretionary variables in data envelopment analysis: a comparison of two single-stage models

Non-discretionary or environmental variables are regarded as important in the evaluation of efficiency in Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA), but there is no consensus on the correct treatment of these variables. This paper compares the performance of the standard BCC model as a base case with two single-stage models: the Banker and Morey (1986a) model, which incorporates continuous environmental variables and the Banker and Morey (1986b) model, which incorporates categorical environmental variables. Simulation analyses are conducted using a shifted Cobb-Douglas function, with one output, one non-discretionary input, and two discretionary inputs. The production function is constructed to separate environmental impact from managerial inefficiency, while providing measures of both for comparative purposes. Tests are performed to evaluate the accuracy of each model. The distribution of the inputs, the sample size and the number of categories for the categorical model are varied in the simulations to determine their impact on the performance of each model. The results show that the Banker and Morey models should be used in preference to the standard BCC model when the environmental impact is moderate to high. Both the continuous and categorical models perform equally well but the latter may be better suited to some applications with larger sample sizes. Even when the environmental impact is slight, the use of a simple two-way split of the sample data can produce significantly better results under the Categorical model in comparison to the BCC model.     

ESTIMATION OF SYMMETRIC INPUT–OUTPUT TABLES: AN EXTENSION TO BOHLIN AND WIDELL

This paper presents two optimisation models for use in the production of symmetric input–output tables (SIOTs) based on data contained within supply-use tables (SUTs). The first model produces commodity-by-commodity SIOTs derived from the selection of appropriate technology assumptions, while the second produces industry-by-industry SIOTs derived through the selection of appropriate sales structure assumptions. Both models address the problem of negative coefficients and also permit the use of rectangular SUTs as base input data. Additionally, this paper explores the development of a ‘comprehensive model’ enabling production of both commodity-by-commodity and industry-by-industry SIOTs that are conceptually and mathematically consistent.