Shadow prices of environmental outputs and production efficiency of household-level paper recycling units in Vietnam

The production efficiency and shadow prices of three environmental outputs (BOD, COD, and SS) of 63 household-level paper-recycling units, from a recycling craft village in Vietnam, are assessed A two-stage procedure, linear programming and stochastic estimation, is used to estimate output distance function. Social capital as a production factor and environmental outputs are included in the output distance function. Results indicate that production efficiencies could potentially be improved by 28%. There is a substantial variation in the shadow prices of environmental outputs among the production units of different types of paper products. Furthermore, the average shadow prices of the three environmental outputs are all positive. This indicates a potential for improving environmental quality though introducing pollution-prevention methods to paper-recycling production processes in Vietnam (e.g., recirculation of wastewater), and suggests that it may be inappropriate to restrict the shadow prices of environmental outputs to be non-positive for the analysis of some production processes.     

Technical efficiency of Norwegian banks: The non-parametric approach to efficiency measurement

The nonparametric frontier methodology is applied to a sample of banks, where output levels are measured either by the number of accounts and their average size, or by the total balances of the accounts. The efficiency rankings of individual banks are found to depend substantially on our choice of output metric, whereas the estimated size of potential productivity improvements in the banking sector are less affected. The results on economies of scale are also largely unchanged.The refereeing process of this paper was handled through S. Grosskopf.     

Efficiency and Environmental Regulation

This paper proposes an extension of the enhancedefficiency indices of Färe, Grosskopf, Lovell andPasurka (1989) that considers undesirable outputsasymmetrically by assuming that firms can freelydispose of some undesirable productions, but areduction of other bad outputs generates a cost interms of desirable outputs. This methodologicalapproach is used to analyse the relative efficiency ofa sample of Spanish producers of wooden goods andfurnishings whose production process generates fourdifferent wastes. We obtain efficiency indices thatserve to measure the impact on firm performance inseveral scenarios related to environmental regulationsaimed to reduce the production of wastes. Whenenvironmental regulations are assumed, it is foundthat firms would have to sacrifice important amountsof potential desirable output in order to reallocateinputs into waste reduction. Secondly, we find thatfirms associated with a Technological Institute aswell as firms located at a marshallian type industrialdistrict are likely to be less affected byregulations.     

投入占用产出模型透析

在全面考察模型构造原理的基础上,通过分别对模型进行列向、行向的深入分析表明,投入产出模型的实质是等维局部闭模型,模型对最终产品具有挤出效应,对增加值具有溢出效应。     

中国的节能政策有效吗？——基于SFA Bayes分析框架的生态全要素能源效率测定

鉴于单位GDP能耗指标的片面性和基于DEA SBM分析框架测算的生态全要素能源效率的纵向不可比性,本文提出了测算结果具有纵向可比性并且将非期望产出考虑在内的SFA Bayes分析框架。基于2000—2013年中国省级面板数据的实证结果发现：中国生态全要素能源效率（ETFEE）较低,样本期间均值在0.60左右,东部地区高于中部和西部地区。从纵向发展来看,样本期间中部和西部的技术创新速度快于东部;从整体来看,ETFEE虽然有所提高,但是非常缓慢,样本期间只提高了0.02左右,这说明中国的节能政策效果并不明显。从影响ETFEE的因素来看,区位因素的影响程度要高于产业结构因素,其他条件相同时,东部地区的ETFEE最高,第三产业的ETFEE高于其他产业。     

新疆农业生产效率地区差异分解与影响因素研究*——基于非期望产出

［目的］研究新疆农业生产效率地区差异及影响因素。［方法］文章基于新疆2004—2015年的面板数据,使用非期望产出的Super SBM测算新疆各地区的农业生产效率,随后使用Theil指数分解和GMS邓氏关联模型对新疆农业生产效率的地区差异和外部影响因素进行研究。［结果］北疆、东疆、南疆的效率得分均值分别为0943、1059、0854; 新疆农业生产效率Theil指数呈上升趋势; Theil指数区域贡献率中区域内差异逐年下降,区域间差异逐年上升,区域内差异中北疆Theil指数区域贡献率最大; GMS邓氏关联模型得出的外部影响因素排序为城市化水平差异、人口密度差异、财政支出分权差异、产业结构差异、教育水平差异。［结论］调整农业财政分配比重,积极引进高新生产技术; 增强区域内外互动,挖掘区域潜力,高效率地区进行辐射带动,扩大农业产业目标市场; 加快城市化建设,优化农业布局,提高农业从业人员素质。     

A theory of economic development and dynamics of Chinese economy

This paper constructs a theoretical model which captures the recent slowing-down of Chinese economy. In contrast with the previous literature which largely confines its focus on the resource misallocation between inefficient state-owned enterprises (SOEs) and more efficient private firms under a closed economy setting, this paper re-examines the dynamics of the growth of Chinese economy from the perspective of an open economy. In particular, this paper incorporates heterogeneous outputs and relative prices into the model, where private firms are assumed to be the major exporters and the remaining large SOEs create increasing import demand from the home country. By adding downward sloping world demand curve, our paper predicts a turning point during the transition process, as the falling relative price for exports starts to constrain and eventually slow down the growth; SOEs begin to co-exist with private firms in the economy before it is fully transformed. Our paper provides a theoretical foundation in terms of understanding the current dynamics and institutional change of Chinese economy. Additionally, this paper also provides quantitative evidence on the effects of financial development during the China's economic transition process.     

The performance of green innovation: From an efficiency perspective

In this new stage of global economic development, we hope to achieve both economic development and environmental improvements via innovation. Green innovation aims to meet the dual goals of economic development and ecological protection. The scientific evaluation of the performance of China's green innovation appears to be quite meaningful. Some studies have evaluated the performance of green innovation, but are limited by the use of a single efficiency measurement method. To fill this research gap, this article uses a combination of two methods to evaluate green innovation efficiency, which provides a more precise evaluation of efficiency. Specifically, this article uses the vertical-and-horizontal scatter degree method to construct a pollutant index and then sets that index as the undesirable output in a slacks-based measure (SBM) model to evaluate efficiency. To further study the regional differences in green innovation efficiency, this article uses a convergence model. Most existing convergence analyses ignore spatial elements. Focusing on the influence of spatial factors, this article introduces a spatial econometric model into the convergence analyses. This article draws the following main conclusions. (i) The efficiency of green innovation in the country as a whole has been increasing each year, and green innovation efficiency in the central and western regions has increased significantly. (ii) Regional differences have narrowed each year. (iii) Green innovation efficiency is significantly positively spatially correlated, which is reflected in the spatial agglomeration of regions with the same efficiency level. (iv) Green innovation efficiency exhibits σ-convergence and spatial conditional β-convergence. (iv) Spatial factors accelerate the convergence of green innovation efficiency.     

环境管制对中国工业环境效率影响的空间面板数据分析

环境管制是政府环境保护的一种有力工具,企业是否选择更优的环境效率生产方式不仅仅取决于企业内部的环境管理能力,更取决于政府环境管制力度的大小。本文在采用SBM-Undesirable模型测度了中国30个省（市）2000—2010年的工业环境效率后,借用空间面板回归模型发现,政府环境管制具有明显的空间溢出效应,工业环境效率也呈现一定程度上的空间集聚现象,传统的面板回归模型因没有考虑空间相关性而低估了这一作用。由于排污费征收制度不尽合理以及＂污染避难所效应＂的存在,目前排污费收入一定程度上降低了工业环境效率。因此,中国应根据区域间的空间差异性有针对性地制定区域协调发展政策,应充分考虑相关产业对环境效率的影响,科学地制定产业规划和优化产业布局,推进形成跨区域间良好的环境合作机制,促进区域经济协调发展。     

Non-parametric Productivity Analysis with Undesirable Outputs: An Application to the Canadian Pulp and Paper Industry

This article extends the Chavas–Cox approach to non-parametric analysis by incorporating undesirable outputs to provide a more complete representation of the production technology. Inner and outer non-parametric technology bounds are constructed. The methods are illustrated with application to time series data for the Canadian pulp and paper industry. Conventional measures that ignore changes in pollutant outputs underestimate true productivity growth. Further, there is a large gap between estimates generated with reference to inner and outer bounds to the technology, suggesting that researchers need to be aware of the limitations of results derived from analyses relying only on DEA methods.