Ownership and production efficiency: Evidence from Taiwanese banks

In the early 1990s, Taiwan began her deregulation trend in order to enhance competition and economic efficiency across all industries. We derive a theoretical framework to predict possible rankings in technical efficiencies of public, mixed, and private banks. A panel data set with 43 Taiwanese banks during 1997–1999 is used for empirical analysis. We then apply a translog distance function to estimate technical efficiencies. The relationship between technical efficiency and government shareholding is also examined. Empirical results show that a public bank in Taiwan can improve its technical efficiency by mixed ownership at a diminishing rate. Moreover, banks in Taiwan on average performed worse after the 1997 Asian financial crisis.     

糖料生产的扶持政策因应:滇省例证

近年来,国内糖料价格连年大涨,但价格上涨并未带动糖料产量增加,国内糖料生产反而连年下滑,食糖产量快速下降,糖价持续高涨,进口食糖量、价均创历史新高,形势较为严峻。对第二大糖料主产区云南省进行的专题调研表明,应通过大力开展甘蔗高产创建活动、积极推广机械化、给予糖料同等支持、加大对境外糖料甘蔗替代种植的支持和进一步完善糖蔗价格联动机制等加大对糖料生产的支持力度。     

“贯彻珠三角规划纲要 统筹广东城乡发展”研讨会综述

2009年8月27—28日,由广东省社会科学界联合会指导,广东省农村经济学会、广东科贸职业学院和中山市农业局联合主办,广东省农村财政研究会协办的＂贯彻珠三角规划纲要，统筹广东城乡发展”研讨会在广东省中山市召开。     

Market structure and the pass-through of the federal funds rate

We study the effect of local market bank concentration on business loan originations and on the pass-through of the federal funds rate to business loan originations. Economic theory on the relationship between concentration and the pass-through of input prices to quantity (or price) is ambiguous. We find that more concentrated markets have lower business loan originations and experience smaller changes in business loan originations in response to changes in the federal funds rate. Our results support the idea that market concentration dampens quantity reactions to input price changes.     

S&P Downgrade Positive for China's Stock Market in the Long Run

The Standard & Poor's(S&P) rating agency announced Friday night(August 5) that it has downgraded the U.S.debt from a stellar AAA rating by a notch to AA+,and lowered the outlook on the new U.S.credit rating to negative, indicating that another downgrade was possible within one year or two.After the downgrade,it was largely expected     

国际制度对国内政治的影响机制——来自理性选择制度主义的解释

近些年来,理性选择制度主义者为国际制度的国内影响发展了几种重要的因果机制。理性选择制度主义主要探讨了在行为体偏好给定的条件下,国际制度如何改变了国内行为体在信息、权力和利益分布上的既有均衡状态,从而影响了国内政治的结果。如果国内制度具有集权的特点,国际制度就可以作为信号和承诺装置;如果国内制度具有分权的特点,国际制度就可以用来对权力资源进行再分配。但这两种效应往往发生在国际制度对国家行为的约束力较强时。当国际制度对国家行为的约束力较弱时,国际制度可以作为社会集团的政治动员工具。     

Estimating an origin–destination table for US imports of waterborne containerized freight

Containerized freight imports into the US are growing at an average of 10% per year. This traffic is concentrated at a small number of US seaports. It is therefore important to have an accurate understanding of the flow of containers from their origin country through these seaports to their final destination. This paper develops an optimization model to estimate route flows and a corresponding multi-modal origin–destination table for containers by synthesizing data on international trade and railcar movements with a gravity model for the demand of container traffic. This analysis provides insights into the balance of rail and truck inland transportation from each port.