Measuring Hospital Performance in the Presence of Quasi-Fixed Inputs: An Analysis of Québec Hospitals

This research proposes an approach to measure hospital performance based on a generalization of Banker and Morey (1986) and Førsund (1996). This approach considers quasi-fixed inputs explicitly, calculates their implicit cost, and quantifies returns to scale. The performance measure is decomposed into allocative and technical inefficiencies. Based on a very complete data set of Québec hospitals, we find that significant inefficiencies of up to 17% ($700 CAN million) could have been saved through improved performance. Postestimation analyses that include qualitative measures of care suggest that differences in performance are attributable to differences in management or unobservable quality of care rather than patient case mix.     

A new continuous distribution and two new families of distributions based on the exponential

Recent work on social status led to derivation of a new continuous distribution based on the exponential. The new variate, termed the ring(2)-exponential, in turn leads to derivation of two closely related new families of continuous distributions, the mirror-exponential and the ring-exponential. Both the standard exponential and the ring(2)-exponential are special cases of both the new families. In this paper, we first focus on the ring(2)-exponential, describing its derivation and examining its properties, and next introduce the two new families, describing their derivation and initiating exploration of their properties. The mirror-exponential arises naturally in the study of status; the ring-exponential arises from the mathematical structure of the ring(2)-exponential. Both have the potential for broad application in diverse contexts across science and engineering. Within sociobehavioral contexts, the new mirror-exponential may have application to the problem of approximating the form and inequality of the wage distribution.     

在铁路货运营销中运用价格策略的探讨

价格是市场营销组合的重要因素。铁路货物运价制度运用得当与否直接关系着吸引运量的多少和使路运输企业利润的高低。并影响着运输市场营销组合的其它因素。根据营销环境的变化，灵活调整价格，科学制定价格策略，才能使企业获得最佳的经济效益。本文通过分析现行运价体系存在的问题，就如何在铁路货运营销活动中运用价格策略进行了探讨。     

建设工程施工专业分包的合同价款支付

以我国现行建设法规为依据，借鉴成熟的国际工程总分包合同体系——FIDIC合同体系，研究我国分包合同文本处理合同价款支付问题的成功与不足，使按照合同控制工程造价，控制质量和进度能真正落到实处。     

基于价值工程理论的房地产性价比确定

高性价比已成为房地产开发商和消费者共同追求的目标,然而长期以来性价比都只是定性描述。本文建立了房地产性能评价指标体系,并应用价值工程理论构建了房地产性价比的确定模型,将其定量化,最后通过一个案例进行了说明。     

The housing question in Japan

This article first examines how bad housing conditions are in Japan based on international comparisons. The next question is whether the extremely high land prices in Japan can be explained by economic logic. We then turn to more specific housing policy questions that are peculiar to or important in Japan, such as the tax advantages of owning land that have caused under-utilization of land and the reasons why the average size of Japanese rental housing is so small.     

一种新的顾客满意度指数测评模型

顾客满意度指数是近年来许多国家和地区积极开展研究和采用的一种新的经济指标。本文在已有研究的基础上,结合我国消费者行为的特点,构建了一种新的顾客满意度指数测评模型。该模型在期望不一致模式的基础上,同时考虑了公平模式和需要不一致模式,引入感知公平和感知价格变量,并为这些结构变量设计了相应的观测变量和路径关系,建立了由顾客满意、企业形象、感知价格到顾客忠诚三条路径关系,改变了传统模型中从顾客满意到顾客忠诚路径过于单一的情况。     

退货管理系统设计

对退货管理的研究发展历程、重要性及其在特定行业中的应用作了介绍,并给出了退货管理政策设计和网络设计的主要内容。最后分析了国内行业中的退货现状并给出建议。     

中国城市居住分异研究

对城市居住空间的研究是城市社会学的一个重要内容.自建国以来,我国城市居住空间经历了逐渐分异的历史变迁过程.如果不对居住分异加以适当的调控就会出现居住空间极化与隔离问题.城市居住空间极化是社会不公正在居住空间上的表现.城市政治经济转变与城市规划、土地制度改革与房地产开发、住房制度改革与住房商品化是转型过程中城市居住分异形成的三个主要原因.扩大中等收入群体规模、增加社会自组织力量、制定公正的社会政策是优化城市居住空间结构的有效途径.     

中国城市住宅市场的结构差异性分析

市场价商品房、经济适用住房和廉租房构成了目前中国城市住宅市场的供应体系.依据中国30个主要城市的房地产开发统计数据,选择吸纳率作为评价住宅市场供需均衡状态的指标,利用固定影响变截距模型,重点研究了商品房和经济适用住房供给结构的城市差异性.研究发现,在城市住宅市场中,经济适用住房市场和商品房市场具有很强的相关性.作为具有政府资助性质的经济适用住房建设,存在典型的地域性特征,其政策的设定和实施会对整个住宅市场产生影响,地方政府应在利用比较全面的住宅市场指标体系进行综合分析基础上,制定适合本地的经济适用住房政策.