The role of environmental factors in water utilities’ technical efficiency. Empirical evidence from Spanish companies

This article computes input-specific scores of technical efficiency for a sample of water utilities located in the southern Spanish region of Andalusia. In addition, differences in efficiency between different operating environments are investigated. Concerning the debate about ownership and efficiency, we find that privately owned companies outperform public utilities in their management of labour. Furthermore, technical efficiency is found to be greater among firms located in highly populated areas and for utilities providing water services to tourist municipalities. Finally, no empirical evidence supporting the greater technical efficiency of consortia of water utilities, a managerial strategy strongly encouraged by regional politicians, is found.     

可持续发展与互联网

“可持续发展”是21世纪的发展指导观,当在可持续发展的具体实施中存在多方面的困难。而作为21世纪领头科技的互连网具有信息储藏量大,形式多样,信息传递速度快等特点,同时互连网又是培育基于互连网的各种技术的基底,这使得互连网及其技术成为确保可持续发展顺利进行的战略基石。本文从经济、社会与资源三个角度入手,详细分析互连网技术对可持续发展的巨大推动作用。     

河北省金融机构金融创新对策研究

创新是金融业发展的动力。河北省是一个经济大省,但称不上是一个经济强省,更不是一个金融强省,只有通过不 断的金融创新,才能推动河北金融业快速健康的发展。本课题组通过对河北省各金融企业的深入调查,发现在金融创新方面 做得很不够,问题很多,在深入分析的基础上我们提出一些建议。     

TASTE FOR VARIETY AND OPTIMUM PRODUCT DIVERSITY IN AN OPEN ECONOMY

We extend the Benassy 'taste for variety' model to an open economy setting. With the Benassy effect, the market equilibrium is inefficient, openness reduces the varieties provided in the unconstrained optimum and there are potential gains from international coordination.     

DOES SIZE MATTER? THE INFLUENCE OF FIRM SIZE ON WORKING CONDITIONS,JOB SATISFACTION AND QUIT INTENTIONS

Using a detailed survey on Spanish workers, this paper investigates the relationship between firm size and working conditions, the extent to which firm size differences in workers' job satisfaction can be accounted for by differences in their work environment and the impact of firm size on workers' quit intentions. The results indicate that: (1) employees in larger firms face a worse work environment; (2) working in large firms significantly reduces job satisfaction when no controls for working conditions are included, but taking them into account makes differentials across size categories statistically insignificant; and (3) no systematic differences exist in intentions to quit across firm size categories, irrespective of conditioning on wages.     

Prescribed conditional interaction structure models with application to the analysis of mobility tables

The present paper considers some new models for the analysis of multidimensional contigency tables. Although the theoretical background used here appeared already in Haberman (1974), prescribed conditional interaction (PCIN) models were introduced by Rudas (1987) and their mathematical properties were worked out by Leimer and Rudas (1988). These models are defined by prescribing the values of certain conditional interactions in the contingency table. Conditional interaction is defined here as the logarithm of an appropriately defined conditional odds ratio. This conditional odds ratio is a conditional version of a generalization of the well known odds ratio of a 2×2 table and that of the three factor interaction term of a 2×2×2 table and applies to any number of dimensions and any number of categories of the variables. The well known log-linear (LL) models are special PCIN models. Estimated frequencies under PCIN models and tests of fit can be computed using existing statistical software (e.g. BMDP). The paper describes the class of PCIN models and compares it to the class of association models of Goodman (1981). As LL models are widely used in the analysis of social mobility tables, application of more general PCIN models is illustrated.     

仓储自动化技术的新进展

本文介绍了国内外仓储技术近几年的发展情况,重点介绍了仓储自动化技术的发展,并对其发展提出了建议。