Implications of variant efficiency measures for policy evaluations in UK higher education

Policy goals in UK higher education encourage the publicly funded universities to become more-specialised and larger in size without compromising output quality. Efficiency gains are expected to flow from this increased specialisation in accordance with universities’ comparative research and teaching strengths. Mergers to reap further gains from economies of scale are also being actively encouraged. Given this scenario, the paper investigates whether best-practice efficiency measurement based on data envelopment analysis (DEA) provides empirical support for the current policy goals. It also assesses whether such support is dependent on the specific type of efficiency measure used in the DEA modelling. This assessment finds that a selection of (nine) commonly used, variant efficiency measures generally support the current policy goals. The paper also uses the principal-agent framework to explore the issues involved in using computed DEA-based efficiency scores for policy evaluations and possible funding guidance in UK higher education. This highlights empirically how policy-makers and universities can have very different preferences about which efficiency measure is to be used for policy evaluations and possible funding guidance.     

Technical efficiency and use of information and communication technology in Spanish firms

The literature concerned with the relationship between performance and information and communications technology (ICT) is usually focused on the ICT investments. This paper shows that it is the level of use of ICT within organisations, with preference as regards the expenses of ICT, which is responsible for the effect on performance. A general sample of 2255 Spanish companies has been used. Firms’ performance is measured as technical efficiency, which is determined by a data envelopment analysis (DEA), in which special attention is paid to the problem of the outliers. Finally, the analysis of the level of use of ICT is focused on a key area of the organisations, the supply chain, which affects the technical efficiency of the firms analysed. Results show that there is evidence of a positive effect of the use of ICT on technical efficiency. This effect is especially notable at intensive use levels in activities related to operations/manufacturing, purchasing or sales.     

Joint estimation of technical efficiency and production risk for multi-output banks under a panel data cost frontier model

This article generalizes production risk from a single output production function to a multiple output cost frontier, which is able to examine input-oriented technical efficiencies and production risk simultaneously in the context of a panel data. Furthermore, the joint confidence interval estimates for technical efficiencies are constructed by means of multiple comparisons with the best approach. Whether taking production risk into account or not offers quite dissimilar implications in terms of the average technical efficiency measure and the identification of multiple efficient banks achieving the optimal cost frontier. It is suggested that inferences drawn on the basis of the confidence intervals of technical efficiency provide much more fruitful and insightful information than the point estimation alone. Bank specific risk parameters are found to be highly and positively correlated with fixed-effect estimates, implying that the more risk-averse a bank is, the more technically efficient it will be.

Examining the impact of information technology and patient flow on healthcare performance: A Theory of Swift and Even Flow (TSEF) perspective

The impact of information technologies on manufacturing operations and performance is well established. However, scant research has been devoted to examining information technology (IT) investment among hospitals and how it influences patient care and financial performance. Using the lens of the Theory of Swift Even Flow (TSEF), we present an operations management-based perspective on the effect of IT in streamlining hospital operations. Specifically, we examined the role of IT on patient flow and its consequences for improved hospital efficiency and performance.     

On the estimation of returns to scale, technical progress and monopolistic markups

A number of theoretical results on estimating returns to scale, technical progress and monopolistic markups are derived when there are multiple outputs and inputs. The choice of value added versus gross output and problems that arise in aggregation across sectors of an economy are also considered. Using US data on manufacturing, evidence is found of increasing returns to scale across all levels of aggregation. Technical progress is typically found to be insignificant implying that economic growth has been driven by increasing returns to scale rather than technical progress. Such findings have important implications for the macroeconomic modeling of economic fluctuations.     

城乡要素自由流动促进新发展格局形成的路径研究

城乡要素自由流动是畅通国民经济循环、构建“双循环”新发展格局的内在要求。从需求端看,城乡要素自由流动既有利于劳动力等要素流向城市、推进新型城镇化;也有利于高端要素回流乡村,激发乡村蛰伏的发展潜能、促进乡村振兴,从而为构建“双循环”新发展格局拓展新的内需空间。从供给端看,城乡要素自由流动有利于畅通生产、分配、流通和消费各环节,平衡城乡要素结构,提升要素配置效率,为构建“双循环”新发展格局培植新动能。因此,要发挥“有效市场”在要素配置中的决定性作用,深化城乡要素市场化配置改革,消除阻碍城乡要素自由流动和高效配置的各种体制障碍,打通“双循环”新发展格局中城乡要素流动的关键堵点。要发挥“有为政府”在乡村基础设施和政策体系制度供给中的作用,深化户籍、土地等制度改革,使城乡人口流动摆脱户籍制约,构建城乡统一的建设用地出让机制。要加大对要素返乡的支持力度,全面推进城乡新型基础设施建设,为形成“双循环”新发展格局提供有力的要素支撑。     

国际资金循环测度的统计方法及应用

研究目标：本文研究如何测量国际资金循环（Global Flow of Funds,GFF）,试图整合国际金融相关数据源,创建GFF统计矩阵。研究方法：讨论了GFF的基本概念,确定了国际资金循环的统计范围。按照2008SNA所提倡的From Whom to Whom 的统计基准,建立了GFF的统计框架,据此框架整合了国际金融组织之间的数据系统关系和现有的国际金融统计数据源。研究发现：利用相关统计创建了GFF矩阵模型表,试编了一个包含中国在内的由11个国家所构成的“国家×国家”的GFF统计矩阵表。研究创新：创建了GFF矩阵表,展开了以中国为主要观测对象的国际跨境资本比较分析。研究价值：建立了观测GFF统计,开辟了新的分析视野,客观揭示了中国在GFF中的状况及现存的主要问题。     

跨界搜寻的创新驱动力：一个有调节的中介模型

以来自4个省份的357家企业为研究对象,以动态能力理论为基础,探讨跨界搜寻对技术创新的影响,以及动态能力和技术动荡在其中的中介与调节作用。结果发现：跨界搜寻的两种类型搜寻（技术知识和市场知识）对组织技术创新具有显著正向影响。同时,动态能力中介两类跨界搜寻和技术创新之间的正向关系,在技术知识跨界搜寻与技术创新之间发挥完全中介作用,在市场知识跨界搜寻与技术创新之间发挥部分中介作用。此外,组织外部较高的技术动荡水平不仅会加强动态能力对技术创新的正向影响,还会强化动态能力在两种类型搜寻与技术创新之间的中介效应。     

Performance Measurement in Government Service Provision: The Case of Police Services in New South Wales

The NSW Government is implementing a financial framework which is designed to encourage government service providers to become more efficient and effective. NSW Treasury is using Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) to measure the efficiency of major government service providers, such as police, courts and hospitals. This paper outlines the progress in implementing the new financial framework and illustrates the way NSW Treasury will use DEA to help improve the efficiency of government service providers by describing an analysis of the NSW Police Service. The results suggest that NSW police patrols (local police districts) could, on average, reduce input usage by 13.5 percent through better management, and by 6 percent if the patrols could be restructured to achieve the optimal scale. Results also indicate that differences in operating environments, such as location and socioeconomic factors, do not have a significant influence upon the efficiency of police patrols.     

基于MFCA的废弃物回收优先排序方法及应用研究

随着资源环境问题的日益凸显,废弃物回收再利用引起了广泛关注。基于物质流成本会计（MFCA）及物质流转平衡原理,建立了将隐性成本嵌入生产工序流程的废弃物回收优先排序方法。为了验证该方法的实用性及科学性,以A钢铁企业为例进行了案例研究。结果表明：根据各工序环节的隐性成本测算结果可以确立废弃物回收优先次序,该方法能有效促进A钢铁企业环保效益与经济效益协同提升。