Joint outputs and real wage rates

The magnification effect in standard international trade theory asserts that if the relative price of the labor-intensive commodity increases, the real wage will also increase, as will the wage/rental ratio. This result depends upon the assumption that both activities are nonjoint—each combining labor and capital to produce a single output, so that if activities are joint instead, the results are in jeopardy. It is shown that if the difference between the share of commodity one produced in the first activity and in the second activity exceeds the difference between the labor distributive shares in the first activity and the second, an increase in commodity 1's relative price raises the wage/rental ratio. The real wage unambiguously rises in this case if and only if the ratio of the commodity output shares in the two activities exceeds the ratio of labor shares.     

从文献计量分析看1981—2011年全球系统动力学研究

系统动力学作为一个研究复杂反馈系统的研究领域,在20世纪80年代以后得到了较为广泛的传播和较快发展。以美国科学引文索引数据库扩展版(SCI-Expanded)和社会科学引文索引数据库(SSCI)收录发表于1981—2011年间的976篇系统动力学论文为研究对象,对这些论文的产出规模、地域分布、学科分布、知识基础等方面进行了计量分析。结果显示,30余年来,全球系统动力学成果产出逐渐丰富,理论研究与应用研究得到积极推进,与众多学科联系紧密,各国科研投入力量在不断加强,同时也反映出,美国系统动力学研究在全球一枝独秀。     

Measurement and its Uses: Harmonization and Quality in Social Statistics

The European construction has induced a strong demand of harmonization of statistics of the various countries. The latter can be focused on an harmonization of outputs , already practised for a long time by national accountants: the statistical variables are defined in common, then each country measures them according to its own means. On the other hand, the harmonization of inputs, more ambitious, seeks a standardization of all the construction process and data collection. This leads to distinguish clearly the two moments of use and of production of economic and social statistics. Now the same distinction is made in the debates over the notion of quality of statistics, which contrast the quality of the product with the one of the process. This quality cannot be judged independently from the expected uses of these statistics and of their form of social credibility. From this point of view, the various harmonization levels are compared with the various forms of connection and convertibility between the national currencies.     

Carbon efficiency of US colleges and universities: a nonparametric assessment

Under the American College and University Presidents’ Climate Commitment (ACUPCC), institutes of higher education have pledged to pursue a goal of carbon neutrality. We utilize emissions reported under the ACUPCC agreement and a nonparametric data envelopment analysis approach in order to evaluate the relative performance of signatories to the agreement in terms of producing teaching and research with the least greenhouse gas emissions. We find that while many signatory institutions are now producing their desirable outputs relatively efficiently in terms of carbon emissions, there still exists considerable variation in efficiency and potential for improvement. Results of a second stage efficiency change analysis shows evidence of both movement towards the efficiency frontier since signing, and some movement of the frontier itself, though this evidence comes primarily from teaching-focused institutions.     

Weak Disposability in Nonparametric Production Analysis: Reply to Färe and Grosskopf

Färe and Grosskopf (this issue) claim that a single abatement factor suffices for modeling weak disposability in nonparametric production models, and that the Kuosmanen (2005) technology that uses multiple abatement factors is larger than necessary. This article demonstrates by a numerical example that a single abatement factor does not suffice to capture all feasible production plans, and that its use leads to the violation of convexity, one of the maintained assumptions of the model. We also prove that the Kuosmanen technology is the correct minimum extrapolation technology under the stated axioms.     

TFP growth in Chinese cities: The role of factor-intensity and industrial agglomeration

This article estimates agglomeration effects via calculating EG (Elilsion & Glaeser) and TFP growth (Total Factor Production) by considering the undesired output of the industrial enterprise database and the entropy weight method. Using panel data of 207 county-level cities in China and 28 two-digit manufacturing industries from 2003 to 2013 based on SIC codes, this paper analyzes the relationship between agglomeration and TFP growth through the smooth transition model under different regions and factor-intensity. The results are as follows. (1) A negative relationship appears in manufacturing productivity. The agglomeration effect changes to the crowded effect. Environmental pollution is also generated by transportation and inadequate pollution treatment technology. (2) The excessive agglomeration phenomenon of developed areas (eastern region) is less than the less developed areas (central and western regions). (3) Resource-intensity industries present two thresholds that indicate complex regional features. For various intensive industries in different regions, the relationship between GML and agglomeration is different. High agglomeration does not always promote TFP growth. (4) At different levels of urban industrial agglomeration, the influences of efficiency change and technical change on GML are different. Overall, moderate agglomeration in all regions helps promote economic development.     

基于DEA方法的安徽省各地市经济发展效率评价

根据2006—2010年安徽省17个地市的经济投入产出数据,利用数据包络分析方法,对安徽省各地市经济发展效率进行评价,并对部分非DEA有效的地区进行投影分析。利用BC2输入模型,综合五年的计量结果,对比各个地市的纯技术效率与规模效率,找出制约各地市经济发展的原因所在,并为提高各地市的发展效率提出建议。     

基于SSBM-ESDA模型的安徽省县域农业效率时空演变

以绿色农业发展为导向,选择农业碳排放作为非期望产出指标,采用超效率的SSBM模型和探索性空间数据分析(ESDA)相结合的方法,以县域单元为尺度对2000-2017年安徽省农业效率水平、空间格局及其演变趋势进行实证分析。研究发现:①传统DEA模型忽视了农业碳排放等非期望产出的负面效应,从而高估农业资源利用的实际状态,基于超效率的SSBM模型更符合实际情况,能较好地识别各评价单元之间的优劣关系。②研究期内,安徽省农业效率值呈波动式上升态势,但总体上处于效率中等水平,农业效率空间分布不均衡,呈现出皖南地区>皖中地区>皖北地区的空间分布格局;空间变化趋势呈现自西向东递增、自北向南U型增长的变化态势,南北差异的增大是安徽省县(市、区)农业效率差异增大的主导因素。③除2010年外,安徽省农业效率呈正相关,空间差异有所缩小,但空间集聚程度相对较弱;安徽农业效率HH集聚县区集中分布于皖南地区,且呈现出向周边县区扩散的态势,LL型县(市、区)则主要分布在皖北地区,且空间分布较为稳定。④研究期内,安徽省农业效率空间正相关的县(区)数量有所增加,表明该时间段内安徽省农业效率空间上进一步集聚,LL型集聚的皖北地区应当是安徽省农业发展关注的重点。     

Measuring firm performance: Differentiating between uncontrollable and controllable bad outputs

This paper introduces a new model that differentiates between controllable and uncontrollable bad outputs in the measurement of firm performance; the airline industry is used as the empirical example. The model allows us to measure technical inefficiency, as well as the inefficiency in the production of bad outputs, and the inefficiency in the investments allocated to the reduction of uncontrollable bad outputs. Moreover, we provide a direct measure of the total cost of controllable bad outputs. As the model involves a number of latent (unobservable) variables that cannot be easily integrated out of the likelihood function without producing complicated expressions, we resort to Bayesian techniques. We find notable differences in inefficiency across airlines. More importantly though, we find that the production of bad or undesirable outputs impose significant costs on airlines. However, these cost issues could be reduced if airlines invest more in maintenance and service training.     

汇率升值对产出的作用机制与效果文献述评

汇率升值会从多个渠道影响一国的产出水平,并通过不同渠道不同方向产出不同作用,但从理论和实证角度都难以直接确定其产出的最终作用方向.从实证角度分析,汇率升值对产出的作用方向也并无定论,研究对象的不同,研究时间区间的差异是造成研究结论分化的重要原因,但在研究中没有很好地解决内生性问题也是造成结果出现偏差,进而容易得出“紧缩性贬值”结论的一个重要原因.