Estimation of demand elasticities: A reflection on the issues

The general nature of demand and the notion of the elasticity of demand are the issues of concern. Whether the requisite conditions from demand theory are closely enough satisfied when estimating the demand for energy is problematical. Consequently, the meaning of such estimates is subject to debate.     

A Note on the Technical and Allocative Efficiency of Local Exchange Carriers in the United States

The issue explored is whether incentive regulation of local exchange carriers in the United States has resulted in an increase in efficiency. After providing an overview of the nature of incentive regulation, the methodology for measuring the effects of incentive regulation on efficiency is reviewed. This methodology is data envelopment analysis and allows for the measurement of both technical efficiency and allocative efficiency of individual local exchange carriers. The results of empirically implementing the DEA approach indicate that there is little change in technical efficiency. In fact average technical efficiency in 1988 was the same as in 2001. Next, while outputs continued to grow at about their historical rate across LECs, the sizeable increase in the two types of capital increased inputs well above their historical average rates for some LECs leading to short run allocative inefficiency. On average, however, allocative efficiency shows no identifiable trend between 1988 and 2001. Finally, in the aggregate, total economic efficiency does not demonstrate any trend between 1988 and 2001.     

Cable Service and Its Implicit Marginal Valuation

The objective is to estimate the implicit marginal value of channel offerings by cable systems in the USA. Hedonic analysis is a convenient framework in which to explore the relationship between the price of cable service and the channels offered by a cable system. Two separate hedonic equations are estimated-- one for the price of analog cable service and one for the price of digital cable service. With regard to the price of analog cable service, the implicit marginal valuation is statistically significant and positive for just 15 of 106 channel offerings and negative for seven channels. For the price of digital cable service, the implicit marginal valuation is statistically significant and positive for just eleven of 105 channel offerings and negative for five channels. The results suggest that a subscriber's utility would be enhanced by a pricing structure different from the typical approach used by cable systems today of offering a bundled package consisting of several channels. One alternative is to allow consumers to subscribe to just those programming services for which they have a positive implicit marginal value (i.e. an a la carte pricing structure).     

A note on the measurement of the slowdown in total factor productivity

Investigation of foreign exchange control generally focuses on the black market in currencies and the resultant welfare loss to the country under exchange control. But very little attempt has been made to formulate the internal income transfer from foreign exchange earners who choose not to resort to black market, to importers who receive the foreign exchange at less than free market rate. This paper quantifies such measures of income transfer as importer's cost savings, exporter's income transfer, and the transaction cost loss of the market. A case study is developed using the 1951–74 export figures of the state of Kerala in India, showing that the exchange-earning pure or net exporter pays a hidden subsidy to the exchange-consuming importer; and by extension, an exchange-earning agricultural region of a less developed country subsidizes the import-consuming industrial sector of that country.