Farm size and productivity growth in the United States Corn Belt

In recent decades, agricultural production in the U.S. has continued to shift to large-scale operations, raising concerns about the economic viability of small and midsized farms. To understand whether economies of size provided an incentive for the consolidation of production, the study estimates the total factor productivity (TFP) of five size classes of grain-producing farms in the U.S. Heartland (Corn Belt) region. Using quinquennial Agricultural Census data from 1982 to 2012 the study also compares TFP growth rates across farm sizes to gain insight into whether observed productivity differences are likely to persist. The finding of a strong positive relationship between farm size and TFP suggests that consolidation of production has contributed to recent aggregate productivity growth in the crop sector. The study estimates the extent to which sectoral productivity growth can be attributed to structural change versus other factors including technological change. The study also explores some tradeoffs associated with policies that raise the productivity of small versus large farms.     

新时代背景下创建党建引领基层社会治理新模式的探索——以兰州市城关区为例

随着我国社会发展的不断推进与创新,对于执政基础的巩固、在最大限度内保证党的执政能力等均成为使基层党建可以获得良好效果的主要手段,并且使工作在不断的实践探索中获得更好的成效。但是,以党建引领基层社会治理的过程仍然存在众多问题,其中包括形式化严重以及做表面功夫等。因此,如何在新时代的背景下,通过党的全面领导将党与群众紧密地联系在一起,从而确保党建工作可以在基层发挥更强的社会治理职能,已成为基层社会治理模式探索并创新的主要内容。     

城市商业银行发展中面临的难题及对策

作为金融体制改革的产物，城市商业银行在我国市场经济建设中发挥了重要的作用。近年来，部分城市商业银行的经营陷入了困境，引起了社会各界的广泛关注。本文从法人治理结构、组织制度、业务特色、金融风险等几方面分析了其在发展中遇到的难题，带有一定的共性。在此基础上，提出了相应的对策和建议。     

Learning-by-doing and input demand of a rate-of-return regulated firm

The significance of learning by doing to input demand of a cost-minimizing rate-of-return-regulated firm is examined. Using a panel data, the results indicate that the firm's cost and input demand decisions are both influenced by learning-by-doing. The firm's cost and the rate-base (capital) input requirements decline as learning-by-doing measured by cumulative production expands. However, LBD may have different effects on the non-rate-base inputs (labor and fuel) considered in this study. While LBD ambiguously reduces fuel usage, it moderately increases labor employment. In addition to changing input intensity, LBD also influences returns to scale and elasticity of substitution.     

创建"新知识城市" 促进新兴工业化的发展

新知识的成长和飞跃是国内新兴工业城市发展的主要动力。结合若干城市的经验 ,参考国外在高新技术发展中的历程 ,提出创建“新知识城市”的倡议及其对城市规划和建设的新要求     

城市规模、空间距离与城市经济吸引区——一个简单的经济地理模型

本文从经济运行的微观基础出发，构建了一个简单的经济地理模型，并以此为基础对城市经济吸引区的相关问题进行了初步的探讨，解释了由“引力法则”和断裂点理论推导出的两个经验性推论：一是两个相邻且规模相等的城市其经济吸引区分界线为二者连线的中垂线；二是对于两个相邻但规模不相等的城市，则小城市的经济吸引区可能处于大城市吸引区的包围（或部分包围）之中。     

城市发展质量评价的公众参与研究

城市发展质量评价是现代城市治理的有效手段之一。公众参与城市发展质量评价不仅是民主政治的集中体现,也有助于提高评价的质量和信度。本文在分析城市发展质量与公众之间辩证关系的基础上,讨论了公众在城市发展质量评价中的主体作用,分析了评价过程各阶段的公众参与形式,并初步研究了公众参与的主要问题及对策。     

关于规模经济的实证分析--以我国汽车工业为例

汽车工业不仅是产业关联度高、资金和技术密集度高的现代产业部门，而且也是规模效益明显的现代产业部门。它作为影响力大、带动力强的产业，对中国经济正产生着越来越大的影响。本文以经济学的规模经济概念为基础，运用有关规模经济的理论和观点，以我国汽车工业为典型，从四个方面对汽车工业规模经济问题进行了分析，并对实现规模经济性的方法和途径进行论述。     

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.     

我国城市规模分布Pareto指数测算及影响因素分析

本文用OLS方法测算我国各省、三大区域以及全国的城市人口规模分布和经济规模分布Pareto指数(1997年、2000年和2003年),对Pareto指数进行跨区域和跨时间的对比分析,并实证分析我国城市规模分布的影响因素。分析表明,我国的城市规模分布显著地服从Pareto分布,并具有明显的结构性特征。工业化、产业结构以及运输能力对城市人口规模分布具有显著影响,而工业化和运输能力则是影响城市经济规模分布的重要因素。