Manager bonding and the technical efficiency of cooperative credit unions-parametric and non-parametric analyses

We engage parametric and non-parametric approaches to analyze unbalanced data (2012–16) from 225 credit unions in Ghana. The non-parametric analysis involves using data envelopment analysis to assess the technical efficiency of the credit unions. We show that most of them are not technically efficient. The average five-year overall technical efficiency and pure technical efficiency scores of a credit union are 0.87 and 0.91 respectively. Targeted at inquiring whether manager bonding significantly connects with the technical efficiency of credit unions, the parametric analysis which involves the use of probit and logit regression techniques, shows that, generally, the bonding of managers hurts the technical efficiency of credit unions. We are, thus, led to the conclusion that bonding of managers may not be in the best interest of credit unions in Ghana.     

The contest for mineral wealth: an economic analysis of conflicts in Ghanaian mining communities

The paper uses survey data from 1458 households in 60 communities from 24 districts in 5 regions of Ghana and logistic regression to examine conflicts as a contest for mineral wealth in mining communities, estimates the determinants of conflicts in these mining communities and examines how these contests could erode and/or enhance Ghana’s gains from mining. The paper finds that the likelihood of a conflict occurring in a mining area is about 56.7%. Village effect was found to be a significant positive predictor of mining conflict. Also, improvement in primary education, employment opportunities to community members of ages 25–50, the strength of institutions and the absence of small-scale miners in a mining community reduces the probability of conflicts occurring by 12.8, 35.8, 6.57 and 17.7%, respectively. While an increase in pollution levels increases the likelihood of conflicts occurring by 7.1%, primary occupation in manufacturing and services, and increase in household monthly expenditure significantly increases the likelihood of conflicts within the mining communities as the cost of living increases.     

中国区域绿色发展效率与绿色全要素生产率：2000—2010——基于参数共同边界的实证研究

本文运用参数化共同边界与Luenberger生产率指标相结合的方法,研究环境约束下2000—2010年中国区域绿色发展效率和绿色全要素生产率增长。实证结果表明,与中西部地区相比,东部地区不仅绿色发展效率高,而且生产技术水平更加贴近潜在水平;总体上,东部地区绿色全要素生产率是进步的,而中西部地区却表现出负增长的现象,东部地区效率变化和技术进步的表现皆优于中西部地区.进一步的分解结果显示,纯技术进步成为了推动我国绿色全雩素生产率增长的主要动力,而纯效率变化的贡献较小甚至对生产率增长产生消极的作用;从纯粹技术追赶来看,东部地区的生产技术不断靠近潜在生产技术,而中西部地区则表现出生产技术愈发落后于潜在水平的趋势;潜在技术相对变动方面,三大区域都表现出技术发展空间不断压缩的现象。     

Does governance efficiency matter for national innovative capacity? One tale from different countries

Various factors possibly impact on national innovative capacity. Governments are makers and implementers of national innovative policies, then, does its governance efficiency matter for the innovation of a country? Empirical evidence about the relationship between governance efficiency and national innovative capacity is still inadequate. To fill this research gap, the authors, based on the application of machine learning technique, have selected valid variables, conduct analysis with different models using the panel data of 117 countries from 1995 to 2015. The results of different models show that governance efficiency has a significant and positive impact with stability and reliability on innovation. In addition, the authors divide the 117 countries into different regions in accordance with economic development and geographic proximity, found that governance efficiencies of different regions have a heterogeneous but positive impact on national innovative capacity. Finally, potential policy implications are discussed.     

Has regulatory reform had any impact on bank efficiency in Indonesia? A two-stage analysis

More than a decade following the severe economic crisis 1997, Indonesia has undergone major regulatory changes in its banking industry. This article examines the impact of these regulatory changes on the relative technical efficiency (TE) of the Indonesian banking industry employing data envelopment analysis (DEA) and censored Tobit regression model. Additionally, the bootstrap approach of Simar and Wilson is employed to provide statistical properties to the DEA efficiency score. The findings show that the industry on average is inefficient over the period of analysis. Also, state-owned and foreign-owned banks are found to be more efficient than any other group of banks. Finally, the impact of regulatory reforms is generally positive and statistically significant.     

进口影响创新的本地效应与邻里效应——基于空间计量的实证分析

运用中国内地31个地区1997-2017年面板数据进行空间计量回归，以专利数量为创新衡量指标，得到进口对创新的回归结果，发现进口对本地和邻里地区创新均有显著正向影响。从系数量值看，邻里效应远大于本地效应，表明邻里效应更加重要。研发人员数量和物质资本存量邻里效应显著为负，表明地区间在创新生产要素上存在竞争关系。使用不同核算方法下的物质资本存量数据进行稳健性检验，确认回归结果的稳健性。提出在当前逆全球化背景下“双循环”新阶段，中国仍要坚定地扩大各类产品进口，地方政府在扩大进口的同时需要加强人才和资本引进力度。     

Public and private capital productivity in Russia: a non-parametric investigation

The productivity of public capital has been very popular research topic for US and other OECD countries, while studies using data from transitional countries are almost non-existent. In this paper, we analyze the productivity of public and private capital in Russia with parametric and non-parametric regression methods utilizing a unique regional level panel data from 2003 to 2007. More specifically, we assess public capital’s spillover effects, i.e., the productivity of public capital on private output, as well as the productivity of different capital ownership types on total output. We find that public capital has a clear positive effect on private output. However, our estimates and test statistics show that parametric methods are not able to grasp vast non-linearities and heterogeneity present among Russian regions, while the non-parametric approach can capture these important features of the data better. Furthermore, we find that multicollinearity is an important methodological problem which should be accounted for in analysis concerning capital data. Our results also suggest that the impact of public capital in Russia is heterogeneous in the sense that for some regions its contribution to private output is insignificant or even negative while it has a considerable positive role for most regions. Concerning the capital elasticities of total output, we find that public capital is less productive than private capital and roughly as productive as joint private-public capital.     

科技投入超效率测度的偏DEA分析与资本驱动的区域协调

现有科技活动效率研究存在异质性缺陷，导致无法深入分析引发效率差异的区域演进成因。应用超效率测度理论结合偏DEA视窗法，实证分析2010—2019年全国内地30个省（市）科技活动效率的动态演化进程，并从科技资本投入视角构建面板数据方程，考察不同资本类型驱动下我国科技投入效率空间溢出的直接效应与间接效应，同时，应用Moran′sI指数衡量各省（市）科技活动效率与空间集聚关联性。研究表明：近十年来我国科技活动效率整体呈现快速上升—趋势减缓—明显下降的发展态势，其中，东北地区效率饱和，投资冗余明显；华北地区效率偏低，高效率省（市）带动能力突出；华东和中南地区效率呈螺旋式上升，区域内省（市）组团差异明显；西北地区与西南地区效率偏高，但省（市）分化差异明显。从整体看，我国科技活动效率溢出能力显著，政府资本与企业资本对总效率溢出呈正向影响；外来资本对总效率溢出无明显影响，且资本效应的空间关联性不显著，绝大多数省市的科技活动效率提升处于资本弥补阶段，极少省市处于资本驱动状态。     

Modelling the effect of the geographical environment on Islamic banking performance: A panel quantile regression analysis

While studies have focused on Islamic banking, research on the effect of the geographical environment on Islamic banks is scarce. We investigate this issue by using daily data on 12 Islamic banks in four regions (Africa, Asia, Europe, and the United States) from July 2007 to April 2016. We apply different methodological approaches (principal component analysis, panel data tests, and quantile regression). First, the principal component analysis shows that the performance of Islamic banks varies among regions. Second, the linear panel regression highlights that the geographical environment positively and significantly affects Islamic banking, suggesting the importance of externality effects. Finally, the environmental effect seems to vary with quantiles (positive effect for the lowest quantile versus negative effect for the highest quantile). This quantile specification points to nonlinearity in the environment–Islamic bank performance relationship, reflecting a time-varying discipline imposed by the Sharia board (Islamic Law). This finding helps better explain the main difference between Islamic banks in the East (Africa and Asia) and those in the West (Europe and the United States) and also enables investors to adjust their portfolio choices when considering the products of Islamic banks according to regional specificities.     

Consideration of technological and environmental heterogeneity in cost efficiency analysis

In order to evaluate and compare the efficiency levels across banking industries, we adopt the meta-frontier model that can assess the technological difference among countries. Given the importance of country specific conditions, we include in our analysis the different specificities of each country to incorporate the technological as the environmental differences in the evaluation of banking efficiencies. Using data on the banking industries of several countries in the MENA region, over the period 1991–2011, the results of the efficiency scores corrected by the technological and environmental gap led us to conclude that Egyptian banks are the most efficient in terms of cost compared with banks in other countries. Egyptian banks enjoy a very favourable banking technology. Our results support the hypothesis that traditional techniques of efficiency analysis based on the efficiency scores of a specific and pooled frontier tend to mystify efficiency levels and may incorrectly identify efficient banks. This paper contributes to the efficiency literature by incorporating technological and environmental heterogeneities in the evaluation of efficiency. This helps to characterize the production process of a bank and provides common standards by which the efficiencies of banks in different countries can be compared in a meaningful way with each other.     

地方财政投入效率的人口因素分析

构建DEA模型分析了我国29个地区对人口素质的财政投入效率,并利用受限Tobit面板回归分析效率的影响因素。省际技术效率差距在2000年之前有所扩大,但此后逐渐缩小。分区域来看,1993年开始,东部技术效率反超中、西部,并逐渐拉开差距。规模效率上,东部在大部分年份都要高于中西部。2000年之后,三大区域的规模效率差异有缩小趋势。经济增长、财政收入、教育水平、人口密度以及人口年龄结构对人口素质的财政投入效率有显著影响。分税制改革提高了西部地区在人口素质上的财政投入效率,但对东、中部没有显著影响。     

高校R&D与区域经济增长关系的实证研究

本文通过因子分析构造经济增长的复合指标,并利用2005—2006年我国31个省市高校R&D的相关数据进行回归分析和聚类分析。研究结果显示:高校R&D的专利授权对地区经济增长具有显著的促进作用,而研发的经费投入和人员投入对经济的推动作用不明显;高校的基础研究对地区经济发展至关重要;高校R&D的投入与产出不成正比,不同地区的高校R&D的经济效益差异较大,处于非均衡状态。因此,本文强调应在政策层面上重视基础研究,促进校企科研合作,提高研发经费的使用效率和研究人员的工作效率,加强区域协调,实现高校R&D与区域经济增长的和谐共进。     

The impact of collinearity on regression analysis: the asymmetric effect of negative and positive correlations

The purpose of this paper is to ascertain how collinearity in general, and the sign of correlations in specific, affect parameter inference, variable omission bias, and their diagnostic indices in regression. It is found that collinearity can reduce parameter variance estimates and that positive and negative correlation structures have an asymmetric effect on variable omission bias. It is also shown that the effects of collinearity are moderated by the relationship between the dependent variable and the regressors, a consideration not incorporated into most commonly used collinearity diagnostics. The formulae derived enable researchers to assess the sensitivity of regression results to the underlying correlation structure in the data.     

Does Openness Increase the Efficiency of China’s Manufacturing Firms? Evidence from the World Bank Investment Climate Survey

Based on the World Bank Investment Climate Survey, this paper investigates the openness effects on the efficiency of firms in China’s manufacturing industry using a two-step data envelopment analysis (DEA) approach. In the first step, the aggregate efficiency of open firms and non-open firms is compared in each sub-industry using a group-wise heterogeneous bootstrap procedure. The results show, at a 90% confidence level, that open firms are more efficient than non-open firms in four out of five sub-industries. Furthermore, in the second step, we employ the two-stage bootstrap DEA approach to more specifically evaluate the effects of openness on the efficiency of firms. The regression results show that three openness indicators (foreign capital, import and export) have strong positive effects on firms’ efficiency in China’s manufacturing industry. In addition, the results also suggest that a larger state share, larger firm size, and more capital stock are negatively related to the efficiencies of firms, while a firms’ learning and absorptive capacity is positively related to its efficiency.     

金融发展对区域创新效率的溢出效应研究

由于空间异质性的影响,金融发展与技术创新效率的关系用传统空间同质性假设很难解释。为此,研究采用2005—2017年的省级面板数据,首先通过DSBM模型对省际技术创新效率进行合理测度,并基于此运用空间杜宾模型来检验空间溢出效应。研究表明:我国东部地区、中部地区、西部地区的技术创新效率依次递减且技术创新效率提升潜力很大;整体而言,金融发展规模和金融效率对于地区自身技术创新效率存在正向影响,然而二者对于邻近地区的影响均不显著。从空间溢出效应分解结果分析,金融规模对技术创新效率的直接影响显著为正,间接影响虽然为正,但在统计意义上并不显著;而在空间杜宾模型的总效应中,金融规模对技术创新的促进作用仍然显著。对于金融效率而言,其对技术创新效率的直接效应、间接效应以及空间杜宾模型总效应均表明,金融效率对技术创新具有显著的促进作用。     

Material use and material efficiency in Latin America and the Caribbean

Different world regions have followed very different trajectories for natural resources use over the recent decades. Latin America has pursued a development path based largely on exports of primary resources. Adopting this path has characteristic environmental and social impacts. In this paper, we provide the first broad based estimate of material use and material efficiency for the region, beginning in 1970 and extending to the onset of the global financial crisis in 2008. The results show a region with rapidly growing primary materials consumption, which is simultaneously becoming less efficient at converting those resources into national income. Using an IPAT framework, we found that population growth and rising per-capita incomes made comparable contributions to growing material use, while technological change as reflected in material intensity, did not moderate consumption. Increasing materials intensity, observed for the region as a whole, is also observed for most individual countries. This contrasts with some other world regions, and implies that many countries in Latin America and the Caribbean will confront higher environmental pressures than expected when expanding their extractive industries to take advantage of new demand from other world regions, while simultaneously supplying the requirements for their own domestic industrial transformations and urbanization.     

The Path and Threshold Effect of Digitalization on the Competitiveness of China's Manufacturing Export

Since its traditional comparative advantages are on the wane, China should use digital economy to enhance its competitiveness of manufacturing export. Based on microscopic data of various regions in China from 2013 to 2020, this paper studies the relationship between digital economy and China’s competitiveness of manufacturing export, the internal mechanism of their influence, and the boundary conditions for the establishment of the relationship between digital economy and competitiveness of manufacturing export. Our conclusions include that: there is a significant positive spatial correlation between digital economy and export competitiveness; digital economy can not only enhance the export competitiveness of the region, but also have a positive impact on that of adjacent regions; innovation efficiency, the accumulation of human capital and synergistic agglomeration exerts a mediating effect when digital economy impacts China’s export competitiveness; and with the share of import trade as the threshold variable, the facilitating effect of digital economy on the export competitiveness of the western region is lower than that of the eastern region before the threshold, but significantly higher than that of the eastern , central and northeastern regions as well as the whole country after the threshold. Therefore, China should vigorously promote the construction of new digital infrastructure in the western region, and give full play to the role of new digital infrastructure in promoting trade upgrade. Through the improvement of human capital quality, the centralized development of digital economy and the overall improvement of innovation efficiency, we should gradually improve the international competitiveness of China’s export enterprises.     

Prediction of bank financial strength ratings: The case of Turkey

Bank financial strength ratings have gained widespread popularity especially after the recent financial turmoil. Rating agencies were criticized because of their ratings and failure to predict the bankruptcy of the banks. Based on this observation, we investigate whether the forecast of the rating of bank's financial strength using publicly available data is consistent with those of the credit rating agency. We use the data of Turkish banks for this investigation. We take a country-specific approach because previous studies found that proxies used for environmental factors (political, economic, and financial risk of the country) did not have any explanatory power and it is hard to find international data for other important factors such as franchise value, concentration, and efficiency. We use two popular multivariate statistical techniques (multiple discriminant analysis and ordered logistic regression) to estimate a suitable model and we compare their performances with those of two mostly used data mining techniques (Support Vector Machine and Artificial Neural Network). Our results suggest that our predictions are consistent with those of Moody's financial strength rating in general.. The important factors in rating are found to be profitability (measured by return on equity), efficient use of resources, and funding the businesses and the households instead of the government that shows efficient placement of the funds.     

异质性环境规制、清洁型技术结构与区域工业环境效率提升

构建并演绎异质性环境规制、清洁型技术结构与工业环境效率之间的作用机制,测算我国及各省份清洁、非清洁技术效率和工业环境效率,实证检验不同类型环境规制通过清洁型技术结构对工业环境效率形成的直接效应、中介效应和门限效应。研究发现:各地区清洁、非清洁技术效率和工业环境效率一直呈上升趋势,且东部均高于中、西部地区。惩罚性环境规制和奖励性环境规制对工业环境效率的直接效应具有显著的正向影响,前者明显大于后者,但前者的作用力度逐渐减弱,后者的作用力度逐渐增强。二者均存在可持续两期的部分中介效应。惩罚性和奖励性环境规制分别呈现双重和三重门限效应,大部分省份的环境规制已突破U型门槛下限,正向作用于工业环境效率。     

本土技术转移与国际技术转移效应的比较——基于省际数据的空间计量分析

技术转移与技术效率增长之间存在密切关系。文章首先应用SFA方法测度了2003～2008年的中国技术效率;其次,运用空间计量方法研究了技术转移与技术效率增长之间的关系。实证分析表明,中国地区间的技术效率在2003～2008年具有明显的空间相关性;技术转移对中国技术效率有着显著的正向影响。就整个宏观层面来看,FDI带来的技术效率提高最明显,这与FDI所带动的技术扩散溢出、制度创新密切相关;虽然国外技术直接引进对技术效率的影响在多数年份超过国内技术市场的影响,但是,近几年国内技术市场对技术效率的影响明显提高。就各地区来看,东部地区的国外直接技术引进对提升其技术效率效果最明显,而中西部地区的FDI技术转移对其技术效率提升效果最为明显。