CONSTITUENCY PREFERENCE AND POLICE CONSOLIDATION: THE CASE OF WEST HOLLYWOOD

This study estimates the determinants of voter behavior in a local referendum on contracting for municipal police services. Recent empirical research has found that police services are produced under decreasing returns to scale. The electorate in West Hollywood, California decided in 1992 to maintain its police contractual agreement with the larger county police department. This paper finds that economic costs/benefits were significant determinants of the voters' decisions, suggesting that the electorate's expectations on the relative costs of the alternative police regimes contradict the efficiency implications of recent empirical research. ( JEL H31, H77)     

X-efficiency and scale economies in policing: a comparative study using the distribution free approach and DEA

This study uses both parametric and nonparametric techniques to analyse scale economies and relative efficiency levels in policing in England and Wales. Both techniques suggest the presence of significant scale effects in policing and considerable divergence in relative efficiency levels across police forces.     

Do Geographic Scale Economies Explain Disturbances to Heckscher–Ohlin Trade?

This paper examines whether "geographic scale economies" explain the trade that remains unexplained by the Heckscher–Ohlin model. The paper develops a theoretical specification that integrates geographic scale economies into the Heckscher–Ohlin model, and develops a statistical method for detecting geographic scale economies in the distributional features of a disturbance term. The units of analysis are US states. The findings reveal that empirical support for the Heckscher–Ohlin theory is improved by accounting for geographic scale economies within states; geographic scale economies do not generate differences in Rybczynski effects across states; and the scope of geographic scale economies is contained within states.     

改革开放以来江苏省区域经济差异成因分析

改革开放以来,江苏省区域经济总差异扩大,苏南、苏中与苏北三大区域之间的差异与农村县域内部的差异越来越显著,且呈不断扩大的态势;区域经济差异的特征主要表现在经济规模、发展速度、发展水平和经济结构四个方面;引起区域经济差异的原因是复杂的、多元的,主要有历史因素、地理区位、区域发展策略、中心城市规模、人口数量与质量、全球化水平和市场发育程度等。通过逐步回归分析,得出区域发展策略是江苏省的区域经济增长的最主要因素,对区域差异的影响最大。     

Do city–county mergers in China promote local economic development?

Municipal mergers have become a worldwide phenomenon in the past few decades, primarily advanced to exploit economies of scale. While most evaluations of municipal mergers have focused on the efficiency of local public goods provision, it is rare in the literature to explore how such mergers promote economic growth in a developing country context. This research investigates the economic consequences of a policy experiment of city–county mergers (che xian she qu) in China during the period 2000–2004. Using comprehensive datasets at city, county and firm levels, we present evidence that the merger significantly increases local economic development, and the magnitude of the effect depends on local endowments related to agglomeration forces. The results are robust to a number of different model specifications. We further verify that improved transport infrastructure and urban agglomeration economies after merger are potential contributors to the positive merger effects.     

The problem of market size for Canadian cable television regulation

The policy of the Canadian radio television and telecommunications commission of awarding an exclusive right to provide cable television (CATV) service within a given licensed service area (LSA) rests partly on the presumption that CATV costs reflect economies of scale that are large relative to market size. Cost estimates from crosssections of CATV operations from 1985–1991 show increasing returns to scale and suggest that many LSAs were too small to capture these economies. The results also indicate that economies of scale for basic service declined over the 1980s and that the ‘natural monopoly’ characteristics of CATV may be eroded by further technological and regulatory changes.     

Measuring productivity in an imperfect world

Most measures of multifactor productivity (MFP) assume constant returns to scale and perfect competition. Using a general aggregate production function together with duality theory and allowing for the possibilities of disequilibrium, markups and economies of scale, the study derives a more generalized MFP measure. The model was used to assess the economic performance in US manufacturing for the 1949 to 1988 period. The results suggest that scale and markups have substantial power in explaining MFP growth for all periods and that half of the measured MFP growth (as measured within the conventional framework) comes from biases due to scale economies, market power, and interaction effects.     

Economies of density, scale and scope in the water supply and sewerage sector: a study of four developing and transition economies

Using panel data, we estimate measures of density, scale and scope economies in four countries that differ substantially in their levels of economic development and in their piped water and sewerage coverage: Brazil, Moldova, Romania and Vietnam. We find evidence of economies of scale in Moldova, Romania and Vietnam. In Brazil, we cannot reject the null hypothesis of constant returns to scale. The results of this study show that the cost structure of water and sewerage utilities varies significantly within and between countries and over time.      

Economies of scale for broadband in rural United States

Empirical cost models for wireline broadband circuits are used to test whether economies of scale exist in rural areas and whether new Ethernet technology lowers the unit cost of broadband transportation. Previous studies have shown small or nonexistent economies of scale for wireless technology. Results from earlier studies also demonstrated economies of scale for voice-only wireline networks which diminished with network size and were fully exploited for large networks. To our knowledge presence of economies of scale for wireline broadband networks has not been tested, certainly not in rural United States. We use data supplied by more than 500 rural local exchange carriers and find economies of scale for small rural wireline broadband providers. Market size limitations appear to prevent rural telephone companies from fully exploiting unit cost savings. The data also show increasing capacity over existing broadband connections is subject to substantial economies of scale, but such economies diminish quickly as bandwidth capacity increases. The data do not support the hypothesis that Ethernet technology reduces broadband transmission cost.     

Productivity growth in British manufacturing: spatial variation in the role of scale economies,technological growth and industrial structure

This paper investigates the role of scale economies, technological growth and industrial structure in creating spatial variation in manufacturing labour and Total Factor (TFP) productivity in Britain. Separate estimates of a translog specification are presented for British manufacturing firms located in defined areas of the country over the period 1994–1998. The results show that TFP change due to scale economies and technological growth has been of much less important in influencing the output growth of manufacturing firms than input growth or industrial structure. Regarding the components of TFP, technological growth has been the dominant force at play. The analysis of average labour productivity identifies shifts to other factors of production and industrial structure as being the main determinants of change, scale economies appear to have had a marginal role. The results identify spatial patterns indicating that more favourable locational effects arise for firms in areas adjacent to large urban centres, rather than for those located within cities, on the extreme periphery of the urban hinterland, or in rural areas and smaller towns.     

我国高校效率研究

本文同时应用参数法和非参数法分析我国高校1998—2005年的效率状况:总体来说,我国高校的平均技术效率较高,西部地区高校、理工院校和财经政法大学效率最为明显;我国高校存在规模经济和范围经济,总体规模经济程度不断上升,但总体范围经济程度逐步下降,具体来看,硕士生的规模经济程度较为明显,而硕士生和博士生存在范围不经济现象;DEA和SFA的效率值相关但不显著,效率排序10%显著相关;学校的外部因素和大部分内部因素显著影响学校效率。     

Is big better? On scale and scope economies in the Portuguese water sector

The ‘big is better’ idea has recently been challenged in network industries. Scale economies are considered finite so that for the individual utility an optimal scale of operations arises. A similar observation yields for scope economies as joint production is not predicted univocally anymore. In the water sector, scale economies and joint production are preferred. Nevertheless, several countries are restructuring the sector in order to improve the scale and scope of operations. This article intends to provide some insights into this matter. We analyze the Portuguese water market structure using non-parametric techniques with data from the year 2005. After surveying the literature on scale and scope economies, we discuss the peculiarities of the Portuguese water sector. The paper confirms the natural monopoly features. Although scope economies are absent, it highlights scale economies. The optimal scale of the utilities is located between 160,000 and 180,000 inhabitants. As such, the Portuguese water sector optimally counts 60 water utilities.     

自然垄断的"三位一体"理论

传统自然垄断理论是建立在规模经济、范围经济和成本劣加性基础之上的，本文认为社会总价值或总效用和社会净收益的优加性是比成本劣加性更好地定义自然垄断的概念，并在对规模经济、范围经济和网络经济重新定义的基础上，从规模经济、范围经济、网络经济“三位一体”角度重新解释了自然垄断概念，提出了自然垄断的“三位一体”理论，为自然垄断产业规制及其改革奠定理论和实证基础。     

X-efficiency and economies of scale in pension fund administration and investment

Pension funds’ operating costs impair pension benefits, so it is crucial for pension funds to operate at the lowest cost possible. In practice, we observe substantial differences in costs per member for Dutch pension funds, both across and within pension fund size classes. This article presents new estimates of scale economies of pension funds and is the first that also measures pension fund X-inefficiency. We use a unique supervisory data set which distinguishes between administrative and investment costs and apply various approaches and models. Our estimates show large economies of scale for pension fund administrations, but modest diseconomies of scale for investment activities. We also found that many pension funds have substantial X-inefficiencies for both administrative and investment activities. The two kinds of inefficiency differ across types of pension funds. Therefore, most pension funds should be able to improve their cost performance, and hence increase pension benefits.     

ECONOMIES OF SCALE IN HOUSEHOLD CONSUMPTION: WITH APPLICATION TO AUSTRALIA*

This paper presents a general framework for defining the economies of scale in household consumption. It allows commodity specific economies of scale (taking into account the substitution effects). The chief contribution of the paper is to show how one can estimate economies of scale from cross section budget data without price information. The problem of identification that is inherent in these models is overcome by making use of some assumptions about the nature of goods and services employed in the estimation. The methodology developed in the paper is applied to Australian Household Expenditure Survey for 1984 to calculate item wise and overall economies of scale.     

Exports, Returns to Scale, and Total Factor Productivity: The Case of Taiwanese Manufacturing Industries

The paper examines the relevance of international scale economies and international market efficiency of trade based on the firm-level data of Taiwanese manufacturing industries. The author first constructs a simple analytical framework to measure the extent of scale economies and total factor productivity for each firm. The measurements of scale economies and total factor productivity are then used to investigate the relationships among exports, scale economies, and productivity. Significant external scale economies associated with exports and a strong positive relationship between the individual firm's productivity and its own export intensity are observed.     

Economics of scale and scope in multiproduct firms: evidence from US railroads

Recently, there has been a surge of interest in analysing scale economies in US railroad firms. The analysis of scale economies in existing studies is, however, limited in view of recent advances in the theory of the multiproduct firm. In this paper, the previous work is extended to address the issue of scale and scope economies in multiproduct firms. The findings show that US railroads experience mild overall economies of scale, but rather marked product-specific economies of scale with respect to both freight and passenger services. However, there appear to be diseconomies of scope associated with the joint production of the two services. Based on these results, this study indicates that US railroad firms would have no tendency to behave as a natural monopoly in the absence of regulation.     

Regional differences in the production processes of financial and social outputs of microfinance institutions

This study uses panel data of microfinance institutions across the world to compare production processes across regions, assess the relevance of unobserved heterogeneity and estimate economies of scale. Comparing a financial production process to a multidimensional production process that accounts for the presence of outreach in the objective function suggests that financial and social output reflect complements in South Asia but not in other regions. Furthermore, we find substantial economies of scale for a pure financial production process. However, accounting for outreach lowers estimated economies of scale, suggesting that producing outreach creates high transaction costs and requires exploitation of local knowledge.     

Cost efficiency and scale economies in the Turkish insurance industry

This article examines the cost efficiency and scale economies of insurance firms in the Turkish insurance industry over a 15-year period, 1990–2004. Using the stochastic cost frontier model, cost efficiency scores and scale economies were estimated for each firm in the sample. The results show that mean cost inefficiencies range between 18.3 and 36.9% of total costs and they do not tend to decrease over time. On average, small firms are more cost efficient than large firms. Economies of scale appear present and significant for any class size. The results suggest that there is a substantial difference in scale economies between small and large insurance firms.     

Economies of scale in Norwegian electricity distribution: a quantile regression approach

In this article, we investigate scale economies in Norwegian electricity distribution companies using a quantile regression approach. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first attempt to apply this estimation technique when analysing scale economies. We estimate the cost elasticities of the two output components: network length and number of customers, to calculate returns to scale. Our results show large potential of scale economies, particularly for the smallest companies. We also find that returns to scale is increasing over time. These findings have important implications for policymakers when they are deciding the structure of the industry in the future.