REGIONAL SPECIALIZATION AND DYNAMIC PATTERN OF COMPARATIVE ADVANTAGE: EVIDENCE FROM CHINA'S INDUSTRIES 1988–2001

Different comparative advantages may affect the pattern of regional specialization in many ways. In this paper, by employing panel data covering 20 main industrial sectors in 29 Chinese provinces over the period of 1988–2001, and applying the generalized method of moment techniques, the determinants of regional specialization in China are investigated, paying particular attention to the role of dynamic comparative advantages. It is found that changing comparative advantages arising from technical efficiency improvement, scale economies enhancement, and growing economic openness contribute positively and significantly to China's regional specialization.     

基于DEA三阶段模型的中国高新技术产业效率研究

采用三阶段DEA模型分析法,研究2010年我国31个地区高新技术产业效率。研究结果显示:环境和随机干扰因素对我国高新技术产业效率影响显著,虚高了综合技术效率水平,且对中西部地区影响较大;规模效率不足是制约综合技术效率水平主因,但其提升空间相对较大,全国26个非综合技术有效地区规模效率递增率高达100%,因此,加大规模投入是综合技术效率水平提升的首选途径。区域差异明显主要反映在中西部与东部地区之间,全国高新技术产业综合技术效率水平总体呈东、中、西高低排列,其中,中西部地区规模效率的巨大鸿沟是其综合技术效率不足的根源。     

经济规模、技术创新与垂直专业化分工

借鉴Hummels等(2001)的垂直专业化分析框架,本文比较了中国大陆等32个经济体1995年、2000年以及2005年制造业出口的垂直专业化水平。在此基础上,本文利用中国大陆等32个经济体18个制造业行业数据,进一步探讨了影响垂直专业化水平的主要因素。经验观察和计量分析结果发现,经济规模越大、技术创新能力越强的经济体,垂直专业化水平越低;技术复杂度越高的行业,垂直专业化水平也越高;技术越复杂的行业在经济规模越大、技术创新能力越强的经济体内,垂直专业化水平相对更低。本文的研究结论为我们评估中国当前的经济发展方式和国际竞争力提供了一个思路。     

Metafrontier efficiency analysis for hospital pharmacy services using dynamic network DEA framework

Medication management is a complex but critical process within the healthcare delivery system. The pharmacy department in healthcare facilities is responsible for acquisition, distribution and dispensing of medication to patients that involves a series of network process. This process can be categorized into two main subprocesses: i) pharmacy store and ii) patient services (i.e., ambulatory and inpatient pharmacy). The objective of this study was to investigate the relative efficiency level of the two subprocesses of pharmacy services in Malaysia's public hospitals. We used a nonconvex metafrontier technology to estimate technical efficiency of hospital pharmacies between specialist and nonspecialist hospital categories under the dynamic network data envelopment analysis (DNDEA) framework. For overall efficiency, both specialist and nonspecialist categories had similar mean efficiency scores. However, when measuring the efficiency level according to pharmacy store and patient services separately, the nonspecialist category had a higher mean efficiency score in pharmacy store, whereas for patient service efficiency, both categories had similar results. The patient service efficiency level was lower consistently over time, suggesting that the overall inefficiency of hospital pharmacy is greatly influenced by the inefficiency of the patient service. This suggests that systematic improvements in patient service efficiency should be a higher priority than pharmacy store efficiency to further increase the overall efficiency level. We believe that our findings will provide valuable information to policymakers towards achieving an efficient public healthcare service.     

商业银行规模经济研究

规模经济作为社会化大生产的一种经济规律,与分工、专业化和协作水平密不可分。对于现代商业银行而言,尽管其经营形式是网点式分散的,但它实行一级法人体制,通过资金的纽带使各个网点结合成一个整体,这要求商业银行的经营必须达到一定的规模,才能提高效率,降低成本,实现其规模效益。文章从现代商业银行存在规模经营的必然性及其实现途径进行了研究。     

试论2011年全国专科医院效益分析

2011年全国专科医院总体运营良好,既有市场占有力又有一定抵御风险能力,资产扩张速度快。但应加强资产管理,加强成本核算,控制成本支出,加强医院资源利用率,提高工作效率、管理水平、技术水平和社会效益。     

Measuring technical and scale inefficiencies in the beer industry: Nonparametric and parametric evidence

Two alternative approaches of efficiency measurement, nonparametric and statistical, are employed to calculate three types of efficiency indexes for the U.S. beer industry over the period 1950–1986. The results indicate that the beer industry was operating at a high level of pure technical efficiency over that period. The mean value of this efficiency measure is 93.7 percent based on the nonparametric approach and 87.5 percent based on the statistical approach. The two approaches yield dissimilar values and sources for overall technical inefficiency. The overall technical efficiency index computed under the nonparametric approach stands at 91.10 percent and the observed inefficiency is found to be more due to pure technical inefficiency than to scale inefficiency. Using the statistical approach, the beer industry is found to be less overall technically efficient (68.42 percent) than indicated by the nonparametric methodology and the observed inefficiency is found to be primarily contributed to by scale inefficiency.     

Creative destruction over the business cycle: a stochastic frontier analysis

This paper examines the within-industry distributions of jobs created and destructed across plants in terms of technical efficiency, technical efficiency change, scale effect, and technical change. It further investigates how these distributions vary with economic activity. By applying the stochastic frontier analysis to plant-level longitudinal data on Taiwan??s 23 two-digit manufacturing industries spanning the period 1992?C2003, we find that jobs created (destructed) are disproportionately clustered at plants with lower technical efficiency but higher rate of technical change. A fall in economic activities is associated with a statistically significant decrease (increase) in the fraction of newly created (destructed) jobs accounted for by plants with a higher rate of technical change, indicating that creative destruction is more pronounced during economic contractions.     

Revisiting the decomposition of cost efficiency for non-homothetic technologies: a directional distance function approach

In the early 1980’s Kopp and Diewert proposed a popular method to decompose cost efficiency into allocative and technical efficiency for parametric functional forms based on the radial approach initiated by Farrell. We show that, relying on recently proposed homogeneity and duality results, their approach is unnecessary for self-dual homothetic production functions, while it is inconsistent in the non-homothetic case. By stressing that for homothetic technologies the radial distance function can be correctly interpreted as a technical efficiency measure, since allocative efficiency is independent of the output level and radial input reductions leave it unchanged, we contend that for non-homothetic technologies this is not the case because optimal input demands depend on the output targeted by the firm, as does the inequality between marginal rates of substitution and market prices—allocative inefficiency. We demonstrate that a correct definition of technical efficiency corresponds to the directional distance function because its flexibility ensures that allocative efficiency is kept unchanged through movements in the input production possibility set when solving technical inefficiency, and therefore the associated cost reductions can be solely—and rightly—ascribed to technical-engineering-improvements. The new methodology allowing for a consistent decomposition of cost inefficiency is illustrated resorting to simple examples of non-homothetic production functions.     

大型钢铁企业组织结构的规模效率分析

首先,分析了我国钢铁行业发展的特点,认为产品结构不够完善、行业集中度较低以及企业规模偏小是我国钢铁企业面临的主要问题,而规模是造成上述现状的根本原因;国际钢铁业已进入由大企业集团主宰的国际市场化阶段,我国钢铁企业需要扩大规模,增加在国际竞争中的话语权。其次。围绕企业的规模运作,运用经济学模型对产业链的大规模企业生产模式进行了分析,从理论视角论证了企业扩大规模的动机以及规模优势产生的机制和所需条件。大型组织结构优势产生的机制在于,通过生产及运营要素的优化整合实现合理分工协作,从而降低运营成本,提高企业的竞争力。此外,对钢铁企业采用的组织结构特点和运营模式进行了探讨,一元式的组织结构能够发挥职能分工所带来的效率,然而高度的集权特征不适用于超大规模企业的管理决策。控股公司和事业部结构体现了规模化后组织结构由集权向分权转化的趋势,但在运行中面临的效率障碍在于无法消除部门机会主义．分权后权威统筹机构的缺位以及传统的规模企业应当分权的逻辑需要企业重新思考。在上述分析基础上提出．钢铁企业在实现形式上的规模化后,需要考虑技术任务特征、信息处理以及权力的分化整合之间的平衡,构造合理的控制机制以保证规模优势的实现。     

技术创新领域的选择、专业化与区域经济增长

选择正确的技术领域并实现专业化是各地区在创新驱动发展战略下的重要课题。为考察技术专业化对经济增长的影响,利用专利数据,构建两种不同领域的技术专业化指标,设计包含交互项的空间计量模型以及中介效应模型,检验不同类型的技术专业化对经济增长的作用机制和溢出效应,为区域技术创新重点领域的选择提供参考。结果表明：技术专业化对经济增长的作用会受技术创新能力高低的影响,在一定的创新能力条件下,专业化于自身优势产业所对应的技术领域对经济的正向作用会被削弱,而专业化于具有高技术机会的技术领域对经济的正向作用会被更有效地发挥,因此不同的创新发展阶段应选择不同的技术专业化模式。此外,高机会技术领域的专业化具有正的空间溢出效应。     

资本市场扭曲对城市全要素生产率的影响研究——基于规模和技术视角

在创新驱动发展的背景下,资本市场化改革有助于提高资本配置效率,进而对全要素生产率产生影响。基于中国城市相关数据,利用生产函数法和随机前沿估计法测算资本市场扭曲,并利用DEA-Malmquist指数法对城市全要素生产率进行分解,从规模和技术视角切入,实证分析了资本市场扭曲对城市规模效率、技术效率和全要素生产率的影响。研究发现,资本市场扭曲增加对规模效率具有正向影响,对技术效率和全要生产率具有负向影响。反事实分析结果显示,当消除资本市场扭曲后,从全国层面看,规模效率平均下降0.54%,技术效率平均上升4.25%,全要素生产率平均上升1.54%。     

Agglomeration Economies as Manifested in Technical Efficiency at the Firm Level

This paper makes an attempt to assess the significance of agglomeration economies in the case of two Indian industries, electrical machinery and cotton and cotton textiles. Using firm level data, an efficiency index based on a statistical stochastic frontier model is generated to examine its relationship with external scale variable(s). A positive association between technical efficiency and city size is evident although after a certain threshold level city size works more as diseconomies than economies of scale. Undue emphasis on industrial dispersal may, therefore, lead to suboptimal utilisation of resources.     

Efficiency and ownership in Swedish electricity retail distribution

This article examines the efficiency of electricity retail distributors in Sweden in a multiple output multiple input framework. Productive efficiency measures are calculated by use of different versions of the non-parametric Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) method. Comparisons are made between different types of ownership and between different types of service areas.The study indicates a rather low level of technical efficiency, a high level of scale efficiency in urban service areas, but a fairly low level of scale efficiency in rural areas. The results show no significant differences in efficiency between different types of ownership or economic organization.Paper presented at ORSA/TIMS joint national meeting, Productivity and Global Competition, Philadelphia, October 29–31, 1990.     

基于DEA模型的房地产上市企业经营效率研究

本文选取了在沪深两市的A股上市的14家房地产企业2016-2020年的年报数据,运用DEA方法研究了房地产企业的经营效率。本文通过分析发现:房地产经营效率整体水平一般,无论是整体经营水平、技术管理水平,还是规模大小的适宜程度都存在一定的提升空间。     

AGGLOMERATION ECONOMIES IN JAPAN: TECHNICAL EFFICIENCY, GROWTH AND UNEMPLOYMENT

This paper examines if the effects of agglomeration economies are manifested in technical efficiency and generate faster economic growth and higher (lower) levels of employment (unemployment). Using the prefecture level data for each of the two-digit groups of industries in Japan, it estimates a region-specific technical efficiency index based on the stochastic frontier production function framework. The factor analysis shows that in most of the industry-groups, efficiency has a positive association with external scale variable(s). Though the relationship is not very strong, it would be erroneous to ignore the effect of agglomeration economies on efficiency. For some light goods industries, the agglomeration effect is relatively stronger. Economic growth varies positively with external scale variable(s) and the unemployment rate tends to fall with respect to growth and concentration. This suggests that measures against industrial concentration may be counter-productive, particularly in the context of globalization when countries greatly need to raise productivity.     

Innovation efficiency of semiconductor industry in China: A new framework based on generalized three-stage DEA analysis

Considering the interrelationships between periods and the influences of non-operational factors, a new framework based generalized three-stage DEA model, grey relational analysis theory and disparity disassembly model is proposed in this paper. Then, we measure the technical efficiency, scale efficiency, and pure technical efficiency of innovation in China's semiconductor industry between 2009 and 2014. In addition, we conducted projection analysis of the inputs to innovation and the disparities analysis in innovation efficiency across the industrial chain and within each segment. The results of our analyses reveal four key findings. The overall innovation efficiency of China's semiconductor industry is increasing; however, each segment of the industrial chain had different trends and different levels of innovation efficiency. All segments show a consistently upward trend except for package testing, which dipped in 2012 due to the time lag between the inputs and outputs associated with major technological advancements. The most efficient innovation is occurring in design and package testing, followed by manufacturing, materials, and equipment, in that order. Low levels of innovation efficiency were found to be the most significant factor restricting further improvement in the design, manufacturing, and equipment segments of the industrial chain. But the opposite is true for the package testing segment, where pure technical efficiency is the main factor. A range of redundancies in input were found across the industrial chain, mostly in manufacturing and equipment. These two segments are capital-intensive and characterized by a high level of technical complexity coupled with a long research cycle. The disparities in innovation efficiency in and between the segments decreased over the period. However, interestingly, the main disparities were found among the enterprises within each segment, which we attribute to the Chinese government's concerted efforts to support particular companies. Package testing and manufacturing had the highest levels of disparity due to relatively high agglomeration of these two segments. The materials segment had the lowest disparity, with equipment and design falling somewhere in-between.     

The impact of the economic crisis on the (in)efficiency of public Higher Education institutions in Southern Europe: The case of Spanish universities

The evaluation of university efficiency in Europe began timidly when the European Higher Education Area (EHEA) was created. However, this issue is currently becoming increasingly important in Southern European countries, where the limitation of public funding following the economic crisis in 2008 has put greater pressure on their public universities to achieve excellence and improve competitiveness. In this context, the goals of this paper are: first, to measure the relative technical (in)efficiency of Spanish public Higher Education Institutions in the period 2002–03 to 2012–13, comparing the situation before and during the last economic crisis; and, second, to analyze the determinants of university (in)efficiency and, especially, the direct impact of the crisis. After applying the two-stage double bootstrap DEA methodology, the results show that Spanish public universities have become more efficient during the crisis than before it. In fact, the regression analysis confirms that the “crisis” variable has had a statistically significant positive impact on university efficiency. We also find that age has favorably influenced how these institutions utilize their resources to produce teaching and research outputs, but technical specialization has had a negative effect. Moreover, the regional location of public universities has been also a crucial determinant of their efficiency level. Our findings are therefore relevant for political and academic decision-makers in order to know if public universities have been adequately managed in the crisis period and to identify factors that could improve their efficiency, and hence to help them to enhance their international competitiveness in the future.     

中国国有、私营和外资工业企业地区间效率差异研究

根据中国30个省份工业企业2001~2011年的面板数据,基于Fre-Primont TFP指数DEA方法,测算各省份国有、私营和外资企业的综合效率、TFP增长及其分解要素,对其发展模式进行类别划分。结果表明,外资和私营企业的综合效率均值始终高于国有企业;工业企业表现出不同的效率优势,私营企业的优势在于技术效率和规模效率,国有企业的优势在于技术效率水平低但增长趋势显著,外资企业的优势在于范围经济效率;在研究期内TFP增长均产生了大幅增长,主要原因在于整体技术进步水平的大幅提高。进入高效高速发展模式省份最多的是外资企业,其次依次是私营和国有企业,三类企业地区间两极分化趋势明显。     

Analyzing China's productivity growth: Evidence from manufacturing industries

This article examines the growth attributes of manufacturing industries in China for the sample period of 1999–2007. The output growth of manufacturing industries classified under four groups and four regions is decomposed into four components of input growth, scale effect, technical progress, and technical efficiency change. A stochastic frontier model is applied to the translog production function to estimate technical efficiency. Despite the conventional argument that input growth and technical progress are important factors to output growth, the empirical findings show a significant scale effect but a weak technical efficiency change. The contribution to growth from labor has been replaced by human and physical capitals. Structural transformation in the industrial sector is evident, so as regional imbalances.