Demand estimation and market definition for broadband Internet services

This paper analyses residential demand for Internet access in Austria with a focus on broadband Internet connections. Austria has cable network coverage of about 50% and is, therefore, a good candidate to analyse the elasticity of demand for DSL where cable is available and where it is not. We also include mobile broadband via UMTS or HSDPA in our analysis and estimate various nested logit models to derive conclusions for market definition. The estimation results suggest that demand for DSL is elastic and that cable networks are likely to be in the same market as DSL connections both at the retail and at the wholesale level. We discuss possible implications for the regulation of wholesale broadband access markets. All views expressed are solely the authors’ and do not bind RTR or the Telekom-Control-Kommission (TKK) in any way nor are they official position of RTR or TKK.     

On selecting a technology evolution path for broadband access networks

The rapid growth in the number of Internet users has accelerated the use of high-speed Internet access services, including broadband multimedia services. In the delivery of broadband multimedia services to end-users, it is necessary to build a high-speed backbone and access network. To construct a broadband access network, several alternative technologies including xDSL, CATV, and FTTx have been suggested and implemented in telecommunication networks. However, even if a technology is proven to be optimal for the current environment, it can be deteriorated by the elapse of time or the advent of new challenging technologies in the future. In this article, we concentrate on the selection of an evolution path for broadband access networks. We developed an optimization model for selecting the best technology and evolution path with the minimum total cost. The problem can be formulated as a mixed integer programming model. With a scenario for demands and cost factors, we find the optimal evolution path by solving our model with the CPLEX program and illustrate some sample paths for the broadband access network evolution plan. Once the cost and the demand are defined in detail to reflect the real-world case, our model can be useful to generate a practical technology evolution plan for broadband access networks in real-world applications.     

The environmental effect of car-free housing: A case in Vienna

A case-control study of the car-free model housing project in Vienna was conducted to evaluate whether people living in this settlement have more ‘sustainable lifestyles’ than people living in comparable buildings in Vienna. Another aim was to identify the lifestyle characteristics and household activities which significantly influence the environmental impact of the residents of the car-free housing project and a control group. The control group, referred to as the reference settlement, was chosen from a nearby building complex, with similar characteristics, but without the car-free feature. Household consumption patterns were estimated based on interviews in combination with data from the Austrian consumer expenditure survey and the national accounts. The evaluation of household environmental impacts uses emissions estimates from the Austrian national accounting matrices including environmental accounts and data from life-cycle assessments. Households from the car-free settlement have substantially lower environmental impacts in the categories of ground transportation and energy use; their CO₂ emissions of these two categories are less than 50% of those living in the reference settlement. The households in the car-free settlement have somewhat higher emissions in the categories air transport, nutrition, and ‘other’ consumption, reflecting the higher income per-capita. As a result, the CO₂ emissions are only slightly lower than in the reference settlement, but the emissions intensity is 20% lower. Both household groups have significantly lower environmental impacts than the Austrian average reflecting less car use and cleaner heating energy in Vienna.     

A spatial taxonomy of broadband regions in the United States

The steady growth of broadband penetration in the United States is indicative of a major shift in advanced data services and last-mile infrastructure in the deregulated telecommunication environment. Although there are concerns with the equitable provision of broadband services in urban, rural and remote areas, the diffusion process has also created a unique landscape of broadband availability that reflects elements of competition, federal policy, local government initiatives, technological limitations and location. This paper explores the dynamic and diverse spatial landscape of broadband availability in the United States at the zip code level, for 2004. In addition, this study provides a multivariate, spatial taxonomy of broadband regions, highlighting their socioeconomic and demographic differences.     

Forecasting broadband provision

The provision of broadband telecommunication services in the United States is spatially heterogeneous. Previous studies find that urban locales typically have a larger selection of access platforms and providers when compared to rural or remote areas. Therefore, the ability to forecast broadband provision is important to understanding regional trends in telecommunications competition and availability. This paper provides a comparative analysis of cross-sectional and spatial econometric forecasts of broadband provision, with results suggesting that the integration of spatially referenced demand-side variables significantly improve the accuracy of short and mid-range forecasts.     

Factors and sustainable strategies fostering the adoption of broadband communications in an enlarged European Union

The paper presents the results of a study that attempts to identify the main components that influence the development of broadband communications and access services, along with the analysis of sustainable strategies for fostering its further development. The paper briefly provides the appropriate combination of the relevant factors, methods and technologies for faster adoption of broadband communication technologies, contributing to adoption and enabling more rapid social cohesion and the regional inclusion of the new member states. Three identified factors, based on the data from 2004, can be interpreted as a group of enablers and means, indicators of e-service usage and the information and communication technology sector environment. An appropriate combination of the proposed actions could be a valuable guide in planning and developing broadband adoption strategies in different European regions or countries.     

自由贸易协定下中国贸易流量的影响因素研究——基于贸易引力模型的实证分析

近年来,随着经济全球化的迅速发展,我国开始实施自由贸易区战略,推进速度与规模令世人瞩目。以2000-2010年期间中国和14个贸易伙伴的贸易数据为样本,采用加入自由贸易协定等变量的扩展的引力模型对各因素对我国贸易流量的影响进行实证分析。结果显示:贸易国(地区)的经济规模、人口数量、文化以及贸易制度安排是影响我国对外贸易的主要因素,其中,自由贸易区的建立在一定程度上确实可以促进我国同贸易国(地区)的贸易流量,而距离对我国贸易流量的阻碍作用仍然十分显著。     

Thermodynamics and process analysis for future economic scenarios

Economists are increasingly interested in forecasting future costs and benefits of policies for dealing with materials/energy fluxes, polluting emissions and environmental impacts on various scales, from sectoral to global. Computable general equilibrium (CGE) models are currently popular because they project demand and industrial structure into the future, along an equilibrium path. But they are applicable only to the extent that structural changes occur in or near equilibrium, independent of radical technological (or social) change. The alternative tool for analyzing economic implications of scenario assumptions is to use Leontief-type Input-Output (I-O) models. I-O models are unable to endogenize structural shifts (changing I-O coefficients). However, this can be a virtue when considering radical rather than incremental shifts. Postulated I-O tables can be used independently to check the internal consistency of scenarios. Or I-O models can be used to generate scenarios by linking them to econometric macro-drivers (which can, in principle, be CGE models). Explicit process analysis can be integrated, in principle, with I-O models. This hybrid scheme provides a natural means of satisfying physical constraints, especially the first and second laws of thermodynamics. This is important, to avoid constructing scenarios based on physically impossible processes. Process analysis is really the only available tool for constructing physically plausible alternative future I-O tables, and generating materials/energy and waste emissions coefficients. Explicit process analysis also helps avoid several problems characteristic of pure CGE or I-O models, viz. (1) aggregation errors (2) inability to handle arbitrary combinations of co-product and co-input relationships and (3) inability to reflect certain non-linearities such as internal feedback loops.     

Material implication of Chile's economic growth: Combining material flow accounting (MFA) and structural decomposition analysis (SDA)

Over the last three decades, the economic integration of the Chilean economy into global markets has been taking place at a rapid pace. For example, in 1986, exports represented 29% of GDP while in 1996 they had increased to 38% of GDP. This period of time was characterized by strong economic growth with an average annual growth rate of about 10%. From a physical perspective, material requirements more than doubled from 220 to 500 million tons of direct material inputs (DMI) during the same decade (the rate of material growth requirements was around 13% per year).The main objective of this study is to explain the changes in DMI by using a structural decomposition analysis (SDA). The changes in material flow accounting (MFA) were broken down into the effects caused by changes in resource use per unit of output (material intensity effect), changes between and within sectors (structural change effect), changes in the composition of final demand (mix effect), changes due to shifting shares of domestic final demand and export categories (category effect) and finally changes in the overall level of economic activities (level effects). The results, as a percentage of the total level of DMI used in 1986, indicate that economic growth was the major source of material changes (109%). The material intensity and category effects explained 31% and 14% of the increase, respectively. The increase in the material intensity is mainly due to a declining quality of ores in copper production. However, these components were partly compensated by the structure (− 14%) and mix (− 13%) effects. Therefore, for a Southern American country such as Chile, the main causes of these changes in material consumption have been a combination of the nature of economic growth along with an increase in export production and material intensity of production.     

中国对外直接投资效率测算及其金融性影响因素研究

本文在我国对外直接投资（ODI）迅速扩张而其效果又存在争议的背景下,研究了ODI效率及其金融性影响因素。在理论层面,从投入-产出角度提出ODI效率测算的原理,并揭示金融市场规模和结构对ODI效率的影响机制。在实证层面,基于随机前沿分析（SFA）方法,利用我国31个省份2003—-2015年的面板数据进行效率测算和影响因素分析。实证结果表明：第一,我国ODI效率整体呈上升趋势,ODI效率区域间差异较大但呈缩小趋势;第二,金融市场规模扩大和发展水平提升对ODI效率具有显著正向影响,居民储蓄过高和间接融资比例过大的金融市场结构特征对ODI效率具有显著负向影响;第三,金融性因素对ODI效率的影响具有稳健性。     

中国4A级旅游区(点):空间特征与产业配置研究

高级别旅游地是我国旅游业发展的依赖型资源，其研究对我国旅游业的发展有重要指导意义。通过对我国4A级旅游区(点)的空间分析，发现其与区域经济水平和城市发展水平有明显的空间耦合关系。通过统计分析方法，选取能够代表旅游业发展程度的有关指标，对4A级旅游区(点)和其数量关系研究，得出4A级旅游区(点)的数量与区域旅游产业规模之间存在相关关系，在一定程度上可反映出我国旅游产业的区域发展差异，为旅游业的发展提供资源基础，但也面临巨大压力。最后对我国4A级景区的发展提出初步建议，认为应通过城市旅游功能的发挥，积极开拓娱乐旅游、度假旅游等新产品类型，分流游客，逐步改变我国旅游产业的高级别资源依赖模式。     

Intellectual capital and firm performance: evidence from Indian banking sector

In the aftermath of the 2008 financial crisis, the entire Indian banking industry was paralysed and their performance was shattered by the unfolding of enormous cases of Non-performing Assets (NPA). The study estimates the operating efficiency of 40 Indian banks for 5 years (2011–15) as a proxy of performance measure using the output-oriented DEA-BCC model. We find that nearly 62% of the state-owned banks and 47% of the private banks are inefficient indicating that the inefficient banks need to reduce their inputs or improve their output to become efficient. The study further investigates the relationship between intellectual capital (IC) and bank performance using a truncated regression model. The regression results show that out of the three components of intellectual capital, only human capital efficiency is positively and significantly associated with operational efficiency while structural capital and finance capital have a negative impact on the efficiency of banks. The study concludes that to achieve competitive edge banks should invest in their human capital. The results are robust in the case of financial variables taken as a proxy for performance.     

How credit-constrained are firms in Turkey? A survey-based analysis

We study the factors related to the financing of firms in Turkey, using the Business Environment and Enterprise Performance Survey (BEEPS). Based on the survey responses of the firms, we calculate the ratio of credit-constrained firms in Turkey and run a logistic regression to investigate the factors explaining the firms’ access to credit. Estimation results show that the likelihood of having access to credit increases with the firm size. Firms are more likely to access credit if they are being independently audited or they are exporters, and they are less likely to access credit if they have overdue payments.     

Relating the environmental impact of consumption to household expenditures: An input-output analysis

In this paper we evaluate the relationships between household expenditures and the environmental impact categories climate change, acidification, eutrophication and smog formation, by combining household expenditures with environmentally extended input-output analysis. Expenditure elasticities are examined with regression analysis, and are compared and interpreted on the basis of insight at the product level. With data from the Netherlands in the year 2000, we find that environmental impact increases with increasing household expenditures, although the degree to which the environmental impact increases differs per impact category. Climate change and eutrophication increase less than proportionally with increasing expenditures. Acidification increases nearly proportionally with increasing expenditures, whereas smog formation increases more than proportionally. It appears that the mix of necessities and luxuries to which an environmental impact is related is essential in explaining the relationship.     

基于径流路径优化的校园景观海绵化改造研究——以天津大学青年湖片区为例

校园中以硬质铺装为主的场地能够满足师生日常公共活动需求,然而集中的不透水地面、屋面会增大场地雨洪压力。在保证硬质下垫面功能属性的同时,实现雨洪的有效管控是校园景观海绵化改造的核心问题之一。通过获取高精度的场地空间数据,构建SWMM概化模型,分析不同暴雨重现期下不同场景的径流量、峰值流量、峰现时间及不同排水口的流量变化规律,得出基于径流路径优化的校园景观海绵化改造对策,即以优化雨水径流路径为导向,适当组织线性GSI措施,引导产汇流方向,降低场地中有效不透水面积(EIA),减轻场地雨洪压力。最后结合青年湖片区的景观现状,提出以优化径流路径为导向的系统化、立体化、适地性、可观赏的校园雨洪管理模式,对于中小尺度公共空间海绵化改造实践具有实操价值和指导意义。     

中国地区工业知识生产效率测算

文章运用1996-2003年我国29个省(自治区,直辖市)的大中型工业企业面板数据,以新产品开发项目数衡量创新产出,以研发资本存量和研发人员表示创新投入,采用数据包络分析和随机前沿分析方法,对我国地区工业的知识生产效率进行了测算和分析。分析结果表明,用随机前沿法测算的知识生产效率较大而且较为稳定;各地区工业的知识生产效率存在较大差异,具有明显的不均衡发展特征;总体而言,我国地区工业的知识生产效率偏低,存在较大的改进潜力。     

Analysis of the energy access improvement and its socio-economic impacts in rural areas of developing countries

Access to modern energy is one of the most basic requirements for development. In rural areas of developing countries, there are a large number of people who do not have access to LPG and depend on traditional biomass such as wood, crop, and dung for cooking. In addition, energy has numerous and complex links with poverty reduction. Therefore, it is important to estimate the impacts of energy access improvement on socio-economic situation in the rural areas of developing countries quantitatively. This study focuses on socio-economic impacts of cooking demand through changes in stoves adopted by the rural households. We have developed an energy-economic model of rural areas in India to analyze the links between energy, income, and health hazard, applying both opportunity cost for using fuelwood and exposure to Resipirable Suspended Particulate Matter (RSPM). As a result of the analysis, there is a positive relation between the opportunity cost and the average RSPM exposure of women in the rural areas. Following to increase in the opportunity cost, that is, income, the cost of an improved wood stove becomes relatively lower first than that of a traditional wood stove, and then a gas stove attains price competitiveness. It is achieved that the average RSPM exposure is below the WHO and Japanese criteria for Suspended Particulate Matter (SPM), 190 and 100 [μg/m³], at the opportunity cost of US$9 and 15/GJ, respectively.