Technical,quality and environmental efficiency of the olive oil industry

This paper studies the level of technical efficiency in the olive oil industry from a multi-output perspective, and examines olive oil production in quantitative and qualitative terms. The study also covers the environmental impact of the production process. These are key issues due to the current environmental, organoleptic and food traceability requirements of the EU Common Agricultural Policy (CAP). Furthermore, product differentiation is sought after in today’s ever more demanding markets. The production of olive oil in Andalusia (Spain) is the most important agricultural food industry in the whole region and it represents 30% of world olive oil production. Three data sources have been used: a comprehensive survey to a sample of olive oil producers, their financial reports, and the opinion of a group of experts in olive oil production techniques interviewed by means of the Delphi survey. With this data and after the construction of indicators, a production frontier is elaborated by applying an extension of the Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) technique. This will allow for the measuring of the relative technical efficiency indices and set specific efficiency indices for both the quality of the oil produced and the environmental impact of the production process. Those factors impacting on efficiency are determined by a truncated regression model with bootstrap. The results show a medium–high level of relative technical efficiency and highlight the importance of efficiency factors involving production and marketing associations.     

Allocative vs. technical spectrum efficiency

Achieving allocative and technically efficient spectrum management is a key aspect of deregulatory reforms in several OECD countries. However, reform legislation offers few clues as to how these objectives should rank when they conflict with one another. An ‘innocent’ prior acquisition of service-neutral spectrum at an efficiently run auction may prove allocative efficient but fail to be technically efficient if the spectrum is left fallow in the short term. Accountability for the productive usage of a public resource and pressures from short-term political cycles may induce regulators to mandate some minimal level of activity. Two plausible regulatory responses are considered: use it or lose it clauses and spectrum trading incentives. The former favours technical efficiency whilst the latter promotes allocative efficiency. The argument is formalised in a simple economic model buttressing the roles of uncertainty and transaction costs to assert the primacy of allocative efficiency over technical efficiency.     

市场势力对银行效率影响分析——来自我国商业银行的经验数据

运用我国14家上市和50家未上市商业银行2000~2009年的数据探讨商业银行市场势力对效率的影响。分别测量我国商业银行的市场势力、成本效率以及利润效率,结果发现与未上市商业银行相比,上市商业银行具有较高的市场势力和利润效率以及较低的成本效率。同时分别建立线性模型和非线性模型分析市场势力对效率的影响,结果发现在我国特殊金融环境下,商业银行市场势力与成本效率或利润效率之间均为线性关系;提高商业银行的市场势力,会导致其成本效率显著下降和利润效率显著提升;在所有显著的变量中,信用风险对成本效率和利润效率的影响都是最大的。     

Portfolio characteristics of outward foreign direct investment and dynamic performance of emerging economy firms: An option portfolio perspective

In recent decades, emerging economy (EE) firms have taken an aggressive approach to international expansion. Drawing upon option portfolio theory, this study develops the characteristics of the OFDI portfolio based on two attributes of a portfolio and two dimensions of host environments. We examine how the characteristics of the OFDI portfolio dynamically influence the OFDI?performance linkage. Using a sample of 545 Chinese listed multinational firms during the period 2009–2018, we find EE firms’ OFDI contributes more to short-term performance when the OFDI portfolio features a higher overall quality of host institutions or a higher diversity of strategic factor market developments in the host countries. However, over a relatively long period, EE firms’ OFDI contributes more to long-term performance when the portfolio features a higher overall diversity of strategic factor markets and institutional environments. These findings offer further knowledge on the OFDI?performance link in emerging economies.     

OFDI绿色技术溢出与全球价值链升级--以中国对“一带一路”沿线国家为例

随着我国与“一带一路”沿线国家交流的加深,我国对“一带一路”沿线国家的直接投资(OFDI)规模呈增长趋势,且绿色技术溢出效应显著。为进一步推动“一带一路”沿线国家经济高质量发展,贯彻人类命运共同体理念,选择2005—2018年“一带一路”沿线26个国家的面板数据,利用基于数据包络分析法的曼奎斯特指数法(DEA—Malmquist)测算我国OFDI绿色技术溢出,实证分析其对沿线国家全球价值链参与度和地位跃升的影响,并以地区、发展程度、产业为分组依据进行分样本回归,考察OFDI绿色技术溢出对全球价值链升级的异质性影响。研究结果表明,我国OFDI绿色技术溢出显著促进了“一带一路”沿线国家全球价值链参与度和地位的跃升。尽管OFDI绿色技术溢出与全球价值链参与度和地位具有非线性关联和时序异质性,但均处于非线性曲线的上升阶段;在区际经济地理禀赋约束下,OFDI绿色技术溢出的全球价值链升级效应呈现出禀赋异质性、空间异质性、状态依存性特征。首先,与“一带一路”沿线欧洲国家和发达国家相比,我国OFDI绿色技术溢出对“一带一路”沿线亚洲国家和发展中国家的全球价值链升级效应更显著;其次,与农业和工业相比,服务业的全球价值链升级效应更显著。为实现“一带一路”沿线国家全球价值链向高端环节跃升,既要通过扩大规模、提高质量、多元发展的方式增强我国对“一带一路”沿线国家的OFDI绿色技术溢出效应,又要切实提高区际经济外向度与契约质量,加强营商环境建设,充分利用东道国禀赋优势,强化OFDI绿色技术溢出的全球价值链升级效应。     

The Size of Terroir: A Theoretical Note on Economics and Politics of Geographical Indications

Geographical indications (GI) certify the geographical origins of a product and delineate the specific area in which the certified product must be produced. Despite a large literature on the economics of GIs, few papers have explored the question of the optimal size of GI regions. This note presents a flexible conceptual framework to explore the economics and politics of the delimitation of a GI. The general framework describes the efficiency and distributional effects of the size of a GI and shows how this affects interest groups’ incentives to influence government decision‐making.     

On the efficiency comparison of certain randomized response strategies

Comparisons between different randomized response strategies have already been performed by several workers but all have concentrated solely on comparing the variances of the appropriate estimators. A very little attention has been paid by these workers to the degree of privacy protection offered to the interviewees. In the present paper, an attempt has been made in this direction and some important randomized response strategies have been compared with the Warner's model, taking into account the aspect of privacy protection. Received February 2000     

Does pay affect productivity or react to it?: Examination of U.S. manufacturing

There may be a bi-directional relationship between wages and labor productivity. According to conventional theory, employers reward improvements in productivity by raising pay. It also has been argued that wage increases can provide an incentive to improve productivity. This study applies a technique by Geweke to identify the feedback between pay and productivity in U.S. manufacturing. For the 1949–1998 period, measures of directional feedback indicate that both “pay as reward” and “pay as incentive” behaviors have occurred, but the results vary across manufacturing subsectors.     

湖南农业支持的效率机制与政策取向研究

湖南已经进入以工促农、以城带乡的发展阶段,农业支持是增强农业竞争力的重要举措。分析了湖南农业支持的现状,提出了湖南农业支持实施的基本原则,并构建了湖南农业支持的效率机制与政策取向。     

内部审计在防范会计舞弊中的有效性分析

近年来,会计舞弊案件的大量增加,注册会计师越来越多的被卷入法律诉讼,由此极大地动摇了公众对注册会计师审计的信心;而美国世界通信公司会计舞弊案的发现,引起了世界各国政府对内部审计查错防弊职能的关注。本文通过对我国会计舞弊的特点和动因分析,重新探讨了内部审计对防范会计舞弊的有效性,并在此基础上对内部审计在防范会计舞弊中的对策进行了研究。