Consistency in performance rankings: the Peru water sector

Regulators can utilize a number of alternative methodologies for comparing firm efficiency, but these approaches need to be robust to be accepted by stakeholders. This study evaluates the consistency of water-utility performance rankings for Peruvian water utilities. The results indicate that data envelopment analysis (DEA) and stochastic frontier analysis (SFA) yield similar rankings in this case. In addition, the techniques have comparable success for identifying the best and worst performing utilities. However, these rankings based on sophisticated statistical techniques are not highly correlated with those developed by the Peruvian water regulator (SUNASS). This result does not invalidate the performance rankings obtained by the regulator, since those rankings are based on more dimensions of utility performance. However, they illustrate the importance of developing sound techniques for identifying weak utilities. Improvements in sector performance require that benchmarking be given greater attention than in the past.     

Corporate Control and the Decapitalization of Subsidiary Corporations: The Looting of the Bangor and Aroostook Railroad

John Rawls's A Theory of Justice is examined from the perspective of experimental methods in economics and complex adaptive systems simulations. This paper first discusses the justice principle selection process in Rawls's representation of it as a hypothetical experiment. This hypothetical experiment fails to satisfy reasonable experimental controls, particularly as reflects the conception of the individual it employs. The second section of the paper discusses the differences between Rawls's two conceptions of rational persons associated with his distinction between thin and full theories of the good. The third section uses his fuller conception of rational persons, life plans, and psychological laws in the third part of the book to offer an alternative view of the selection process understood as a complex adaptive system. The fourth section turns to a topic raised by this complex system approach, the status of normative reasoning in political-economic systems. The fifth section summarizes.     

‘Adopt a Hypothetical Pup’: A Count Data Approach to the Valuation of Wildlife

The willingness to pay (WTP) for a coyote conservation program is estimated using a novel payment-vehicle, based on how many ‚problem’ coyotes respondents would be willing to sponsor for a year. This hypothetical scenario mimics an increasingly popular type of actual market. Data from a phone survey conducted in Prince Edward Island are analyzed using count data models that consider different processes explaining zero responses and the level of positive responses. This is particularly important in the case of coyotes, often regarded as an economic bad. Estimates of WTP per coyote per year around $18–$22 and annual WTP per contributor of about $46–$57 are obtained.      

中国农村居民旅游消费滞后性及影响因素研究

通过构建误差修正模型,分析农村居民人均纯收入、城镇化以及除旅游消费以外的其他生活消费支出对农村居民旅游消费滞后性的影响,农村居民旅游消费滞后于农村居民人均纯收入、农村居民生活消费支出和城镇居民旅游消费;城镇化对农村居民旅游消费水平的影响较弱,农村居民人均纯收入水平和其他生活消费支出对其旅游消费水平的影响程度接近;城镇化中居民权益的不平等、农村居民收入不稳定、医疗、交通等支出的增加是制约农村居民旅游消费水平的重要原因。     

银行结售汇与人民币汇率预期的实证分析——以广东省为例

近年来中国银行结售汇顺差额不断扩大是外汇储备规模快速积累的最直接原因,而人民币升值预期则被认为是银行结售汇顺差额扩大的重要影响因素。这个观点虽然被广泛认同,但相关的定量研究却相当欠缺。以境内外汇黑市汇率作为人民币汇率预期的量化指标,应用计量经济学方法对广东省银行结汇和售汇的月度时间序列数据进行定量分析,表明结售汇增长是外向型经济规模扩大的结果,同时人民币升值预期显著地提高银行结汇的增速并降低银行售汇的增速,导致结售汇顺差额的不断扩大。     

基于协同理论的社会服务创新及其供给模式选择

基于协同理论的视角,综合考虑供给模式的可操作性,以社会服务供给主体的联合情况为划分依据,社会服务供给模式可以构建为政府—企业型、政府—非营利组织型、政府—初级群体型、政府—企业—非营利组织型、政府—企业—初级群体型、政府—非营利组织—初级群体型、政府—企业—非营利组织—初级群体型。供给主体需要扮演社会服务的组织者、资源提供者、生产者等角色,但在各类供给模式中,每种供给主体所扮演的角色都存有差异,需要根据实际情况,分门别类地进行梳理。     

The Austrian current account deficit: Driven by twin deficits or by intertemporal expenditure allocation?

The evidence presented in the paper rejects the twin deficit hypothesis for the Austrian current account balance during the last two decades. The results are based on an estimate of a vector error correction model including quarterly data for the current account balance and potentially relevant variables driving its dynamics. We compute the variance decomposition of the current account's forecast error and its generalized impulse responses to shocks in the innovations of the system. The results in favor of intertemporal expenditure reallocation cannot be reproduced within a second analysis including the current account and a measure of net output, however. The estimated implicit current account balance, interpreted as the discounted expected change in future net output, does not follow the actual behaviour of the current account. First version received: June 1999/Final version received: March 2001     

Asymptotically unbiased estimation of autocovariances and autocorrelations for panel data with incidental trends

We consider the estimation of autocovariances using panel data with incidental trends under double asymptotics. The conventional autocovariance estimator suffers from a bias whose value is approximated by twice the long-run variance. We propose a bias-corrected estimator.     

On estimating long-run effects in models with lagged dependent variables

A common procedure in economics is to estimate long-run effects from models with lagged dependent variables. For example, macro panel studies frequently are concerned with estimating the long-run impacts of fiscal policy, international aid, or foreign investment.Our analysis points out the hazards of this practice. We use Monte Carlo experiments to demonstrate that estimating long-run impacts from dynamic models produces unreliable results.Biases can be substantial, sample ranges very wide, and hypothesis tests can be rendered useless in realistic data environments. There are three reasons for this poor performance. First, OLS estimates of the coefficient of a lagged dependent variable are downwardly biased in finite samples. Second, small biases in the estimate of the lagged, dependent variable coefficient are magnified in the calculation of long-run effects. And third, and perhaps most importantly, the statistical distribution associated with estimates of the LRP is complicated, heavy-tailed, and difficult to use for hypothesis testing. While many of the underlying problems have been long-known in the literature, the continued widespread use of the associated empirical procedures suggests that researchers are unaware of the extent and severity of the estimation problems. This study aims to illustrate their practical importance for applied research.     

Gender discrimination,inflation, and the business cycle

Empirical evidence suggests that women are discriminated against in the labor market. We analyze the effects of taste-based and statistical gender discrimination on business cycle and inflation dynamics by including unpaid household production, two-agent households, and discriminatory firm behavior in a tractable New Keynesian model. After a negative demand shock, we find that the economic downturn is more severe in comparison to a non-discriminatory environment, as the shock implies an increase in the inefficient utilization of female and male productivity. Furthermore, the working time allocation between women and men becomes more inefficient. Moreover, we show that discrimination implies a lower transmission of expansionary monetary policy shocks on inflation. Overall, taste-based discrimination leads to larger macroeconomic distortions, while statistical discrimination implies higher intra-household inefficiencies.