On the choice of functional form in stochastic frontier modeling

This paper examines the effect of functional form specification on the estimation of technical efficiency using a panel data set of 125 olive-growing farms in Greece for the period 1987–93. The generalized quadratic Box-Cox transformation is used to test the relative performance of alternative, widely used, functional forms and to examine the effect of prior choice on final efficiency estimates. Other than the functional specifications nested within the Box-Cox transformation, the comparative analysis includes the minflex Laurent translog and generalized Leontief that possess desirable approximation properties. The results indicate that technical efficiency measures are very sensitive to the choice of functional specification. Perhaps most importantly, the choice of functional form affects the identification of the factors affecting individual performance – the sources of technical inefficiency. The analysis also shows that while specification searches do narrow down the set of feasible alternatives, the identification of the most appropriate functional specification might not always be (statistically) feasible. First version received: November 1999/Final version received: July 2001 RID="*" ID="*"  The authors wish to thank Almas Heshmati, Robert Romain, and an anonymous referee for insightful comments and suggestions. Special thanks go to the associate editor who handled the paper, and whose careful reading and suggestions have improved the paper substantially. The second author wishes to acknowledge the financial support from “President SSHRC” from the University of Saskatchewan. The usual caveats with respect to opinions expressed in the paper apply. Senior authorship is shared. This is University of Nebraska-Lincoln Agricultural Research Division Article No. 13270.     

关于农村剩余劳动力转移对河南经济发展影响的实证分析

河南作为我国人口和农业大省,由于其农村中存在的大量剩余劳动力,造成了就业结构与经济结构的错位,这严重地制约着河南农业现代化和经济结构高级化的实现.实践证明,农村剩余劳动力转移的速度直接影响着河南经济增长的速度,因此,应采取多种措施促进劳动力的转移,以此为契机加速河南经济社会快速发展.     

基于随机前沿生产函数的我国主要省市人力资本与R＆D投资效率实证检验

人力资本和R&D投资一方面促进了经济增长,另一方面又增强了科研主体对外部技术的吸收能力,推动了知识与技术的扩散。本文基于随机前沿生产函数,利用1998—2007年中国29个省市共290个观测数据,通过引入人力资本和R&D投资两个参数,分析人力资本和R&D投资对生产力的直接影响和通过提高技术吸收能力对技术效率的间接影响。结果表明:人力资本在诠释地区间效率差异中扮演着极其重要的角色,它不仅直接影响生产力的提高,而且还通过提高技术吸收能力从而间接影响技术效率;R&D投资对技术效率有重要影响,而对生产力的直接影响并不强。     

基于异质型人力资本集聚的区域经济发展模式研究

依据经济学理论,对异质型人力资本进行了进一步的划分,提出了人力资本集聚的3种方式,对其所产生的经济效应分别进行了论述。以此为基础,结合实际,对人力资本集聚模式与区域经济发展模式之间的关系进行了研究,并就人力资本集聚模式与区域经济模式的转化进行了探讨。     

人本资本形成与内生经济增长

在生产力与生产关系之间关系上分析了技术进步与制度创新的匹配关系。在知识经济时代资本泛化趋势下,以技术要素、制度要素为核心黏合其他要素形成具有多元产权主体的人力资本、治理资本在经济组织内有机整合为人本资本。以制度要素为核心的治理资本边际收益递减假设、技术要素为核心的人力资本边际收益递增假设、制度创新和技术进步匹配假设的基础上导出人本资本形成与其内生经济增长关系,并分析了我国某些国有企业存在的一些弊端。     

Is it efficient to analyse efficiency rankings?

When production functions are estimated as frontier functions, the deviations from the frontier can be interpreted as individual inefficiency estimates. Unfortunately, it has recently been shown that efficiency differences across individuals are very often statistically insignificant. In this paper, we will analyse the consequences of the consideration of confidence statements for the reliability of efficiency rankings. The stochastic frontier and confidence intervals derived by Horrace and Schmidt are compared to the COLS approach and bootstrap confidence intervals. The membership function is proposed as a simple Monte-Carlo approximation for the probability for an individual to be the most efficient in the sample. First version received: May 1998/final version accepted: July 1999     

欠发达乡镇跨越式发展思考

加快欠发达乡镇社会经济发展已成为我国全面建设小康社会和构建和谐社会进程中迫切需要解决的一大问题,因此,研究欠发达乡镇跨越式发展具有十分重要的意义。欠发达乡镇要实现跨越式发展,追赶发达乡镇,要紧密依托资源优势,大力培育区域特色产业,发展农型经济;要高水平开发人力资本,着力提升农民整体素质和就业竞争力;要大力推进人口和产业向城镇聚集,营造欠发达地区经济增长级;要努力构筑完善的生态产业发展体系,大力发展生态效益型经济。     

空间经济研究中马克思主义与新古典两条路径的关联——基于资本逻辑与空间基本规律的比较视角

空间经济学研究的兴起,主要有两条理论路径:第一条是马克思主义政治经济学到"马克思主义地理学"的研究路径,第二条是以马歇尔、克鲁格曼等为代表的空间要素模型分析研究路径。文章认为这两条路径有内在关联,前者是关于经济空间的动力机制的理论,后者是关于经济空间运动形式的理论。空间经济的深层逻辑和具体规律互为表里,为当前中国空间经济学发展提供了启示。     

技术工人激励机制研究

技术工人供求矛盾尖锐成为中国经济持续增长的重要障碍。技术工人具备知识、技能、健康等人力资本条件,理应属于人力资本。因此,应注重从从技术工人自身、企业、国家三方面入手来吸引、留住并激励技术工人。     

Factor Mobility and Dispersion in Marginal Products: A Case on China

This paper examines the efficiency in resource allocation in China. We estimate production functions at the provincial level and use these functions to compute time series for marginal products of capital and labor. We found that dispersion in the marginal product of capital declined from 1970 to 1984 and then became stable afterward, whereas the dispersion in the marginal product of labor declined initially but the trend has been reversed since 1993. We argue that this reversal may indicate any of the following: (1) policy-driven labor migration adding to labor market inefficiency; (2) the presence of increasing returns in labor; and (3) both capital and labor having become mobile since 1993. Translated from the Economic Research Journal, 2004, (1) (in Chinese)     

试论国民经济中人力资本价值的实现

文章认为,研究人力资本的作用发挥或者说价值实现,比研究人力资本的存量变化更有现实意义。首先分析了人力资本对经济发展正反两方面作用,然后探讨人力资本作用发挥的前提与基础,着重分析人力作用实现的三个主要途径,最后论述了人力资本的价值实现与市场的关系。     

FOREIGN CAPITAL AND EFFICIENCY IN DEVELOPING COUNTRIES

This paper uses stochastic frontier methodology to analyse foreign direct investment, imported capital goods and human capital as channels for increased efficiency in less‐developed countries. Empirical investigation reveals that developing countries differ with respect to the efficiency with which they use frontier technology. Foreign direct investment and human capital play a significant and quantitatively important role in explaining these differences.     

实现技术进步型经济增长的条件、路径和策略研究——基于人力资本投资的视角

提高创新效率和人力资本投资效率,采取渐进式技术进步以及经济危机的爆发和环保要求的提高等等,都可以激励企业家创新和劳动者的人力资本投资,使人力资本与技术进步形成一个良性循环,这决定了技术进步型经济增长的实现。随着创新和人力资本投资的不断进行,生产模式将不断更新,那么前后相继新旧生产模式的生产曲线的包络线就构成了经济增长的路径。发展中国家依靠技术模仿,可以发挥"后发优势"而实现短期高速增长,但是这种增长模式很难持续。采用技术模仿与技术创新相结合的技术进步方式,才是发展中国家实现长期增长和经济赶超的最佳策略。     

京津冀、长三角、珠三角人力资本竞争力状况比较

人力资本是所有生产要素中最具有能动性的资源,而且是稀缺的。不同区域的人力资本竞争力状况不同,在一定程度上影响不同地区经济发展的速度和模式。通过对京津冀、长三角、珠三角比较研究发现,近十年来长江三角洲地区人力资本提升最快,其次是京津冀地区,再次是珠江三角洲地区。京津冀地区的人力资本竞争力在三个区域中,综合优势明显。各个区域应根据各自的优势与劣势调整人力资本投资战略,以保持不同区域板块的协调发展。     

Is Foreign Direct Investment “Gender Blind”? Women's Rights as a Determinant of US FDI

The impact of women's rights on a country's competitiveness in the global economy is a source of contention. While educational opportunities for women, as well as political empowerment, are linked to a variety of positive outcomes, the impact of economic rights is mixed. Toward better understanding these issues, we focus on the role of women's rights in attracting foreign direct investment (FDI). Though foreign capital plays a key role in the development strategies of many countries, and many of the growth areas in FDI rely heavily on women's labor, extant literature on the determinants of FDI largely ignores gender. To gain insight into these issues, we examine the impact of women's political, economic, and educational rights across four different types of US FDI into the developing world. We find a mixed relationship between women's rights and FDI that varies across industrial sectors.     

人力资本测算及其应用研究综述

从人力资本测算与相关理论、人力资本测算方法与相关应用两个方面的联系对人力资本测算及其应用研究进行总结,并展望未来可能的应用研究发展。人力资本测算和应用虽然得到前所未有的重视,大量的研究成果涌现,但远未达到成熟阶段,许多研究还有待深入和进一步的发展,更多的应用领域有待开发和拓展。     

Are overtime plants more efficient than standard-time plants? A stochastic production frontier analysis using the IAB Establishment Panel

Using data from the IAB Establishment Panel, 1995–2000, we investigate between-plant variations in productivity. The study compares technical efficiencies between plants which work overtime (overtime plants) and plants which do not work overtime (standard-time plants), where technical efficiency measures the gap between feasible output and actual output for a given input combination. A fixed effects approach is applied, which does neither rely on any distributional assumptions of the inefficiencies, nor on the independence between the regressors and inefficiencies. For both, models with time-invariant and time-varying inefficiencies, we do not find evidence that the two plant-types differ in their technical efficiency.First version received: May 2002 / Final version received: August 2004The comments by Martyn Andrews and Bob Hart are gratefully acknowledged. The article has also benefited from the comments of two anonymous referees.