Introducing Environmental Variables in Nonparametric Frontier Models: a Probabilistic Approach

This paper proposes a general formulation of a nonparametric frontier model introducing external environmental factors that might influence the production process but are neither inputs nor outputs under the control of the producer. A representation is proposed in terms of a probabilistic model which defines the data generating process. Our approach extends the basic ideas from Cazals et al. (2002) to the full multivariate case. We introduce the concepts of conditional efficiency measure and of conditional efficiency measure of order-m. Afterwards we suggest a practical way for computing the nonparametric estimators. Finally, a simple methodology to investigate the influence of these external factors on the production process is proposed. Numerical illustrations through some simulated examples and through a real data set on Mutual Funds show the usefulness of the approach.JEL Classification: C13, C14, D20     

Learning, monetary policy rules, and macroeconomic stability

Several papers have documented a regime switch in US monetary policy from ‘passive’ and destabilizing in the pre-1979 period to ‘active’ and stabilizing afterwards. These studies typically work with DSGE models with rational expectations.This paper relaxes the assumption of rational expectations and allows for learning instead. Economic agents form expectations from simple models and update the parameters through constant-gain learning. In this setting, the paper aims to test whether monetary policy may have been a source of macroeconomic instability in the 1970s by inducing unstable learning dynamics.The model is estimated by Bayesian methods. The constant-gain coefficient is jointly estimated with the structural and policy parameters in the system.The results show that monetary policy was respecting the Taylor principle also in the pre-1979 period and, therefore, did not trigger macroeconomic instability.     

我国循环经济综合指标体系研究

建立健全循环经济指标体系和相应的统计调查制度及工作体系是发展循环经济的关键举措.从循环经济评价、考核和预警三个角度制定的循环经济综合指标体系能全面准确地对循环经济的发展情况作出定量描述,符合我国循环经济发展的现状,从而为现实经济中各地区和各部门开展循环经济提供借鉴和依据.     

Cox-Ingersoll-Ross模型的统计推断

该文在离散样本观察下,研究了Cox-Ingersoll-Ross模型的统计推问题,给出了CIR过程的平稳均值m与平稳方差ν的矩估计,并用-m和-ν给出了CIR过程中尺度参数α与β波动率之间的关系,基于CIR过程的平方变差,得到参数β的平方变差估计和参数α的估计.通过数值模拟的方法对平方变差估计与条件矩估计([9])方法作了比较,并选择1997-2006年的R007数据对这两种方法进行了实证分析.     

What explains the performance of students in a heterogeneous environment? Conditional efficiency estimation with continuous and discrete environmental variables

Efficiency estimations which do not account for the operational environment where production units are operating in may have only a limited value. This article presents a fully nonparametric framework to estimate relative performance of production units when accounting for continuous and discrete background variables. Using insights from recent developments in nonparametric econometrics, we show how conditional efficiency scores can be estimated using a tailored mixed kernel function with a data-driven bandwidth selection. The methodology is applied to the sample of Dutch pupils from the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development's Programme for International Student Assessment (OECD PISA) data set. We estimate students' performance and the influence of its background characteristics. The results of our application show that several family- and student-specific characteristics have a statistically significant effect on the educational efficiency, while school-level variables do not have impact on performance.     

生态系统服务的价格估计方法及真实增长测度

以国际统计规范中生态系统服务价值的估价方法为基础,利用市场价值法、替代成本法、影子工程法等方法,构建生态系统服务核算的动态价格体系,对京津冀地区的生态系统服务价值进行合理测度。实证结果发现,以往采用的价格体系低估了生态系统服务价值,根据构建的动态价格体系得出,2016年北京市、天津市和河北省的生态系统服务价值总量分别为27706.27亿元、5836.21亿元和104407.23亿元,分别是各地区GDP的1.08倍、0.326倍和3.26倍;2016—2017年京津冀地区生态系统服务价值增量分别为502.63亿元、628.12亿元和-1713.33亿元;三个地区中价格因素对北京市生态系统服务价值年度变化的影响最大,而天津市和河北省受到价格因素的影响较小,剔除价格因素影响后京津冀地区生态系统服务价值的真实增长率分别为-0.15%、13.11%和-1.7%。     

宽松的环境政策能吸引更多的外商直接投资吗——基于中国工业省级面板数据的分析

利用我国1997~2009年的工业省级面板数据和动态面板GMM估计方法,考察了相对宽松的环境政策是否是吸引FDI的主要原因。研究发现,环境政策较宽松的地区能够吸引更多的外资流入,但这种影响并不大,所以,以降低环境标准、牺牲环境为代价来吸引FDI不是明智之举;与东、中部地区相比,西部在吸引FDI上处于明显劣势,这在一定程度上加剧了我国经济结构的失衡。     

水源地突发水污染政府应急预留水量需求预测

近年来,随着工业化和产业化的快速发展,水源地突发水污染事件频发。为应对紧急情况下的水资源非常规需求,保障经济社会稳定发展,政府需要安排一部分应急预留水量。如何合理预测政府应急预留水量的规模是一个值得探讨的课题。提出了一种基于案例推理技术的政府应急预留水量需求预测方法,具体思路是:借助于案例库,利用主成分分析法从众多影响水源地突发水污染事件的因素中提取出两两不相关的因子,以此作为案例的特征属性,基于加权曼哈顿距离测算相似度,依此得到匹配案例,进而测算政府应急预留水量。以太湖流域常州地区水源地为例,进行政府预留水量需求量的预测与分析。该方法可以为政府应急预留水量的配置、储备等提供相关理论知识。     

Adoption of farm‐based irrigation water‐saving techniques in the Guanzhong Plain,China

This article analyses adoption of farm‐based irrigation water saving techniques, based on a cross‐sectional data set of 357 farmers in the Guanzhong Plain, China. Approximately 83% of the farmers use at least one farm‐based water‐saving technique. However, the traditional, inefficient techniques border and furrow irrigation are still prevalent whereas the use of advanced, more efficient techniques is still rather rare. We develop and estimate an adoption model consisting of two stages: awareness of water scarcity and intensity of adoption. We find that awareness of water scarcity and financial status enhance adoption of more advanced techniques whereas access to better community‐based irrigation infrastructure discourages it. We furthermore find both community‐based irrigation infrastructure and farm‐based irrigation water‐saving techniques have mitigating effects on production risk. From the results it follows that adoption can be stimulated via financial support and via extension aimed at enhancing awareness of water scarcity.     

Nonparametric fixed effects model for panel data with locally stationary regressors

We develop methods for inference in nonparametric time-varying fixed effects panel data models that allow for locally stationary regressors and for the time series length $T$ and cross-section size $N$ both being large. We first develop a pooled nonparametric profile least squares dummy variable approach to estimate the nonparametric function, and establish the optimal convergence rate and asymptotic normality of the resultant estimator. We then propose a test statistic to check whether the bivariate nonparametric function is time-varying or the time effect is separable, and derive the asymptotic distribution of the proposed test statistic. We present several simulated examples and two real data analyses to illustrate the finite sample performance of the proposed methods.