Productivity growth, technological progress, and efficiency change in chinese agriculture after rural economic reforms: A DEA approach

This study applies a data envelopment analysis (DEA) approach to analyze total factor productivity, technology, and efficiency changes in Chinese agricultural production from 1984 to 1993. Twenty-nine provinces in China were classified into advanced-technology and low-technology categories. The Malmquist (1953) productivity measures were decomposed into two components: technical change index and efficiency change index. The results show that total factor productivity has risen in most provinces for both technology categories during the 1984–1993 period. Technical progress was mostly attributed to Chinese agricultural productivity growth after the rural economic reforms. The deterioration in technical efficiency in many provinces indicates China has great potential to increase productivity through improved technical efficiency. Enhancing rural education and research and development (R&D) in agriculture may also help farmers to improve technical efficiency and productivity in agricultural production.     

Health insurance reform and economic growth: Simulation analysis in Japan

This paper evaluates the drastic reforms of Japanese public health insurance initiated in 2006. We employ a computable general equilibrium framework to numerically examine the reforms for an aging Japan in the dynamic context of overlapping generations. Our simulation produced the following results: first, an increase in the co-payment rate, a prominent feature of the 2006 reform, would promote economic growth and welfare by encouraging private saving. Second, the ex-post moral hazard behavior following the increase in co-payment rates, however, reduces economic growth. Third, Japan's trend of increasing the future public health insurance benefits can mainly be explained by its aging population, and increasing the co-payment rate does little to reduce future payments of public health insurance benefits. Fourth, the effect on future economic burdens of reducing medical costs through efficiencies in public health insurance, emphasis on preventive medical care, or technological progress in the medical field is small. Finally, a policy of maintaining public health insurance at a fixed percentage of GDP will require reducing public health insurance benefits, perhaps up to 45% by 2050. Such a policy also reduces economic growth until approximately 2035. Our simulation indicates that the reform does not significantly reduce future public health insurance benefits, but it can enhance economic growth and welfare by encouraging private saving.     

An analysis on technical efficiency in post-reform China

This paper employs a fully nonparametric stochastic frontier model with time and individual effects to study technical efficiency in China's post-reform economy. The panel data cover China's thirty provinces for the period of 1985–2008. The empirical results show that the average output elasticity of labor is larger than the other two inputs of capital and human capital. Based on the specified inefficiency Tobit model, the factor analysis on technical efficiency shows that the time effects of technical efficiency in China's post-reform economy are significantly contingent on the factors. There exists significant regional differences in technical efficiency in China's economic development, and a number of policy implications can be drawn.     

How are China''s state-owned enterprises doing in the 1990s? Evidence from three interior provinces

Since its inception in the early 1980s, the success of China's enterprise reforms remains hotly debated. This paper introduces a new element into the analysis of state-owned enterprise performance by drawing on the recent increase in inter-regional income disparities. It is argued that as a result of less favourable structural conditions and stronger fiscal dependence on the central government, reform implementation in the interior provinces has lagged behind the progress made along the coast. This hypothesis is investigated using enterprise survey data from three interior provinces which is compared to a similar survey carried out earlier in four coastal cities. The evidence generally supports the view of larger administrative restrictions in the interior and relatively poor economic performance.     

社区医疗卫生服务体系建设中的政府角色

在我国医疗卫生体制中,初级和二级医疗服务缺乏制度性的分工,导致民众大量的初级医疗卫生服务主要由医院承担,一方面造成医疗资源的浪费,另一方面也对医疗费用升高推波助澜。这一问题的症结在于,政府医疗资源大多流向各类医院。不同政府部门之间缺乏协调.社区医疗卫生服务体系有欠发达。政府增加投入以及各政府部门加强协调,引入医疗服务的守门人制度,是促进社区卫生服务发展的关键。     

我国区域产学研合作效率评价——基于省际数据的DEA-Tobit分析

运用DEA-Tobit两步法对我国2010年的区域产学研合作效率及影响因素进行了评价和分析。研究结果表明：我国产学研合作的综合技术效率水平为0.846,综合技术无效率主要来源于纯技术无效率;区域产学研合作效率出现东西高、中部低的局面,且技术无效率是中部地区产学研合作无效率的重要原因;地区GDP增长率、教育经费占GDP的比重、技术市场交易金额占GDP的比重,以及区域内具有R&D活动的企业数与我国区域产学研合作效率显著正相关。     

Evaluating Chinese Industrial Reforms: SOEs between Output Growth and Profit Decline

This paper evaluates Chinese industrial reforms against a background of conflicting evidence for rapid output growth and declining profitability in China's state-owned enterprises (SOEs). Using enterprise level data for various ownership forms from four coastal cities it is shown that the profitability decline in SOEs has little to do with allocative inefficiency such as excess wage payments. Rather, growing competitive pressures on the domestic market are responsible for the erosion of profit rates in Chinese industry. Industrial reforms that lead to an increase in managerial, autonomy and provide material incentives to workers can be shown to have a positive impact on enterprise profit rates. The overall favourable assessment of industrial reforms in China is qualified by substantial regional differences not covered by the sample data.     

Financial Sector Reforms,Bank Performance and Economic Growth: Evidence from Zambia

Abstract: This paper investigates the effects of market‐based financial sector reforms on the competitiveness and efficiency of commercial banks, and economic growth, in Zambia. The results show that reforms adopted in Phase II (strengthening of regulatory and supervisory, payments and settlements, and financial operations frameworks) and Phase III (implementation of a comprehensive financial sector development plan) had significant positive effects on bank cost efficiency. Macroeconomic variables such as per capita GDP and inflation were insignificant. Further, using an endogenous growth model in which industrial production is a proxy for GDP growth, it was found that bank cost efficiency, financial depth, Phase II and III financial sector reforms, the degree of economic openness, and rate of inflation were significant determinants of economic growth. Phase II policies and the inflation rate have negative effects while the rest of the variables have positive effects on economic growth. Some plausible policy lessons are offered.     

The Focus Efficiency of U.S. Hospitals

Hospital productivity has been a research topic for over two decades. Whereas much has been learned regarding cost, technical, scale, and allocative efficiency as well as the impact that weakly disposable inputs/outputs have on hospital behavior, we expand on this research by examining size and service offering, or focus, efficiency at the metropolitan area level for US hospitals. By using an extension of the Free Coordination Hull (FCH), we are able to determine whether hospitals in our sample could become more efficient if they provided more services (reduce inefficiency due to too narrow a focus) or fewer services (reduce inefficiency due to too broad a focus). Our results suggest that findings vary among the hospital markets. This approach could be used by policy makers and managers in order to reduce costs by sharing services, reducing services in hospitals, or expanding services in hospitals. Findings from a study such as this should aid reform programs by providing more information on the sources of hospital inefficiency.     

我国区域产学研合作效率评价——基于省际数据的DEA-Tobit分析

运用DEA—Tobit两步法对我国2010年的区域产学研合作效率及影响因素进行了评价和分析。研究结果表明：我国产学研合作的综合技术效率水平为0．846,综合技术无效率主要来源于纯技术无效率;区域产学研合作效率出现东西高、中部低的局面,且技术无效率是中部地区产学研合作无效率的重要原因;地区GDP增长率、教育经费占GDP的比重、技术市场交易金额占GDP的比重,以及区域内具有Rb-D活动的企业数与我国区域产学研合作效率显著正相关。     

医疗卫生财政支出对经济增长贡献的时空差异-基于1997-2012年30个省级地区面板数据分析

文章基于1997-2012年30个省级地区数据构建固定效应模型，选用“医疗卫生财政支出决算额”测算医疗卫生财政支出水平，研究分析医疗卫生财政支出对经济增长贡献的时间、空间差异及原因。结果显示：医疗卫生财政支出对经济增长存在明显时空差异，空间上表现为西部地区医疗卫生财政支出的贡献度最高，东部次之，中部最低，时间上呈现出“由低到高，日趋平稳”的变化趋势。政府应明确自身职能责任，通过加大西部地区医疗卫生财政支出力度，提高财政支出效率等途径，整合全社会卫生资源，完善医疗卫生资源分配机制。     

Understanding openness and productivity growth in China: An empirical study of the Chinese provinces

This paper investigates the effects of openness on China's regional productivity growth. We build a model of technology diffusion in which follower economies achieve productivity growth by taking advantage of technology spillovers from the world technology frontier. We hypothesize that China's regional productivity growth is a positive function of regional openness and a negative function of the current level of regional productivity. Empirical analysis in this paper focuses on how openness affects productivity growth in the Chinese provinces. We examine two effects of openness on regional productivity growth in China: the direct growth effect and the convergence effect. By using a variety of panel data regression techniques, we show that the direct growth effect of openness is the main effect while the convergence effect is insignificant. The findings of this paper lend strong support to the claim that the opening-up of China promotes the country's economic growth.     

Land use change and environmental stress of wheat, rice and corn production in China

Grain self-sufficiency is one of the most important agricultural policy goals in China. With only modest imports, China has succeeded in feeding 22% of the world's population on only 7% of its land. However, a high price has been paid for this enormous achievement. Increase in grain yields, in particular in rice, as the main source of production growth, relied heavily on intensive use of physical inputs and increasing intensity of farming systems. Soil degradation, water scarcity, and severe pollution were among the consequences as well as declining efficiency of fertilizer application. Using county-level panel data from 1980 to 2003 and graphical (GIS-based) analysis, this paper first looks at the spatial change of the major grain production across regions over the past two decades, towards the northern and northeastern provinces. The analysis is complemented by using a random panel data model, which underscores the significant influence of land availability, degree of urbanization, and government policy on grain production. Finally, this analysis addresses environmental stress which includes both soil degradation and water shortage. The latter is already severe in many of the traditional grain producing areas, but will now become a bigger problem in the “new” grain producing areas, as these have traditionally much less water resources. Hence, while the economic rational of the “grain shift” towards the northern and northeastern regions is understandable, its sustainability is not guaranteed.     

A comparison of the technical efficiencies of health districts and hospitals in Botswana

An attempt is made here to construct and present relative efficiency indices for the services rendered by health districts and specific hospitals in Botswana, using Stochastic Frontier Regression analysis and Data Envelopment Analysis. The analysis indicated that three districts - Kweneng East, Kgalagadi and Boteti - have efficiency scores below the optimum level. Among the 13 hospitals considered, Tsabong Primary Hospital was found to have an efficiency score of less than one. Since the health services involve a number of factors, these indices ought to serve as indicators for further scrutiny of those units (health districts and hospitals) that fall below the optimum efficiency level. The data used for the analysis are from the published material by the Central Statistics Office, Botswana for the year 1997. Health is considered one of the major concerns of the government of Botswana. As a consequence, the authors feel that this study will be useful to policy makers and health planners in giving them some kind of relative ranking among health districts and hospitals.     

Misallocation and price distortions: A revenue decomposition of medical service providers in China

The provision of healthcare services and the distribution of medial resources across the China health system hierarchy is characterized by an inverted pyramid with alarming congestions in the so-called AAA tertiary hospitals. This study tries to investigate this baseline misallocation issue prior to the introduction of the new healthcare reforms in 2009. Building upon established framework, we developed an alternative measure for dispersion of factor price distortions. Using a large national microdata, the results obtained are consistent with previous studies in that for a less developed geographical market, often characterized by poorer factor mobility and weaker market competition, dispersion of the factor price distortions is high, reflecting high degree of misallocation. We also developed a decomposition of revenue dispersion to make inferences about the major channels through which the inverted pyramid arises. The analysis reveals the extent to which, the disproportionately large share of revenues generated by high-tier tertiary hospitals in China, can be attributed to their high productivity and the public trusts in them as providers of quality care.     

An alternative method of measuring economic efficiency: The case of grain production in China

The objective of this paper is to suggest a simple method to gauge the economic efficiency of firms, when there are no reliable price data. Applying the suggested method on the recent Chinese farm-household survey data collected during 1993 and 1994, this study shows that majority of grain farmers in China are not producing at the optimum levels which yield maximum profits. The analysis also indicates that output can be increased by consolidating rather than further segmenting the operational area of grains.     

Addressing shortcomings in the Household Responsibility System: Empirical analysis of the Two-Farmland System in Shandong Province

Despite apparent overwhelming benefits, implementation of the Household Responsibility System (HRS) in China contained a number of flaws. The Two-Farmland System (TFS), which originated in Pingdu City in Shandong Province, sought to address the twin problems of land fragmentation and economies of size. A stochastic frontier production function analysis that isolates the impacts of land allocation reforms suggests that the TFS increased efficiency by around 7%. This article highlights the need for empirical analysis to assess objectively the merits or otherwise of particular reforms.     

我国城市医院经营效率影响因素分析——基于省际面板数据的随机前沿分析

本文利用2003年-2008年我国31个省市自治区医院的面板数据,运用随机前沿模型（SFA）及一阶段估计方法对我国城市医院经营效率的影响因素进行分析。研究结果表明,药品收入比例、卫生技术人员占医院工作人员总人数比例、三级医院占医院总数比例、二级医院占医院总数比例均对医院效率造成影响。而且,通过东、中、西部地区子样本分析得出,在不同地区医院效率及其影响因素之间存在差别,地理因素也应该考虑在医疗改革的政策制定中。因此,医院体制改革应考虑地区间差异,优先改革对一地区造成突出影响的因素。     

How China Could Contribute to a Benign Global Rebalancing？

Our study shows that China could contribute to an orderly global rebalancing using a package of policies to stimulate its domestic consumption. These policies include a progressive appreciation of the RMB, fiscal stimulation by increasing expenditure on education, health care, social safety nets and poverty reduction, income policies to reduce inequality and to strengthen wage income, and reforms of the financial system to improve financial efficiency and to mitigate financial constraints. By implementing such policies, China＇ s external surplus could be narrowed and its domestic imbalances improved. The excessively high savings rate could be lowered and the share of household consumption increased, even though GDP growth would moderate slightly.     

电力建设项目计划审核优化的对策建议

目前电网对建设项目的计划审核存在工作依据不明确，各专项数据规范不统一，审核资源浪费、效率低下，审核分析方式不科学、局限性大等诸多问题。为更好地适应新一轮电力体制改革，解决计划审核混乱、低效等问题，提出计划审核优化的对策建议。