Externalities, efficiency, regulation, and productivity growth in the U.S. electric utility industry

This paper examines the decomposition of total factor productivity growth for firms subject to regulation, given the production of a bad output. The production of good and bad outputs provides benefits and costs to society. Corporate socially responsible firms recognize the cost to society of producing the bad output. The paper separates the production technology and regulation effects from both the scale and technical change components. The paper also examines the measurement and decomposition of productivity growth when not accounting for production of the bad output. Using a 1992–2000 panel of 34 U.S. investor-owned electric utilities, results indicate that improvements in the scale, efficiency change, and technical change components contributed to positive growth. Not accounting for production of the bad output led to, on average, an overestimation of both the rate of productivity growth, and the contributions of scale economies and technical change to changes in productivity growth.

Productivity and efficiency in the US: effects of business cycles and public capital

We add to the literature on the US productivity slowdown and effects of public capital on productivity by employing Malmquist productivity indexes to measure productivity. These indexes allow us to decompose productivity growth into efficiency change and technological innovation. We derive these components for each observation, which we exploit to explore factors which may lead to differences in productivity across regions, including business cycles, both own-state and cross-border public infrastructure investment, and relative sizes of the manufacturing, service and public sector. Our results suggest that the components of total factor productivity change lend important insights into the fairly complex effects of public capital on productivity growth.     

Non-parametric, unconditional quantile estimation for efficiency analysis with an application to Federal Reserve check processing operations

This paper examines the technical efficiency of US Federal Reserve check processing offices over 1980–2003. We extend results from Park et al. [Park, B., Simar, L., Weiner, C., 2000. FDH efficiency scores from a stochastic point of view. Econometric Theory 16, 855–877] and Daouia and Simar [Daouia, A., Simar, L., 2007. Nonparametric efficiency analysis: a multivariate conditional quantile approach. Journal of Econometrics 140, 375–400] to develop an unconditional, hyperbolic, α-quantile estimator of efficiency. Our new estimator is fully non-parametric and robust with respect to outliers; when used to estimate distance to quantiles lying close to the full frontier, it is strongly consistent and converges at rate root-n, thus avoiding the curse of dimensionality that plagues data envelopment analysis (DEA) estimators. Our methods could be used by policymakers to compare inefficiency levels across offices or by managers of individual offices to identify peer offices.     

Information systems and technology sourcing strategies of e-Retailers for value chain enablement

In the e-Retail industry, a well-designed IT infrastructure is essential in creating a tightly integrated value chain and delivering high quality service. With intense competition for market share and profits, information systems and technology (IST) sourcing decisions are becoming increasingly important to e-Retail firms to support continued growth and market responsiveness. Drawing on the contingency theory, we examine organizational and environmental factors that influence an e-Retailer's IST sourcing strategy of make versus buy in enabling its value chain activities, and we also look at firm-level performance impacts of IST sourcing decisions that involve bundling across value chain activities. We test the proposed model and hypotheses using a panel data set of 307 firms over the period of 2006–2010. The results show that firms that make transformative IT investments tend to source a smaller portion of IST for their e-Retail value chain activities than firms that pursue automate or informate as their strategic role for IT investment. Capabilities are positively associated with IST sourcing. Firms experienced in e-Retail are more likely to build rather than buy their IST. In addition, we find mimicking behavior for IST sourcing among firms in the same merchandizer category. We find that IT strategic role is strongly associated with growth metric, whereas sourcing decisions predominantly impact operational performance measures. There is partial evidence that alignment between IT strategic role and IST sourcing decisions results in better performance effects. Moreover, complementary IST sourcing of synergistic marketing and sales activities positively impacts Web sales and conversion rate, but the sourcing combination of logistics, operations, and sales activities is associated with lower Web sales and conversion rate.     

Applying efficiency measurement techniques to the measurement of productivity change

Deterministic frontier analysis (DFA), stochastic frontier analysis (SFA), and data envelopment analysis (DEA) are alternative analytical techniques designed to measure the efficiency of producers. All three techniques were originally developed within a cross-sectional context, in which the objective is to compare the efficiencies of producers. More recently all three techniques have been extended for use in a panel data context. In the latter context it is possible to measure productivity change, and to decompose measured productivity change into its sources, one of which is efficiency change. However when efficiency measurement techniques, particularly SFA, have been applied to panel data, it has infrequently been made clear what the objective of the analysis is: the measurement of efficiency, which may vary through time as well as across producers, or the measurement and decomposition of productivity change. In this paper I explore the use of each technique in a panel data context. I find DFA and DEA to have achieved a more satisfactory reorientation toward productivity measurement than SFA has.     

On the efficiency of national innovation systems

This paper presents a non-parametric approach to the disentanglement of the related effects of efficiency and productivity of a country's technological effort. The ultimate purpose is to identify the extent to which the alleged decrease in the productivity growth of many countries can be explained by differences in efficiency and by differences in its components, namely scale and congestion. The role of moderators in explaining productivity fluctuations if also assessed. The database consists of the countries included in the World Competitiveness Report.     

城市公共信息引导服务初探

在城市规模日趋扩大、城市结构日趋复杂的现实情况下,通过高水平的公共信息引导服务来引导人的行为以及资源的流动,是维护城市运转秩序、提高城市运行效率的有效途径.本文对公共信息引导服务的概念、标准、现存问题以及今后的努力方向等问题进行了探讨.     

论资产减值准备计提中的现值计量问题

随着企业会计制度中对资产定义的重大调整,资产的“能够带来未来经济利益“的本质为越来越多的人接受。伴随着资产定义的调整,新会计制度中对计提资产减值准备提出了更加严格和细化的要求,但同时又并未对资产减值准备的计提的具体方法做出明文规定。本文在对国际会计准则中对资产减值准备计提的规定的研究基础上,分析了在我国在资产减值准备计提过程中的一些问题,并做了具体的说明。     

Assessing multi-dimensional performance: environmental and economic outcomes

This study examines economic performance, environmental performance, and regulatory activity for plants in three industries: pulp and paper, oil, and steel. Stochastic frontier production function models show significant deviations from production efficiency. Older plants are less efficient in production, but perform no worse on emissions. Plants spending more on pollution abatement tend to do worse on both production efficiency and emissions. Stricter local regulatory pressure is associated with somewhat lower emissions, but has mixed effects on production efficiency. Positive correlations between SUR residuals for emissions and production efficiency suggest unmeasured plant-level characteristics that drive both economic and environmental performance.

公平和效率为导向的内部控制信息披露方式的转变

自《萨班斯--奥克斯利法案》颁布以来,美国上市公司内部控制信息披露方式由自愿性披露转变为强制性披露。而在2008年我国五部委联合发布的《企业内部控制基本规范》标志着我国上市公司内部控制信息也开始向强制性披露方式转变。论文试图用经济学的公平与效率理论分析内部控制信息由自愿性披露方式转变为强制性披露方式背后的原因,经过分析发现披露方式的转变是促进资本市场效率向保障资本市场公平的转变。     

中国农业生产率的变动与分解分析:1978～2004年--基于非参数的HMB生产率指数的实证研究

本文使用非参数的HMB生产率指数方法,考察了中国农村改革以来农业全要素生产率（TFP）的变动趋势,并把TFP的增长构成分解为技术进步、技术效率变化、规模效应和投入产出混合效应四个部分。结果表明,改革开放以来我国农业TFP的增长主要是由技术进步推动的,技术效率的下降对TFP的增长造成了不利影响,而规模效应和混合效应影响较弱。文章还指出中国农业的育种能力和生物技术的发展是农业技术进步的决定力量。     

Stochastic productivity measurement

Stochastic productivity indicators are defined, and superlative measures of these indicators are derived. It is shown that, in the presence of complete markets or a common-expectations equilibrium, differences in the market values of firms are superlative indicators of cross-sectional productivity differences. Exactness results are used to decompose nonstochastic productivity indicators into a measure of true productivity change and a measure of ‘luck’. The decomposition is illustrated empirically.

不完全信息下拍卖市场的结构与交易效率

本文着重研究了不完全信息下拍卖市场的结构及其对拍卖市场交易效率的影响。通过合理地引入刻画市场结构的参数,对不完全信息下的拍卖市场作了“结构”上的分类;借助于拍卖市场博弈的贝叶斯均衡解,分析了不同市场结构对拍卖市场交易效率的影响,论证了在各种可能的市场结构中,当拍卖市场具有“完全竞争性”的市场结构时,拍卖市场的交易效率是最优的;通过求解参与人的最优市场结构,得到了拍卖市场中不同类型的参与人具有不同市场结构偏好的结论,并由此揭示了导致不完全信息下拍卖市场交易效率损失的根本原因。     

The Rise and Fall of Slacks: Comments on Quasi-Malmquist Productivity Indices

Journal of Productivity Analysis - The Malmquist productivity index has been based on ratios of radial Farrell efficiency scores. Calculating these relative to piecewise linear production frontiers...     

我国能源生产率的地区划分及影响因素分析

能源生产率状况以其对能源消费量的重要影响而引起了国内外理论界的广泛关注。本文整理了我国各个省区1995～2003年的数据,并以此为基础来研究这些省区能源生产率的分类情况及差别原因。通过聚类分析,本文将各省划分为能源高效区、中效区和低效区三类,并利用面板数据计量分析了经济发展水平、产业结构、投资情况以及能源价格等因素对能源生产率的影响。     

基于ISP指数的中国能源生产率再测度与分解研究

本文首次采用基于投入冗余的全要素生产率指数来重新测度和分解中国1985-2009年29个省份的能源生产率,该指数优势在于不仅可以测度与分解全要素生产率,而且可以将全要素生产率进一步分解为各种投入要素的生产率,测度的能源生产率还可以分解为能源的技术变化与技术效率变化。研究表明：中国能源生产率年均提高2.89%,总体水平并不高,低于其他国内外文献的测度结果。2002年是中国能源生产率发生变化的关键年份。2002年之前,中国能源生产率年均变化为3.69%,但是波动性较大,2002年之后,中国的能源生产率水平稳步上升。2002年之前,技术变化是能源生产率提升的主要驱动力量,2002年之后,技术效率变化推动了中国能源生产率的稳步上升,表明中国能源生产率开始走上效率提升的轨道。中、西部与东部的能源生产率水平差距越来越大,技术变化是导致东、中、西部之间差距的主要原因。东部地区呈现出“高能效-高增长”的经济发展模式,而中西部则表现为“低能效-低增长”的经济发展模式。全部省份的能源生产率均得到提升,最佳实践省份越来越多,但是省份之间的追赶效应只有0.36%,     

两种等效益面生产函数与全要素生产率变化率的分解

本文根据规模报酬可变还是规模报酬不变，分别定义了一般等效益面生产函数和典型等效益面生产函数。由一般等效益面生产函数的离散型分解式可以测算一个生产单元的纯技术进步，以及纯技术效率变化对经济增长的贡献；而由典型等效益面生产函数可以将全要素生产率的变化率分解为典型技术进步率、纯技术效率和规模效率的变化率之和。进而由具有明确几何意义的离散型分解式分别测算典型技术进步和规模效率对经济增长的贡献。等效益面生产函数与分解式的几何意义还说明，全要素生产率的改变最终是由技术创新、制度创新和管理创新共同推动的。     

Revenue and efficiency ranking in large multi-unit and bundle auctions

Should a seller use a multi-unit auction for identical and indivisible units of a good? We show, under specific assumptions on the value distributions of the bidders, that in large markets the multi-unit format generates higher (lower) expected revenue compared to the bundled format when the supply is relatively scarce (abundant). In contrast, a large market is shown to be always more efficient under the multi-unit format than its bundled counterpart. Thus under these assumptions a profit maximizing seller is expected to choose the relatively efficient multi-unit format when supply is scarce.     

Codetermination and personnel policies of German firms: the influence of works councils on turnover and further training

The paper analyses the contribution of works councils to the overall success of German firms during the last few decades. It is argued that a successful implementation of flexible specialization strategies is the cornerstone of German prosperity. The acquisition and effective utilization of firm-specific skills is a precondition of successful flexible specialization. Effective skill utilization itself needs cooperation between employers and employees in order to safeguard the specific investments of either side. Thus, the crucial question is whether the dual system of worker representation in Germany, and particularly the part of the works councils therein, is an efficient institution in the sense that it guarantees the necessary co-operation. In analysing the effects of works councils on personnel turnover and vocational training, we find the works councils to be organizationally efficient, i.e., they balance out employers' and employees' interests. The legal structure underlying the dual system is found to be institutionally efficient because it guarantees this result. Even in times of crisis and if exposed to great pressure, the dual system seems to remain stable, as is illustrated in the light of recent labour market developments that have been triggered by German unification and the last recession.     

公允价值计量选择:思考与解释——信息经济学的视角

本文基于信息经济学的视角,对公允价值的一些理论问题进行了解释。并对历史成本、财务会计和财务报告决策有用性的目标,以及有效资本市场、非对称信息等问题进行了讨论。