The Measurement of Dynamic Productive Efficiency

Measuring dynamic productive efficiency from observed input-output data raises several new issues which are absent in the static production frontier studies. The adjustment cost approach is developed here as an interface between the static and the dynamic frontier studies, and the non-parametric method of Farrell developed for static efficiency is extended for the specification of a dynamic production frontier.     

Labour and capital saving technical change in telecommunications

The Australian telecommunications sector is being improved and extended through substantial recent investment in intelligent technology such as digital switching, fibre optics, satellite and cellular transmission, and the Internet. These technologies are being progressively integrated with technology from the broadcasting, computer and electronics industries, providing a unified information infrastructure for information transmission and processing. Technological progress embodied in new equipment has the effect of increasing the efficiency of the factors of production. Such efficiency increases can be biased towards a particular factor. For instance, the impact of labour-augmenting technical change is a decline in the cost of labour per unit of production. When such biases are apparent the relativity between the costs of labour and capital per unit of production is changed. In the longer term, technical change can impact on the rate of employment growth and also on the rate of capital accumulation. In this study the Australian telecommunications cost structure is examined for the period 1919 to 1988. To measure labour saving and capital saving technical change a translog cost model is estimated. Multiproduct telecommunications cost studies typically employ the translog cost model (Evans and Heckman, 1984; Roöller, 1990a; 1990b; Shin and Ying, 1992; McKenzie and Small, 1997). The translog model places no a priori restrictions on substitution possibilities among the factors of production, and allows scale economies to vary with the level of output.     

Concepts of learning and experience in developing solar thermal technologies

This study presents a plausible picture of development of solar thermal technology, using the learning and experience curve concepts. The cost estimates for solar thermal energy technologies are typically made assuming a fixed production process, characterized by standard capacity factors, overhead, and labor costs. The learning curve is suggested as a generalization of the costs of potential solar energy system. The concept of experience is too ambiguous to be useful for cost estimation. There is no logical reason to believe that cost will decline purely as a function of cumulative production, and experience curves do not allow the identification of logical sources of cost reduction directly. The procedures for using learning and aggregated cost curves to estimate the costs of solar technologies are outlined. Because adequate production data often do not exist, production histories of analogous products/processes are analyzed, and learning and aggregated cost curves for these surrogates estimated. If the surrogate learning curves apply, they can be used to estimate solar thermal technology costs. The steps involved in generating these cost estimates are given. Second-generation glass-steel heliostat design concept developed by MDAC is described; a costing scenario for 25,000 units/year is detailed; surrogates for cost analysis are chosen; learning and aggregated cost curves are estimated; and the aggregate cost curve for the MDAC designs is estimated. The surrogate concept of cost estimation combines qualitative steps, which are highly subjective, with quantitative techniques, which require thorough knowledge and understanding to justify their use. As such, the results, interpretations, and inferences must be qualified by an understanding of the process by which they were developed. The method of surrogate learning curves had limitations in both the data acquisition and data analysis phases of activity. Improvements in the validity of cost data and in the task used for this type of study are necessary to enhance the reliability of unit cost predictions resulting from this technique.     

A translog estimation of the average cost function of the steel industry with financial accounting data

This paper proposes a measure to assess firm performance which is based in neoclassical production theory and yet can be empirically estimated with widely available financial accounting ratios. A translog cost function is estimated, and fitted per-unit average cost figures are generated based upon the firm's individual characteristics and industry norms. The deviation of a firm's actual average per-unit cost from the fitted value is proposed as a predictor of firm profitability. This measure is then tested on firms in the steel industry. It is shown that the accounting ratios generate a cost function which behaves in accordance with neoclassical microeconomic theory, and accounting profits are indeed found to be inversely related to the calculated efficiency measure.The authors are indebted to the participants of the Forty-Fourth International Atlantic Economic Conference, Philadelphia, PA, October 9–12, 1997, and an anonymous referee. Any shortcomings remain the responsibilities of the authors.     

Estimating technical change by nonparametric methods

A nonparametric method using dynamic data envelopment analysis is developed here to specify and estimate a dynamic production frontier. By this technique technological progress measured by the time shift of the production frontier and the scale economies measured by increasing returns to scale are estimated from the observed input output data, which may sometimes be nonstationary. An application to US computer industry exhibits substantial technological progress and scale economies over the period 1987–1998.     

中国有色金属工业生产效率评价

利用2006—2010年我国省际面板数据,利用数据包络分析方法,从静态和动态两个角度,对我国29个省(自治区、直辖市)有色金属工业的生产效率进行了实证分析。静态分析结果表明:我国有色金属工业的生产效率整体偏低,受地方经济发达程度的影响较显著;整个行业的无效率主要来自于纯技术无效率,且行业的地区发展极不平衡,行业抵抗突发性经济危机的能力较脆弱;有色金属工业生产效率的省际差异逐渐拉大,个别省份的生产效率极低。利用Malmquist生产率指数进行的动态研究结果表明:2006—2010年期间,受技术进步这一主动力的影响,我国有色金属工业生产率总体上处于上升状态;技术效率和技术进步两个因素的交相波动决定了整个行业的生产率水平呈波动上升态势。     

Efficiency in International Trade with Firm Heterogeneity and Networks

This paper examines integrated effects of firm heterogeneity and communication network services on international trade. Patterns and effects of trade are analyzed in a general equilibrium model where firms with different productivity levels share among them the cost of network services and compete in a monopolistically competitive market for a differentiated good. The paper reveals that the more efficient country in the production of the differentiated good is not always the net exporter of the good. The less efficient country also has the chance to expand the industry and then to become the net exporter in this intra‐industry trade due to the combination of the efficiency effect induced by firm heterogeneity and the cost‐sharing effect by the existence of the network service industry.     

The emergence of the outsourcing market and product technological performance

This study is a novel empirical endeavor to analyze the impact of market demand and product technological performance on the growth of industry's outsourcing activities. Using the laptop computer industry as an example, this study examines the connection between the growth of outsourcing activities and product technological performance as well as market demand. The results suggest that, in addition to the relative efficiency assumed from transaction cost economies, the products' technological performance and market demand might also influence the growth of industry's outsourcing activities.     

Product and process innovations in the life cycle of an industry

Filson [Rev. Econ. Dyn. 4 (2001)] uses industry-level data on firm numbers, price, quantity and quality along with an equilibrium model of industry evolution to estimate the nature and effects of quality and cost improvements in the personal computer industry and four other new industries. This paper studies the personal computer industry in more detail and shows that the model explains some peculiar patterns that cannot be explained by previous life-cycle models. The model’s estimates are evaluated using historical studies of the evolution of the personal computer industry and patterns that require further model development are described.     

产业集聚、知识溢出与技术学习成本间关系的实证研究

利用1998—2011年中国省域层面高技术产业的宏观数据,以知识溢出为中介变量,实证分析了产业集聚与技术学习成本的关系以及知识溢出的中介作用。结果表明:产业集聚与技术学习成本之间存在显著的负相关关系;产业集聚与知识溢出之间存在正相关关系;知识溢出在产业集聚与技术学习成本之间起部分中介作用,即产业集聚通过知识溢出降低了企业的技术学习成本。     

基于创新价值链的我国制造业创新效率外溢效应研究

在创新价值链理论的基础上对我国制造业创新活动进行细分，把我国制造业创新活动分为科技产出、物化产出以及价值产出3个环节，并运用DEA模型对我国制造业3个环节的创新效率进行测算，同时构建经济基础空间权重矩阵，运用空间误差模型和空间杜宾模型对我国制造业3个环节创新效率的空间外溢效应及价值链外溢效应进行实证分析。得出以下结论：我国制造业无论是分行业还是分区域普遍存在科技产出环节及价值产出环节创新效率较高，而物化产出环节创新效率较低的情形；就我国制造业各环节创新效率的空间外溢效应而言，我国制造业科技产出效率、物化产出效率以及价值产出效率都表现出显著的空间外溢效应；我国制造业各环节创新效率的价值链外溢效应实证结果表明，科技产出效率与物化产出效率、物化产出效率与价值产出效率之间都表现出明显的价值链外溢效应，而科技产出效率与价值产出效率之间没有形成明显的价值链外溢效应。     

The Nature and Effects of Technological Change over the Industry Life Cycle

This paper estimates quality and cost innovations in the early automobile, personal computer, rigid disk drive, computer monitor, and computer printer industries using industry-level data on firm numbers, price, quantity, and quality and an equilibrium model of industry evolution. The results challenge the notion that new industries experience quality innovation early on and cost innovation later on. In the microelectronics industries the rate of quality improvement does not diminish over time. In the automobile industry, even though the rate of quality improvement is highest early on, the profitability of quality advantages is highest later on. Journal of Economic Literature Classification Numbers: L10, L63, O31.     

我国商品住宅交易费用测量研究——以2008年北京市商品住宅交易费用为例

房地产业作为第三产业,是交易服务部门,其中存在大量的交易活动,交易就会产生摩擦成本。由于房地产的特性及其行业市场交易的特征,房地产市场中的交易主要表现为权益交易,交易过程要受到制度的严格约束,所以其摩擦成本也是相对稳定的,可以通过定量分析测算。本文以房地产业为研究对象,按照房地产行业的交易部门特性及其所有费用来测算2003年至2008年我国房地产业的宏观交易费用;并选取商品性住宅为样本,根据诺思在人类行为理论基础上对交易费用和转换费用的划分,只测量通过市场的各种交易费用的启示,把商品性住宅开发分为生产阶段和交易阶段,生产阶段的交易费用部分和交易阶段的所有费用定义为交易费用,通过分析其价格构成,列出可测量的交易费用和转换费用单项,然后运用正向相加法和逆向剔除法,测量2008年北京市商品性住宅微观交易费用,为优化该行业效益提供实证分析基础。     

The changing structure of cost and demand for the U.S. telecommunications industry

This paper formulates a multiproduct structural model to examine the evolution of the structures of production and demand and their dynamic interaction, over an extended period, 1935–1987, in the U.S. telecommunications industry. We estimate the degree of scale economies, cost elasticities, input price elasticities and the determinants of demand for outputs and for various factors of production. The contributions of the quasi-fixed inputs, such as R&D and physical capital, in the evolution of this industry are evaluated. A number of important issues like the changing characteristics of demand for and cost of local and toll services and the variation of price–cost margin over time are examined under different economic conditions, market structures and regulatory environments. We also analyze the effects of the 1984 divestiture of the Bell System on the cost structure, employment and capital formation of the U.S. telecommunications industry.     

Resolving the impasse on hospital scale economics: a new approach

The existence of scale economies in hospitals in important for both public and managerial policy, yet production and cost function studies have found conflicting evidence. More recently, more sophisticated studies have typically found scale diseconomies, which is inconsistent with the views of industry participants and observers. In the early 1980s. California deregulated both private and public health insurance (Medical), which provides a natural laboratory for examining hospital efficiency. Using Stigler's original and multivariate survivor analysis, we resolve the conflict in favour of scale economies, and reconcile the controversy. The survivorship methodology in simple to apply, and a useful tool in conjunction with statistical cost and production studies.     

内外部能源价差对我国工业部门能源效率的影响研究

引入能源价格的Cobb-Douglas成本函数,利用能源效率的经验决定模型对影响我国工业部门能源效率的因素进行实证分析,特别是利用蛉回归对我国工业部门36个二位数行业进行行业分析并在此基础上运用面板数据模型对我国整个工业部门的能源效率影响因素的作用力度进行测量.结果显示:行业产值、技术水平、产业结构和能源消费结构构成工业部门能源效率的直接原因,同时内外部能源价差通过其他因素对能源效率的作用明显.总体来看,产业结构的优化升级以及能源消费结构的调整对于能源效率的提高尚有很大的空间,实践中应强调能源价格政策在提高能源效率和节能减排过程中的积极意义.     

Multinational experience and the creation of linkages with local firms: evidence from the electronics industry

This paper focuses on multinational companies' creation of linkageswith local firms in the electronics industry. Evidence is drawnfrom a novel data-set, covering international operations ofthe top European and US electronics companies, over the period1984–95. Econometric tests are provided to highlight howfirms' multinational experience, measured by the extent of theirpresence in foreign countries, affects cooperative agreements,as opposed to licensing and foreign direct investments. It ishighlighted that multinationals' subsidiary accumulation hasa positive and significant impact on collaborative linkageswith local firms. This contrasts with the transaction cost viewunderlying most market-entry literature, but is consistent witha dynamic efficiency perspective which emphasises the role oflinkages in learning and knowledge accumulation and exploitation.     

Cost structures of banks grouped by strategic conduct

The hypothesis that the banking system consists of firms that use the same production technology is tested and rejected in this study. Six groupings of the population of commercial banks are identified using cluster analysis. The banks are grouped to reflect similar production technologies within groups but different technologies across groups as defined by the strategic conduct (i.e., activities) of the banks. The results suggest that banks in different clusters employ production processes that feature different degrees of substitutability between factors of production, and that the estimates of input substitutability for those groups look quite different from those estimated based on the full population of commercial banks. The impact of the homogeneity production technology assumption on the measurement of cost efficiency is also assessed. The results show that partitioning the industry by strategic conduct reduces the average inefficiency in the industry. These results support those found by others who used similar partitioning criteria but a more narrowly defined sample of banks.     

ECONOMIES OF SCALE AND SCOPE AND THE ECONOMIC EFFICIENCY OF CHINA'S AGRICULTURAL RESEARCH SYSTEM*

This article investigates economies of scale and scope and other potential sources of improvements in the economic efficiency of China's crop breeding, an industry at the heart of the nation's food economy. Using data covering 46 wheat‐ and maize‐breeding institutes from 1981 to 2000, we estimate cost functions for the production of new varieties at China's wheat‐ and maize‐breeding institutes. Our results indicate strong economies of scale, along with small to moderate economies of scope related to the joint production of new wheat and maize varieties. Cost efficiency increases significantly with increases in the breeders' educational status and with increases in access to genetic materials from outside the institute.     

The distribution approach to the aggregation of putty-clay production functions

The point of departure of the distribution approach is the efficiency distribution of the production units in an industry. From this distribution the full-capacity production function and the short-run aggregate production function of the industry are derived. The long-run production function of the industry then is derived from the full-capacity function and the short-run production function. Hence, in the context of the distribution approach the relation is analysed between the short-run, full-capacity and long-run aggregate production functions of the industry and the efficiency distribution (and related capacity distribution) of the production units in that industry. Finally, the distribution approach is applied for the case of the Japanese cotton spinning industry.