MEASURING AND IMPROVING TECHNICAL EFFICIENCY IN UK POST OFFICE COUNTERS USING DATA ENVELOPMENT ANALYSIS

This paper sought to establish how technically efficient Post Office Counters is nationally and regionally. The method by which this was determined is data envelopment analysis, applied to data for 1989 on 1281 Crown post offices. The input used was labour, and outputs consisted of average waiting times as a measure of quality of service, and nine different categories of counter transactions. Nationally it was found that technical efficiency could be significantly improved by making more efficient use of labour inputs and reducing average waiting times. Wide disparities were found in regional efficiency and it was hypothesized that these relative differences were due to differing working practices, turnovers of staff and local labour market conditions. It was also concluded for the period studied that some structural inefficiency existed due to the existence of inefficient working practices and the lack of computerization of transaction procedures.     

ANALYSIS OF POVERTY AND EFFICIENCY: AN EARNINGS FRONTIER APPROACH

The paper introduces the concept of an earnings frontier in explaining monthly consumption expenditure (a proxy for income) in terms of human capital and endowments of a household. Individuals who translate their potential earning into actual earnings enjoy a fully efficient position. In contrast, individuals who earn less than their potential earnings suffer from some kind of earnings inefficiency. The paper estimates an earnings frontier using the Corrected Ordinary Least Square (COLS) method and classifies households in terms of efficiency scores. Splitting the sample into an efficient and an inefficient part based on the estimated frontier and a bench mark efficiency score, the status of poverty in the two parts (groups) is studied. The poverty gap between the groups is then decomposed into a characteristics effect and a coefficients effect using the familiar Oaxaca decomposition methodology. The paper also tries to establish a link between the notion of efficiency and the coefficients effect in the Oaxaca decomposition methodology. The results obtained are interpreted in light of the poor but efficient hypothesis.     

THE RELATIVE EFFICIENCY OF CHARTER SCHOOLS

ABSTRACT ** :  This analysis compares the technical efficiency of charter school primary and secondary campuses with that of comparable campuses in traditional Texas school districts. Charter schools are hybrids—publicly funded, but not required to meet all the state regulations releant for traditional schools. Student performance is measured using value added on standardized tests in reading and mathematics, and efficiency is measured using the input distance function. The analysis suggests that at least in Texas, charter schools are substantially more efficient than traditional public schools.     

ASSESSING THE PERFORMANCE OF THE PUBLIC SECTOR

ABSTRACT ** :  One is used to hearing harsh statements about inefficient public services. It is not surprising to see public sector performance questioned. What is surprising is that what is meant by performance, and how it is measured, does not seem to matter much to either the critics or the advocates of the public sector.
The purpose of this paper is to suggest a definition, and a way to measure the performance of the public sector or rather of its main components. Our approach is explicitly rooted in the principles of welfare and production economics. We will proceed in four stages. First of all we present what we call the 'performance approach' to the public sector. This concept rests on the principal-agent relation that links a principal, i.e., the State, and an agent, i.e., the person in charge of the public sector unit, and on the definition of performance as the extent to which the agent fulfils the objectives assigned by the principal. The performance is then measured by using the notion of productive efficiency and the 'best practice' frontier technique.
In the second stage we move to the issue of measuring the performance of some canonical components of the public sector (education, health care and railways transport), assuming that there is no constraint as to data availability. The idea is to disentangle the usual confusion between conceptual and data problems. In the third stage, we move to real world data problems. The question is then given the available data, whether it makes sense to assess and measure the performance of such public sector activities. The final stage is devoted to explaining performance or rather lack thereof. This exercise has clear implications for public policy.
Finally we argue that when the scope is not components but the entirety of the public sector, one should restrict the performance analysis to outcomes and not relate them to inputs.     

COMPARATIVE EFFICIENCY BETWEEN COOPERATIVE,SAVINGS AND COMMERCIAL BANKS IN EUROPE USING THE FRONTIER APPROACH

We test competing hypotheses concerning the comparative behavior of shareholder‐owned commercial banks and stakeholder‐orientated cooperative and savings banks in European banking. One hypothesis is that the risk culture and business models of stakeholder and shareholder‐owned banks have become more alike and so cost efficiency has converged between bank ownership structures. The alternative hypothesis suggests that institutional differences do matter and lead, amongst other things, to variation in network effects and monitoring mechanisms producing differing behaviors and efficiency outcomes. By using a novel panel data set of 521 European banks during 1994–2010, we find: (i) mean inefficiency scores vary by ownership type and are lower for cooperative banks than for commercial and savings banks; (ii) there is a large variation in inefficiency scores among banks within each ownership type but the lower variance for cooperative banks indicates that they are the most homogeneous group; (iii) the inefficiency distribution of savings and commercial banks appear to arise from the same distribution, but this does not hold for cooperative banks. As such our findings are more consistent with the alternative hypothesis. Our first two findings buttress those studies that found significant differences between European banks with differing ownership structures, while our third finding on the significance of the cycle to the distribution of inefficiency is novel.     

ASSESSING THE INTEGRATION OF ELECTRICITY MARKETS USING PRINCIPAL COMPONENT ANALYSIS: NETWORK AND MARKET STRUCTURE EFFECTS

Market power in electricity wholesale spot markets is more likely if there is market segmentation. We show that principal component analysis is a natural tool for the qualitative and quantitative assessment of the presence of local markets. We study whether the New Zealand market has been a national market or a set of local markets since its inception in 1996 and find that increased competition induced some segmentation that was eliminated by transmission enhancement and the introduction of generation downstream from the constrained circuits. Transmission investment policy that ensures one market will contribute to the efficiency of electricity, water, and related other markets. ( JEL D4, L1, L4)     

呼和浩特地区城镇体系工农业发展能力的异速生长分析

文章运用分形思想和系统科学理论对呼和浩特各旗县20余年工业总产值和农业总产值进行异速生长分析,发现各旗县之间在工业发展上存在较好的幂指数关系,而在农业发展上则存在明显的退化。通过系统结构的深入分析,揭示了呼和浩特市各旗县发展的基础和未来的发展潜力。在理论上为城镇体系异速生长的多指标分析建立了一个完整范例,在实践上则为正在进行的呼和浩特市城镇发展战略规划提供了科学依据。     

INFLUENCING THE PUBLIC AND EFFICIENCY IN BUREAUCRATIC PROVISION

Abstract.  In the present paper a public bureau can extract additional budgetary allocations, not only by misreporting its production cost to its oversight committee but also by 'influencing' the perceptions of the public at large. I juxtapose the bureau's ability to influence the public with its ability to misreport to the oversight committee, and find that influencing the public might support an efficient level of production by invoking a separating equilibrium. However, a pooling equilibrium involving either overproduction or underproduction of output cannot be ruled out. Accordingly, overproduction could occur even when the bureau cares only about extracting excess budget and not increasing output per se.     

基于SFA方法的碳排放效率 区域差异化与协调机制研究

本文主要采用SFA模型,将对碳排放效率有影响的七个变量加入模型,测算出1996-2011年的碳排放效率值。然后从时间和空间的角度分析了碳排放效率的变化趋势。研究表明,碳排放效率在整体上处于上升阶段,在地区上存在趋异的现象,即碳排放效率随着时间的发展表现出更大的地区差异性。因此,我们有必要建立系统的碳排放协调机制,保证碳交易市场有效运行。     

公共选择视角下的集体行动效率及其制度含义

开展集体行动不仅要考量其合法性,也要考量集体行动的效率。从经典的激励机制设计和社会选择理论中得不出能实现集体行动效率的现实可行途径。公共选择理论认为,集体行动效率的制度含义是达成对集体行动的一致同意,这种一致同意是可以在对集体行动的讨论过程中形成的。     

基于多元逐步回归与通径分析的临澧县建设用地驱动力研究

随着城镇化进程的加快,非农建设占用土地特别是耕地日益突出,为了更好地保护有限的耕地资源,文章以临澧县为研究对象,采用多元回归分析法与通径分析相结合的研究方法,对促使地区建设用地增加驱动力进行了研究。文章通过运用SPSS统计软件,选取对影响临澧县建设用地的9个因素进行逐步回归分析,然后根据回归模型进行通径分析,确定了影响临澧县各类建设用地增长的主要驱动力,为科学地制定土地利用规划、更好地保护耕地资源提供科学依据。     

ACCOUNTING FOR THE EFFECTS OF NEW AND DISAPPEARING GOODS USING SCANNER DATA

With the "discovery" of scanner data by statistical agencies and researchers comes a wealth of new information upon which price index calculations can be based. Old problems, such as the appearance and disappearance of goods over time, are likely to be an important feature of such data. However, given that scanner data includes the prices and quantities of the population of transactions we have more information than is traditionally available to deal with the new and disappearing goods problem. We adopt a recently developed approach using the Constant Elasticity of Substitution cost function to provide a detailed empirical analysis of the effects of new and disappearing goods for an Australian scanner data set of supermarket products. Our results indicate that the failure to account for new and disappearing goods in the cost-of-living index leads to a significant upward bias.     

OPTIMAL INCOME TAXATION,DYNAMIC EFFICIENCY,AND THE SOCIAL COST OF PUBLIC EXPENDITURE*

An interest income tax and a publicly provided private good are introduced into the Hamada overlapping-generations model consisting of heterogeneous individuals where the government can use a wage-income tax, an identical lump-sum transfer, and the public debt. Two interesting problems are studied: (a) what relation exists between the optimal interest rate and the population-growth rate and (b) how dynamic efficiency affects the optimal-decision rules of taxes and the publicly provided good. We show that (i) if the government can (not) tax the interest income, then the optimal interest rate is (not) equal to the population-growth rate, (ii) without the availability of the interest tax the difference between these two rates is mainly caused by the income-distribution effect of the public debt and (iii) the dynamic efficiency effects on the optimal rules of the wage tax and the publicly provided good depend on not only such a difference but also the average substitute-complement relations among leisure, the second-period consumption and the publicly provided good.     

效率分析与经济增长方式转变

本文利用DEA对国内31个工业行业2000—2007年的数据进行了分析,结果表明,中国经济增长方式并没有发生实质性转变。对各种技术效率进行Tobit回归分析表明,国有资本比重对纯技术效率的改进有积极作用;适度的产业集中和对外开放可以防止过度竞争,提高效率;劳动力低成本阻碍了各种效率的改进。     

江阴市耕地变化驱动因素及耕地利用效率定量研究

江阴市耕地呈逐年不断减少的趋势，而且耕地减少与经济发展和人口增长均存在较好的相关性。本文利用主成分分析法，探寻江阴耕地减少的驱动因素，在此基础上，根据因子分析法的主因子载荷系数的含义，对江阴市耕地利用效率进行了估算。