A simple closed-form approximation for the cumulative distribution function of the composite error of stochastic frontier models

This paper derives an analytic closed-form formula for the cumulative distribution function (cdf) of the composite error of the stochastic frontier analysis (SFA) model. Since the presence of a cdf is frequently encountered in the likelihood-based analysis with limited-dependent and qualitative variables as elegantly shown in the classic book of Maddala (Limited-dependent and qualitative variables in econometrics. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 1983), the proposed methodology is useful in the framework of the stochastic frontier analysis. We apply the formula to the maximum likelihood estimation of the SFA models with a censored dependent variable. The simulations show that the finite sample performance of the maximum likelihood estimator of the censored SFA model is very promising. A simple empirical example on the modeling of reservation wage in Taiwan is illustrated as a potential application of the censored SFA.     

Facilitative Leadership and the Challenge of Renewing Local Democracy in Italy

Participatory arrangements have become a popular way of addressing modern challenges of urban governance but in practice face several constraints and can trigger deep tensions. Facilitative leadership can play a crucial role in enabling collaboration among local stakeholders despite plural and often conflictual interests. Surprisingly, this style of leadership has received limited attention within debates linking urban governance and participatory democracy. We summarize the main insights of the literature on facilitative leadership and empirically develop them in the context of participatory urban governance by comparing recent participatory processes in two Italian cities. Whereas in one city facilitative leadership gradually emerged and successfully transformed a deep conflict into consensual proposals, in the other city, participatory planning further exacerbated pre‐existing antagonism, and local democratic culture was only later slowly reinvigorated through bottom‐up initiative. These diverging pathways explain how facilitative leadership is: (1) important for making things happen; (2) best understood as situated practices; (3) an emergent property of the practices and interactions of a number of local actors and (4) a democratic capacity for dealing with continuous challenges. Key to this style of leadership is understanding participatory urban governance as an ongoing democratic process.     

A new approach to estimating the metafrontier production function based on a stochastic frontier framework

This paper proposes a new two-step stochastic frontier approach to estimate technical efficiency (TE) scores for firms in different groups adopting distinct technologies. Analogous to Battese et al. (J Prod Anal 21:91–103, 2004), the metafrontier production function allows for calculating comparable TE measures, which can be decomposed into group specific TE measures and technology gap ratios. The proposed approach differs from Battese et al. (J Prod Anal 21:91–103, 2004) and O’Donnell et al. (Empir Econ 34:231–255, 2008) mainly in the second step, where a stochastic frontier analysis model is formulated and applied to obtain the estimates of the metafrontier, instead of relying on programming techniques. The so-derived estimators have the desirable statistical properties and enable the statistical inferences to be drawn. While the within-group variation in firms’ technical efficiencies is frequently assumed to be associated with firm-specific exogenous variables, the between-group variation in technology gaps can be specified as a function of some exogenous variables to take account of group-specific environmental differences. Two empirical applications are illustrated and the results appear to support the use of our model.     

Does Online Information Drive Offline Revenues?: Only for Specific Products and Consumer Segments!

While many offline retailers have developed informational websites that offer information on products and prices, the key question for such informational websites is whether they can increase revenues via web-to-store shopping. The current paper draws on the information search literature to specify and test hypotheses regarding the offline revenue impact of adding an informational website. Explicitly considering marketing efforts, a latent class model distinguishes consumer segments with different short-term revenue effects, while a Vector Autoregressive model on these segments reveals different long-term marketing response.We find that the offline revenue impact of the informational website critically depends on the product category and customer segment. The lower online search costs are especially beneficial for sensory products and for customers distant from the store. Moreover, offline revenues increase most for customers with high web visit frequency. We find that customers in some segments buy more and more expensive products, suggesting that online search and offline purchases are complements. In contrast, customers in a particular segment reduce their shopping trips, suggesting their online activities partially substitute for experiential shopping in the physical store. Hence, offline retailers should use specific online activities to target specific product categories and customer segments.     

Common stories of reintroduction: A discourse analysis of documents supporting animal reintroductions to Scotland

Political decisions on environmental issues are increasingly required to be ‘knowledge based’, which has led to a wealth of (scientific) expert documents that aim to inform decision-making. However, the roles of rhetoric and argumentation in those documents have received relatively little scientific attention. We studied 111 expert documents in support of reintroductions to Scotland and identified the elements that constituted the discourses of white-tailed eagle, beaver and lynx. Similar building blocks (so-called storylines) were found in all three debates. The pro-reintroduction discourse as a whole bore resemblance with other contemporary environmental management discourses: In what could be termed ‘win-win logic’, positive storylines were combined to point at the necessity of a management intervention, in our case a reintroduction. Yet, additional mechanisms were also at work which suggests that downplaying negatives can be as important as dwelling on positives. Crucially, we found that the Scottish pro-reintroduction discourse might have become increasingly ‘reflexive’ in terms of its rhetoric and argumentation. The latter development may have major implications for political decision-making. A more critical use of rhetoric and argumentation in expert documentation is needed to achieve environmental political decision-making that is open to any possible outcome of deliberation (including non-reintroduction).     

Open fields, risk, and land divisibility

Why were open fields pervasive in the middle ages? Our findings support the general contention that behavior towards risk explains the persistence of open fields, but we reject the mechanism of diversification via scattered landholdings. Simulation analysis is used to estimate the relative efficiency of alternative forms of insurance available to peasant households. We find that, for the vast majority of peasants, self-insurance through land accumulation was a superior risk management/wealth accumulation strategy, but only if land could be transacted in small parcels. Scattering existed because it transformed land into a divisible savings instrument.     

Religious prohibitions against usury

Roman Catholic usury prohibitions created an explicit negative “tie-in” between salvation and consumption lending at interest. We view the prohibitions as a response to severe consumption smoothing problems created by the substitutability of capital market transactions for traditional smoothing mechanisms—informal pooling and charity. We demonstrate consistency between our model and the broad features of the Roman Catholic chronology of prohibitions.     

World investment report 2001: Promoting linkages

United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD). 2001. World Investment Report 2001: Promoting Linkages. New York and Geneva:United Nations. 384 pages. ISBN: 92‐1‐112523‐5.     

Enhancing Technological Practice: An Assessment Framework for Technology Education in New Zealand

The stated aim of technology education in New Zealand is to develop students' level of technological literacy. This paper introduces the Technology Assessment Framework (TAF) as an organisational tool for the development and delivery of technology programmes that focus on increasing students' technological literacy through the enhancement of their technological practice across technological areas and contexts. The TAF was developed and refined in 1999 and 2000 as part of a two year New Zealand Ministry of Education funded research project, and integrated within a national professional development programme in 2000 designed for preservice and inservice teacher educators in New Zealand.This paper backgrounds the sociocultural theoretical position of the TAF and explains how it reflects and furthers the aim of technology education in New Zealand. The TAF is then presented and explained with the aid of illustrative examples from classroom practice.     

Modeling Marketing Dynamics by Time Series Econometrics

This paper argues that time-series econometrics provides valuable tools and opens exciting research opportunities to marketing researchers. It allows marketing researchers to advance traditional modeling and estimation approaches by incorporating dynamic processes to answer new important research questions. The authors discuss the challenges facing time-series modelers in marketing, provide an overview of recent methodological developments and several applications, and highlight fruitful areas for future research. This discussion is based on the First Annual Conference on Modeling Marketing Dynamics by Time Series Econometrics at the Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth, Hanover, New Hampshire, USA on September 16–17, 2004.Insights from the First Annual Conference, Tuck School of Business at DartmouthThis revised version was published online in May 2005 with a corrected cover date.