Economic reforms,efficiency and productivity in Chinese banking

This paper analyzes the impact of banking reforms on efficiency and total factor productivity (TFP) change in Chinese banking industry. Using an input distance function, we find that joint-equity banks are more efficient than wholly state-owned banks (WSOBs). Furthermore, both WSOBs and joint-equity banks are found to be operating slightly below their optimal size, suggesting potential advantages in expansion of their businesses. Overall, TFP growth was 4.4% per annum for the sample period 1993–2002. Joint-equity banks experienced much higher growth in TFP (5.5% per annum) compared to the WSOBs (1.4% per annum).      

TRADE INTEGRATION,OUTSOURCING AND EMPLOYMENT IN AUSTRIA: A DECOMPOSITION APPROACH

Outsourcing and trade integration of advanced countries is debated with respect to employment effects, in particular for low educated workers – at least in relative terms. We study the employment effects – differentiated by educational attainment levels – of changes in the patterns of trade integration and outsourcing in the Austrian economy over the periods 1995–2000 and 2000–2005 using hierarchical decomposition analysis based on deflated input–output tables. Outsourcing is modeled as changes in the shares of domestically produced intermediates in total intermediates. A similar decomposition of the final demand vector allows us to draw conclusions on the overall employment effects of trade integration. The results suggest that the expected negative employment effects of outsourcing and rising import penetration have been overcompensated by increasing exports. Thus, the overall employment effects of Austrian trade integration have been positive for all educational attainment groups. However, whereas the total effects have been strongest for medium and high educated workers over the period 1995–2000, employment of low educated workers have been strongest and positively affected over the period 2000–2005. This pattern can be explained by a more sluggish export performance together with stronger negative effects of outsourcing and import penetration in medium and high-skill intensive products.     

Diversity Analysis of Structural Change Based on the Canadian Input–Output Tables

This article presents some of the results of a study conducted at Statistics Canada that involved the analysis of the variability through time of input–output structures. All structures have been analyzed in current and constant prices over the period 1961–84, but only the results about the industries' input structures in current prices are reported in this article. Structural changes are assessed over time horizons of 1, 2 and 5 years, using the Kullback, cross-entropy index formula. Structural changes in the current prices input structure are decomposed into a price and a quantity component, following a new decomposition of the entropy formula. It is shown from that decomposition that the traditional analysis of the variability of constant prices input–output structures may be quite misleading. The authors have found that structural changes generally follow a smooth path through time and tend to be cumulative in the long run, with some cyclical fluctuations in the short term. Some of the structural changes appear to be due to statistical events (establishment moves across industries, changes in methodologies, etc.) rather than reflecting real phenomena. The quantity component of structural change appears to be more important than the price component in almost all time periods and time spans, except when the Canadian economy was subjected to important price shocks during the 1970s.     

Prices and factor demand in an endogenized input–output model

This paper combines factor demand functions (for intermediate input and labour) and price equations (derived from a Generalized Leontief cost function) with the traditional input–output price model. The cost functions determine factor demands for materials and labour as well as output prices at given input prices. At the second level of aggregation, the intermediate demand as a single input is split proportional to the elements in the column of the technical coefficients matrix. The emphasis in this endogenization of technical coefficients is on two features. First, the repercussion of output on input prices, and, second, the link between the econometric model for the supply side and the input–output demand model.     

Estimation of commodity-by-commodity input–output matrices

In this paper we derive a method for the estimation of symmetric input–output tables (SIOTs), which makes it possible to use the commodity technology assumption even when use- and make tables are rectangular. The method also solves the problem of negative coefficients. In the empirical part we derive annual SIOTs in order to evaluate the differences between SIOTs calculated with different methods and the change in technical coefficients over time. Our results, based on data for Sweden, show that the impact of using different technology assumptions is rather large. However, in a factor content of trade application the impact of different technology assumptions does not seem to be very important. Also the size of the changes in the technical coefficients over time is found to be quite large, indicating the importance of calculating SIOTs annually.     

Non-maximizing output behavior for firms with a cost-constrained technology

In many public service industries, firms are constrained by a cost (budget) and characterized by non-maximizing output behavior, due to bureaucratic behavior, for instance. This paper proposes a model based on the assumption that firms with a cost constraint do not maximize service levels due to resource preferences. It derives the exact relationships between services delivered, (shadow) input prices, cost constraints, and optimal input quantities. From these relationships, allocative efficiencies, technical efficiencies, output ray elasticities, and marginal cost can easily be derived.