Sustainable efficiency drivers in Eurasian airports: Fuzzy NDEA approach based on Shannon's entropy

This research explores the physical infrastructure and flight consolidation efficiency drivers of Eurasian airports regarding their infrastructure and movement productivity levels. A novel Fuzzy Double-Frontier Network DEA (FDFNDEA) model is proposed to investigate the relationship between desirable (freight and passenger turnovers) and undesirable (pollutant emission levels due to aircraft movements) outputs against the respective infrastructure usage, fuel consumed, and movements performed at each of the 23 Eurasian airports from 2000 to 2018. This balance between desirable and undesirable outputs emerges spatially and temporally due to the evolution of the airport system's productive resources at each one of the Eurasian countries over the period observed. Shannon's entropy is used as the cornerstone to quantify the input and output vagueness of this evolution in Triangular Fuzzy Numbers (TFN), thus allowing the accurate building of alternative optimistic and pessimistic double-frontier efficiency. Differently from previous research, Shannon's entropy is the key for measuring input and output vagueness levels in light of the maximal entropy principle. This principle states that the distribution that best represents the current state of knowledge is the one with largest entropy. Maximal entropy yields bias-free decision-making in the sense that the input/output distributional profiles for Eurasian airports contain the maximal possible heterogeneity, working as a robust or best/worst-case scenario against eventual unconsidered assumptions. Hence, optimistic and pessimistic Malmquist Productivity Indexes (MPI) for overall and each stage productivity results are subsequently regressed against contextual variables related to airport characteristics and regional socio-demographic and economic indicators of each Eurasian country using bootstrapped Cauchy regressions. The findings revealed the spatial heterogeneity of productivity factors and airport performance across Eurasia. Results also demonstrated the negative impact of income inequality and the positive impact of private participation on technological progression in the Eurasian airport industry.     

‘Double marginalization’ problems: evidence from the Korean fixed-to-mobile service market

In this paper, examination of the possibility of a ‘double marginalization’ problem existing in the Korean telecommunication industry is conducted and suggestions are made for the provision of a new scheme to eliminate this possibility by changing the pricing system for fixed-to-mobile calls. Based on five key economic characteristics in the Korean mobile market, a simple model for double marginalization in the telecommunication market is introduced. Evidence was found to suggest that a double marginalization problem is likely to exist within Korea's telecommunication industry as it is presently structured, and that this problem is further likely to have an adverse effect on the industry by inflating the price of fixed-to-mobile calls. Two alternatives are proposed to effectively remedy this double marginalization issue. It is also shown that prices of fixed-to-mobile calls could be lowered by changing the caller pays principle into a receiver pays principle.     

Mechanisms for controlling expenditure in the Spanish Royal Household, c.1561-c.18081

The purpose of this article is to examine the accounting and auditing in the Spanish Royal Household between 1561 and 1808. The Royal Household was the third most important item of expenditure that the State Treasury financed, after the Army and Navy and the National Debt. On studying spending control in the Royal Household, we have rejected the idea, often advanced by historiography, that there was no spending control within this institution. On the contrary, treasurers and accountants were only able to release funds for expenditure purposes on the basis of prior authorization. However, the efficiency of spending control was very limited due to technical, administrative and, above all, social and political elements.     

双寡头市场价格博弈分析——以我国国内成品油市场竞争主体为例

用博弈论分析市场行为是经济学的发展方向之一,本文从实证分析国内成品油市场中国石化与中国石油两大寡头的多种博弈情形及其收益变化过程,论证了在市场需求总量基本恒定状态下,双寡头市场价格博弈的纳什均衡解为(降价、降价),(不降价、不降价),前一种均衡解是双方在势均力敌、信息反馈充分的恶性竞争结果,后一种是在满足一定收益前提下的“双赢”策略。企业只有选择有别于竞争对手的非价格歧异性策略,形成自己的特色和优势,才能占领相应的市场,获得相应的经济效益。     

"啤酒花"为何这样香

本文重点介绍了我院啤酒酿造专业在全国率先实行“双元制”教学的基本做法,总结了十八年来“双元制”教学的基本特色以及培养啤酒行业技能型人才的成功经验。     

Efficiency in the provision of social care for older people. A three-stage Data Envelopment Analysis using self-reported quality of life

Using a three-stage data envelopment analysis approach, this paper explores efficiency in the provision of social care for older people in 148 English Councils in 2009/10. Departing from D'Amico and Fernández (2012) [31] our measure of efficiency is inscribed within the production of welfare framework and based on self-reported quality of life of recipients of the services. Our results indicate a high level of efficiency, but once we control for the effects of a number of environmental variables, we found that more stringent eligibility criteria and higher assessment costs are negatively associated with the efficiency in the provision of social services.     

Price promotion with reference price effects in supply chain

We consider the price promotion in a supply chain comprising one manufacturer and one retailer, who take into account the reference price effects of consumers. The problem is analyzed as a manufacturer-lead Stackelberg game. The results indicate that reference price effects could mitigate “double marginalization” effects, and improve the channel efficiency. We also show that the optimal price promotion benefits the manufacturer, retailer and consumers in consumer promotion model. Furthermore, we provide the conditions under which the retailer has an interest in offering price promotion to consumers. Finally, we employ numerical analysis to demonstrate more managerial insights.     

Outsourcing and firm performance nexus: An analysis using the conventional and panel double-bootstrap procedure

Industrial performance is an essential element of economic progress. In this study, we examine the impact of outsourcing on industrial performance using the firm-level data of 191 textile companies in India over the period 2000–2015. First, we follow the conventional non-parametric two-stage procedure and analyse the nexus between outsourcing and firm performance under a single-objective setting. We then test the influence of outsourcing on the performance of multiple-objective firms using reverse directional distance function scores. To address the bias in efficiency estimation and the serial correlation issue in the second-stage regression, we use truncated regression and the double-bootstrap procedure for panel data analysis. Our results show an improvement in industrial performance over the study period. Our analysis following the conventional two-stage procedure shows that the outsourcing of manufacturing activities and professional jobs contributes to industrial performance. The relation between outsourcing and firm performance essentially remains the same in a more reliable analysis using a panel double bootstrap procedure.     

异质性机构投资者差异化作用于双元创新投资吗 ——基于注意力基础观与市场迎合理论双重视角

基于2011-2020年沪深A股高新技术企业样本,探究公司治理框架下异质性机构投资者对企业双元创新投资的差异化作用机理,得出如下结论：①异质性机构投资者对于双元创新投资具有差异化影响,其中,专注型机构投资者更有利于双元创新投资;②专注型机构投资者影响决策者注意力资源配置,使其更注重探索性创新投资,临时型机构投资者基于市场迎合动机作用于开发性创新投资,且当管理层业绩和外部监管压力较大时,其对开发性创新投资的迎合动机更明显;③专注型机构投资者通过监督和激励管理层、提升企业风险承担水平作用于企业双元创新投资,临时型机构投资者通过丰富投资者情绪作用于开发性创新投资未得到验证;④产业政策有助于增强专注型机构投资者对决策者注意力的影响,使其更专注于探索性创新投资,同时也有助于提高临时型机构投资者的开发性创新迎合投资动机。研究结论为理解机构投资者差异化治理角色提供了一种新视角。     

兵团农业体制对农工专业合作组织发展影响研究

兵团特殊性和独特的农业双层经营体制决定了兵团农工专业合作组织的发展有别于地方农村的农民专业合作组织。那么,区别在哪里,兵团农业双层经营体制对农工专业合作组织发展影响又如何？本文在比较兵团农业双层经营体制与地方农村基本经营制度的基础上,结合兵团农工专业合作组织的发展现状,利用新制度经济学相关理论进行分析研究,得出以下主要结论：在兵团农业双层经营体制下,集体行动的困境是兵团农工合作经济组织发展缓慢以及大多数合作组织停留在专业技术协会层面而无法实现向农工专业合作社转变的组织行为学解释;成员资源禀赋不足及资源禀赋互补性不强对兵团农工专业合作组织的组建和发展影响明显;兵团农场“委托一代理”模式的交易费用的节约效用并不明显;兵团的农业种植结构对农工专业合作组织的发展并不是非常有利。最后提出相应对策建议。