A kind of algorithm was provided to resolve the calculating problem of stochastic frontier model and applied to electric power industry.By Matlab,maximum likelihood estimation is adopted to evaluate σ and λ of stoch...A kind of algorithm was provided to resolve the calculating problem of stochastic frontier model and applied to electric power industry.By Matlab,maximum likelihood estimation is adopted to evaluate σ and λ of stochastic frontier model in this paper, then the technical efficiency of electric power companies is calculated. The calculated and analyzed results reflect the situation of the management of electric power industry on the whole,that is ,the electric power companies with high technical efficiency are those which have developed their modern enterprise system successfully.展开更多
Using a modified C D function and stochastic frontier model, the paper analyzed China's cotton yield capacity and found that the yield and technical efficiency of China's cotton planting system can be increas...Using a modified C D function and stochastic frontier model, the paper analyzed China's cotton yield capacity and found that the yield and technical efficiency of China's cotton planting system can be increased by the use of genetically modified (GM) varieties.展开更多
Using a heterogeneity stochastic frontier model(HSFM),we empirically investigated the economic efficiency of Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei from 2003 to 2016 and its influencing factors.The key findings of the paper lie in:1)i...Using a heterogeneity stochastic frontier model(HSFM),we empirically investigated the economic efficiency of Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei from 2003 to 2016 and its influencing factors.The key findings of the paper lie in:1)in Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei,the overall economic and technological efficiency tended to increase in a wavelike manner,economic growth slowed down,and there was an obvious imbalance in economic efficiency between the different districts,counties and cities;2)the heterogeneity stochastic frontier production functions(SFPFs)of Beijing,Tianjin and Hebei were different from each other,and investment was still an important impetus of economic growth in Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei;3)economic efficiency was positively correlated with economic agglomeration,human capital,industrial structure,infrastructure,the informatization level,and institutional factors,but negatively correlated with the government role and economic opening.The following policy suggestions are offered:1)to improve regional economic efficiency and reduce the economic gap in Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei,governments must reduce their intervention in economic activities,stimulate the potentials of labor and capital,optimize the structure of human resources,and foster new demographic incentives;2)governments must guide economic factors that are reasonable throughout Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei and strengthen infrastructure construction in underdeveloped regions,thus attaining sustainable economic development;3)governments must plan overall economic growth factors of Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei and promote reasonable economic factors(e.g.,labor,resources,and innovations)across different regions,thus attaining complementary advantages between Beijing,Tianjin,and Hebei.展开更多
The stochastic production function estimates of rice and maize in Senegal River Valley demonstrate the possibility to reach self-sufficiency of rice in Senegal. Nonetheless, its fulfillment requires many accompanying ...The stochastic production function estimates of rice and maize in Senegal River Valley demonstrate the possibility to reach self-sufficiency of rice in Senegal. Nonetheless, its fulfillment requires many accompanying measures in rice and maize production. These measures include all upstream and downstream activities related to agricultural production for their efficiency and sustainability in rice and maize production to maintain the country＇s comparative advantages and competitiveness. Then priorities should be given to agricultural infrastructure building, establishment of credit markets, and providing an easy access of production factors （e.g., improved land, fertilizers, improved and certified seeds, as well as agricultural machines）. Furthermore, policy makers should provide a larger incentive in terms of producer price to encourage farmers to increase considerably their outputs, thereby farmers face smaller risk of having non-sold outputs. And during an early harvesting period, appropriate policy measures are in need to prevent farmers from dumping their products under severe social and economic pressures such as children schooling and loan payment, etc展开更多
This paper builds a stochastic frontier educational production function model, estimating the primary educational productivity with annual data of 31 provinces from 2007 to 2011. The conclusions are as follows： （1）...This paper builds a stochastic frontier educational production function model, estimating the primary educational productivity with annual data of 31 provinces from 2007 to 2011. The conclusions are as follows： （1） in educational production function, output elasticity of public educational expenditure exceeds private educational expenditure＇s. The degrees of contribution of public and private educational expenditure reflect that China should increase public educational expenditure. （2） regional educational technical efficiency is affected by both structure of educational expenditure and levels of regional economic growth. Primary educational technical efficiency of east, middle and west regions all tended to fall down during 2007 to 2011.展开更多
This article analyses the technical and environmental efficiency of hog production in China using data from the China Agricultural Product Cost-Benefit Compilation（NDRC 2005–2013） and the First National Census of P...This article analyses the technical and environmental efficiency of hog production in China using data from the China Agricultural Product Cost-Benefit Compilation（NDRC 2005–2013） and the First National Census of Pollution： Manual of Discharge Coefficient of Livestock and Poultry Industry（IEDA and NIES 2009）. The empirical results show a great variation in environmental efficiency, ranging from 0.344 to 0.973 with a mean value of 0.672 that declines over time. Southwest China is found to be the most environmentally efficient region, while the Northeast and the Northwest are the least efficient. Another finding is that technical and environmental efficiencies are highly correlated in hog production; the most environmentally efficient regions are usually found to have high technical efficiency, and vice versa. In addition, we computed the output elasticities with respect to each factor input. The results show that feed is the most efficient input, with an output elasticity of approximately 0.551, which is much higher than the elasticity of the nitrogen surplus, other capital or labour. The output elasticity with respect to the nitrogen surplus is 0.287 on average. Finally, the scale elasticity in hog production is slightly higher than 1.展开更多
Xinjiang's agriculture is a typical irrigated agriculture for its agriculture water consumption accounts for 96%of the total water use.As a typical resource-deficient area,the key to Xinjiang's agricultural de...Xinjiang's agriculture is a typical irrigated agriculture for its agriculture water consumption accounts for 96%of the total water use.As a typical resource-deficient area,the key to Xinjiang's agricultural development is saving water.This paper takes the high-efficient water-saving irrigation technology of 41 regions along the Tarim River from 2002 to 2013 as the research object,adopts spatial stochastic frontier model to measure the space efficiency of high-efficient water-saving irrigation technology,and analyzes the effect of water-saving irrigation technology on agricultural development.Results show that the water-saving irrigation technology has a spatial effect,if neglecting it,the error of missing variables will occur,and the average loss will be 6.98 percentage points.The spatial correlation effect promotes the improvement of the efficiency of water-saving irrigation technology.The spatial heterogeneity leads to the spatial imbalance of the efficiency of water-saving irrigation technology.The promotion of agricultural water-saving irrigation technology can increase production and the efficiency of agricultural development.Due to the technical heterogeneity of different types of water-saving irrigation technology,the contribution to the development of agriculture is also different.The study finds that water-saving irrigation technology of drip irrigation in the Tarim River contributes more to agricultural development.展开更多
Stochastic frontier production function approach is adopted, 93 farmer samples have been collected, pure efficiency, technical efficiency, technical change and scale efficiency and the institutional contribution have ...Stochastic frontier production function approach is adopted, 93 farmer samples have been collected, pure efficiency, technical efficiency, technical change and scale efficiency and the institutional contribution have been calculated. The results indicated that increasing productivity is the sole measurement to reduce poverty, institution and technical change are the two key factors. Therefore, stable institution, improving technical changes are required. At present, it is urgent to make technical progre...展开更多
Recently, there have been more debates on the methods of measuring efficiency. The main objective of this paper is to make a sensitivity analysis for different frontier models and compare the results obtained from the...Recently, there have been more debates on the methods of measuring efficiency. The main objective of this paper is to make a sensitivity analysis for different frontier models and compare the results obtained from the different methods of estimating multi-output frontier for a specific application. The methods include stochastic distance function frontier, stochastic ray frontier, and data envelopment analysis. The stochastic frontier regressions with and without the inefficiency effects model are also com-pared and tested. The results indicate that there are significant correlations between the results obtained from the alternative estimation methods.展开更多
The question of how to generate maximum socio-economic benefits while at the same time minimizing input from urban land resources lies at the core of regional ecological civilization construction. We apply stochastic ...The question of how to generate maximum socio-economic benefits while at the same time minimizing input from urban land resources lies at the core of regional ecological civilization construction. We apply stochastic frontier analysis （SFA） in this study to municipal input-output data for the period between 2005 and 2014 to evaluate the urbanization efficiency of 110 cities within the Yangtze River Economic Belt （YREB） and then further assess the spatial association characteristics of these values. The results of this study initially reveal that the urbanization efficiency of the YREB increased from 0.34 to 0.53 between 2005 and 2014, a significant growth at a cumulative rate of 54.07%. Data show that the efficiency growth rate of cities within the upper reaches of the Yangtze River has been faster than that of their counterparts in the middle and lower reaches, and that there is also a great deal of ad- ditional potential for growth in urbanization efficiency across the whole area. Secondly, results show that urbanization efficiency conforms to a ＂bar-like＂ distribution across the whole area, gradually decreasing from the east to the west. This trend highlights great intra-provincial differences, but also striking inter-provincial variation within the upper, middle, and lower reaches of the Yangtze River. The total urbanization efficiency of cities within the lower reaches of the river has been the highest, followed successively by those within the middle and upper reaches. Finally, values for Moran＇s / within this area remained higher than zero over the study period and have increased annually; this result indicates a positive spatial correlation between the urbanization efficiency of cities and annual increments in agglomeration level. Our use of the local indicators of spatial association （LISA） statistic has enabled us to quantify characteristics of ＂small agglomeration and large dispersion＂. Thus, ＂high- high＂ （H-H） agglomeration areas can be seen to have spread outwards from around Zhejiang Province and the city of Shanghai, while areas characterized by ＂low-low＂ （L-L） patterns are mainly concentrated in the north of Anhui Province and in Sichuan Province. The framework and results of this research are of considerable significance to our understanding of both land use sustainability and balanced development.展开更多
This paper estimates a stochastic frontier function using a panel data set that includes 4 961 farmer households for the period of 2005-2009 to decompose the growth of grain production and the total factor productivi...This paper estimates a stochastic frontier function using a panel data set that includes 4 961 farmer households for the period of 2005-2009 to decompose the growth of grain production and the total factor productivity （TFP） growth at the farmer level. The empirical results show that the major contributor to the grain output growth for farmers is input growth and that its average contribution accounts for 60.92% of farmer’s grain production growth in the period of 2006-2009, whereas the average contributions sourced from TFP growth and residuals are only 17.30 and 21.78%, respectively. The growth of intermediate inputs is a top contributor with an average contribution of 44.46%, followed by the planted area （18.16%）, investment in fixed assets （1.05%）, and labor input （-2.75%）, indicating that the contribution from the farmer’s input growth is mainly due to the growth of intermediate inputs and that the decline in labor inputs has become an obstacle for farmers in seeking grain output growth. Among the elements consisting of TFP growth, the contribution of technical progress is the largest （32.04%）, followed by grain subsidies （8.55%）, the average monthly temperature （4.26%）, the average monthly precipitation （-0.88%）, the adjusted scale effect （-5.66%）, and growth in technical efficiency （-21.01%）. In general, the contribution of climate factors and agricultural policy factor are positive and significant.展开更多
Agricultural mechanization and custom machine services have developed rapidly in China,which can influence rice production efficiency in the future.We calculate technical efficiency,allocative efficiency,and scale eff...Agricultural mechanization and custom machine services have developed rapidly in China,which can influence rice production efficiency in the future.We calculate technical efficiency,allocative efficiency,and scale efficiency using data collected in 2015 from a face-to-face interview survey of 450 households that cultivated 3096 plots located in the five major rice-producing provinces of China.We use a one-step stochastic frontier model to calculate technical efficiency and regress the efficiency scores on socio-demographic and physical land characteristics to find the influencing variables.Variables influencing technical efficiency are compared at three different phases of rice cultivation.We also calculate technical efficiency by using the Heckman Selection Model,which addresses technological heterogeneity and self-selection bias.Results indicate that:(1)the average value of technical efficiency using a one-step stochastic frontier model was found to be 0.74.When self-selection bias is accounted for using the Heckman Selection Model,the average value of the technical efficiency increases to 0.80;(2)mechanization at the chemical application phase has a positive effect on technical efficiency,but mechanization does not affect efficiency at the plowing and harvesting phases;(3)machines are overused relative to both land and labor,and high machine input use on the small size of landholding has resulted in allocative inefficiency;(4)rice farmers are overwhelmingly operating at a sub-optimal scale.Future policies should focus on encouraging farmland transfer in rural areas to achieve scale efficiency and allocative efficiency while promoting mechanization at the chemical application phase of rice cultivation to improve technical efficiency.展开更多
The Vietnamese agricultural sector has experienced a dramatic structural change based on increased specialization in rice cultivation.However,small-scale rice-farmers have continued to grow multiple crops,especially i...The Vietnamese agricultural sector has experienced a dramatic structural change based on increased specialization in rice cultivation.However,small-scale rice-farmers have continued to grow multiple crops,especially in less developed provinces.While the literature advocates crop diversification for reasons of both economic and ecological sustainability,there lacks empirical evidence as to whether crop diversification brings efficiency and productivity gains to small farms.The present study is the first applications of the input-oriented stochastic distance function approach in estimating scale and scope economies using data of multi-crop farming households in Vietnam.We find strong evidence of product-specific economies of scale.Scope economies are also present for rice,vegetable,and other annual crop production.This suggests that crop diversification enhances efficiency and productivity.However,there still exists significant technical inefficiency in crop production,indicating opportunities to expand farm output at the existing level of inputs and technologies.More specifically,our empirical results indicate that it is desirable to expand vegetable and other annual crop production in mountainous areas while rice cultivation can be further expanded in delta and coastal regions.展开更多
This paper measures the efficiency of ports in the Yangtze River Delta Region(YRDR) in 2008 and 2013 using port berth quantity, quay length, and human resources as input indicators, using cargo and container throughpu...This paper measures the efficiency of ports in the Yangtze River Delta Region(YRDR) in 2008 and 2013 using port berth quantity, quay length, and human resources as input indicators, using cargo and container throughput as output indicators, and considering traditional(foreign trade dependence and industrialization level) and modern environmental factors(traffic line density, financial development level, and informatization level). To achieve such aim, this study constructs a multi-stage data envelopment analysis model(DEA) that identifies effective port decision-making units(DMUs) and generates a highly accurate conclusion by eliminating the interference from the exogenous environment and random errors. First, the external environment significantly affects port efficiency, with the traditional environmental factors showing huge fluctuations and the modern environmental factors producing great benefits. Second, the efficiency of ports in YRDR has increased from 2008 to 2013 primarily because of their pure technical efficiency. Third, the weighted standard deviation ellipse(SDE) analysis results reveal that the efficiency pattern of ports significantly deviates from their throughput pattern, while the center of SDE of port efficiency moves from the eastern coastal regions to the northwest regions. Based on these findings, this paper proposes spatial development strategies for YRDR, such as creating an unblocked environment where spatial elements can freely circulate, intensifying port-city joint development, implementing differentiated policies, and focusing on the spatial collaboration of port efficiency.展开更多
The impact of inputs on farm production growth was evaluated by analyzing the economic data of the upper and middle parts of the Yellow River basin, China for the period of 1980-1999. Descriptive statistics were emplo...The impact of inputs on farm production growth was evaluated by analyzing the economic data of the upper and middle parts of the Yellow River basin, China for the period of 1980-1999. Descriptive statistics were employed to characterize the temporal trends and spatial patterns in farm production and five pertinent inputs of cultivated cropland, irrigation ratio, agricultural labor, machinery power and chemical fertilizer. Stochastic frontier production function was applied to quantify the dependence of the farm production on these inputs. The growth of farm production was decomposed to reflect the contributions by input growths and change in total factor productivity.. The change in total factor productivity was further decomposed into the changes in technology and in technical efficiency. The gross value of farm production in the region of study increased by 1.6 fold during 1980-1999. Among the five selected farm inputs, machinery power and chemical fertilizer increased by 1.8 and 2.8 fold, respectively. The increases in cultivated cropland, irrigated cropland, and agricultural labor were all less than 0.16 fold. The growth in the farm production was primarily contributed by the increase in the total factor productivity during 1980-1985, and by input growths after 1985. More than 80% of the contributions by input growths were attributed to the increased application of fertilizer and machinery. In the change of total factor productivity, the technology change dominated over the technical efficiency change in the study period except in the period of 1985-1990, implying that institution and investment played important roles in farm production growth. There was a decreasing trend in the technical efficiency in the region of study, indicating a potential to increase farm production by improving the technical efficiency in farm activities. Given the limited natural resources in the basin, the results of this study suggested that, for a sustainable growth of farm production in the area, efforts should be directed to technology progress and improvement in technical efficiency in the use of available resources.展开更多
The continuous progress of industrialization is a fundamental cause of China’s increasingly severe environmental pollution problem.Improving the efficiency of industrial pollution control is an inevitable choice to e...The continuous progress of industrialization is a fundamental cause of China’s increasingly severe environmental pollution problem.Improving the efficiency of industrial pollution control is an inevitable choice to effectively decrease pollution emissions,thus winning the battle of pollution prevention and control.In this paper,we used the stochastic frontier analysis(SFA)model to measure the provincial efficiency of industrial pollution control based on the input and output data of industrial pollution control of 29 administrative provinces in China from 2000 to 2017.On this basis,a spatial econometric model was used to explore the influence of environmental regulation intensity on the efficiency of industrial pollution control.In addition,the spatial spillover effect of pollution reduction was thoroughly examined.The results show that:(1)The efficiency of industrial pollution control in China has improved year by year,but the overall efficiency is still low,with the average value increasing from 0.165 in 2000 to 0.309 in 2017.Furthermore,there is significant regional heterogeneity with the highest efficiency level in the east and lowest efficiency level in the west.(2)By increasing the financial and material input,the efficiency of industrial pollution control has increased.However,the increase of human input has not been so helpful.(3)The global Moran’s I index is significantly greater than zero,indicating a strong spatial correlation and agglomeration in the efficiency of industrial pollution control,which is reflected in high-high agglomeration in the eastern region and low-low agglomeration in the western region.(4)Stringent environmental regulation has a positive effect on improving the efficiency of industrial pollution control.It also imposes a positive spatial spillover effect,indicating a strategic interaction and coordination of regional pollution control.In line with this,related proposals have been made to optimize the investment structure for environmental pollution control,establish a flow mechanism for the factor market,and strengthen the environmental responsibility awareness of state-owned enterprises.On this basis,we expect to provide a policy for improving the efficiency of industrial pollution control and promoting regional joint pollution control in China.展开更多
Elevation is one of many components that influence agriculture, and this in turn affects the level of both inputs and outputs of farmers. This article focuses on the productivity and technical efficiency of 100 cocoa ...Elevation is one of many components that influence agriculture, and this in turn affects the level of both inputs and outputs of farmers. This article focuses on the productivity and technical efficiency of 100 cocoa farms using cross-sectional data from areas ranging from 190 to 1021 m above sea level which were classified as low, medium, and high elevation in Davao City, considered as the chocolate capital of the Philippines. Using stochastic frontier analysis, the results showed that the cost of inputs per ha and the number of cocoa trees per ha significantly increase yield. Farms at high elevations were less technically efficient, as this entails lower temperatures and increased rainfall, and cocoa farming in those areas and conditions can be more challenging, especially with changes in farming practices, terrain, and distance to markets. Other significant variables were age of cocoa farms, married farmers, and age of the farmers. Older farms may be more developed, farmers who are married benefit from their spouses being able to readily contribute as farm labor, and lastly, older farmers' inefficiency may likely stem from nonadaptation of newer farming practices. With an average technical efficiency of 0.61, 0.63, and 0.26 in low, medium, and high elevation areas, respectively, farmers therefore have an incentive to improve farm practices and consider topographical variations found in high elevation areas. Recommendations for the improvement of technical efficiency of cocoa farms are better connectivity to markets, enhancing farm practices, and continuation and improvement of government programs on cocoa with an added emphasis on research. For farmers in high elevation areas, mitigating solutions such as sustainable agriculture practices and ecolabelling are key to improving efficiency and minimizing the potential negative impact on upland farming systems. Moreover, such adaptation measures may also contribute to sustainability of cocoa farming in high elevation areas.展开更多
“Belt and Road” is the important origin of oil import in China. Based on social network analysis and stochastic frontier gravity model, this paper studied the characteristic evolution and influence factor of oil imp...“Belt and Road” is the important origin of oil import in China. Based on social network analysis and stochastic frontier gravity model, this paper studied the characteristic evolution and influence factor of oil import network between China and “Belt and Road” countries. Then by constructing a stochastic frontier gravity model including the crude oil future price and oil importing price, it found that the international crude oil future price, the oil importing price, the political situation, the trade agreements have the effects on the China's oil import from “Belt and Road” region. It provided suggestions for improving the spatial pattern of China's petroleum trade.展开更多
In the current paper, the authors investigate empirically the relationship between the share price volatility and the amount of voluntary information disclosed in the corporate annual report. The authors use the data ...In the current paper, the authors investigate empirically the relationship between the share price volatility and the amount of voluntary information disclosed in the corporate annual report. The authors use the data envelopment analysis （DEA） and the stochastic frontier analysis （SFA） models on a sample of 50 listed French firms belonging to the Soci6t6s des Bourses Fran^aises （SBF250） index from 2004 to 2008. The authors focus on the extent of voluntary disclosure in the annual reports that have been measure by using a composite disclosure index. Then, the authors study the relevance of disclosure policies through the ability of the voluntary disclosure level to effectively reduce the share price volatility. The findings of DEA and SFA provide, in average, highly efficient scores of the sample, reveal the several dispositions taken by the French Exchange Market authorities and the initiative of French firms to improve the market stability. In addition, the findings highlight, in average, stability of the firms＇ efficiency scores over the studied period. The authors explain these findings by the stability of corporate disclosure policy as suggested in previous literature （e.g., Botosan, 1997）. However, there are some differences between the findings of SFA and DEA models.展开更多
文摘A kind of algorithm was provided to resolve the calculating problem of stochastic frontier model and applied to electric power industry.By Matlab,maximum likelihood estimation is adopted to evaluate σ and λ of stochastic frontier model in this paper, then the technical efficiency of electric power companies is calculated. The calculated and analyzed results reflect the situation of the management of electric power industry on the whole,that is ,the electric power companies with high technical efficiency are those which have developed their modern enterprise system successfully.
文摘Using a modified C D function and stochastic frontier model, the paper analyzed China's cotton yield capacity and found that the yield and technical efficiency of China's cotton planting system can be increased by the use of genetically modified (GM) varieties.
基金Under the auspices of National Natural Science Foundation of China(No.41771131,41301116,41877523)Premium Funding Project for Academic Human Resources Development in Beijing Union University(No.BPHR2017CS13)
文摘Using a heterogeneity stochastic frontier model(HSFM),we empirically investigated the economic efficiency of Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei from 2003 to 2016 and its influencing factors.The key findings of the paper lie in:1)in Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei,the overall economic and technological efficiency tended to increase in a wavelike manner,economic growth slowed down,and there was an obvious imbalance in economic efficiency between the different districts,counties and cities;2)the heterogeneity stochastic frontier production functions(SFPFs)of Beijing,Tianjin and Hebei were different from each other,and investment was still an important impetus of economic growth in Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei;3)economic efficiency was positively correlated with economic agglomeration,human capital,industrial structure,infrastructure,the informatization level,and institutional factors,but negatively correlated with the government role and economic opening.The following policy suggestions are offered:1)to improve regional economic efficiency and reduce the economic gap in Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei,governments must reduce their intervention in economic activities,stimulate the potentials of labor and capital,optimize the structure of human resources,and foster new demographic incentives;2)governments must guide economic factors that are reasonable throughout Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei and strengthen infrastructure construction in underdeveloped regions,thus attaining sustainable economic development;3)governments must plan overall economic growth factors of Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei and promote reasonable economic factors(e.g.,labor,resources,and innovations)across different regions,thus attaining complementary advantages between Beijing,Tianjin,and Hebei.
文摘The stochastic production function estimates of rice and maize in Senegal River Valley demonstrate the possibility to reach self-sufficiency of rice in Senegal. Nonetheless, its fulfillment requires many accompanying measures in rice and maize production. These measures include all upstream and downstream activities related to agricultural production for their efficiency and sustainability in rice and maize production to maintain the country＇s comparative advantages and competitiveness. Then priorities should be given to agricultural infrastructure building, establishment of credit markets, and providing an easy access of production factors （e.g., improved land, fertilizers, improved and certified seeds, as well as agricultural machines）. Furthermore, policy makers should provide a larger incentive in terms of producer price to encourage farmers to increase considerably their outputs, thereby farmers face smaller risk of having non-sold outputs. And during an early harvesting period, appropriate policy measures are in need to prevent farmers from dumping their products under severe social and economic pressures such as children schooling and loan payment, etc
文摘This paper builds a stochastic frontier educational production function model, estimating the primary educational productivity with annual data of 31 provinces from 2007 to 2011. The conclusions are as follows： （1） in educational production function, output elasticity of public educational expenditure exceeds private educational expenditure＇s. The degrees of contribution of public and private educational expenditure reflect that China should increase public educational expenditure. （2） regional educational technical efficiency is affected by both structure of educational expenditure and levels of regional economic growth. Primary educational technical efficiency of east, middle and west regions all tended to fall down during 2007 to 2011.
基金sponsored by the National Natural Science Foundation of China(71473123,71333008)A Project Funded by the Priority Academic Program Development of Jiangsu Higher Education Institutions,China(PAPD)
文摘This article analyses the technical and environmental efficiency of hog production in China using data from the China Agricultural Product Cost-Benefit Compilation（NDRC 2005–2013） and the First National Census of Pollution： Manual of Discharge Coefficient of Livestock and Poultry Industry（IEDA and NIES 2009）. The empirical results show a great variation in environmental efficiency, ranging from 0.344 to 0.973 with a mean value of 0.672 that declines over time. Southwest China is found to be the most environmentally efficient region, while the Northeast and the Northwest are the least efficient. Another finding is that technical and environmental efficiencies are highly correlated in hog production; the most environmentally efficient regions are usually found to have high technical efficiency, and vice versa. In addition, we computed the output elasticities with respect to each factor input. The results show that feed is the most efficient input, with an output elasticity of approximately 0.551, which is much higher than the elasticity of the nitrogen surplus, other capital or labour. The output elasticity with respect to the nitrogen surplus is 0.287 on average. Finally, the scale elasticity in hog production is slightly higher than 1.
基金supported by the National Social Science Fund under Grant No.18BTJ010Fundamental Research Projects of Central Universities Fund under Grant Nos.31512211201,31423211202,31513111217 and 31712211202。
文摘Xinjiang's agriculture is a typical irrigated agriculture for its agriculture water consumption accounts for 96%of the total water use.As a typical resource-deficient area,the key to Xinjiang's agricultural development is saving water.This paper takes the high-efficient water-saving irrigation technology of 41 regions along the Tarim River from 2002 to 2013 as the research object,adopts spatial stochastic frontier model to measure the space efficiency of high-efficient water-saving irrigation technology,and analyzes the effect of water-saving irrigation technology on agricultural development.Results show that the water-saving irrigation technology has a spatial effect,if neglecting it,the error of missing variables will occur,and the average loss will be 6.98 percentage points.The spatial correlation effect promotes the improvement of the efficiency of water-saving irrigation technology.The spatial heterogeneity leads to the spatial imbalance of the efficiency of water-saving irrigation technology.The promotion of agricultural water-saving irrigation technology can increase production and the efficiency of agricultural development.Due to the technical heterogeneity of different types of water-saving irrigation technology,the contribution to the development of agriculture is also different.The study finds that water-saving irrigation technology of drip irrigation in the Tarim River contributes more to agricultural development.
文摘Stochastic frontier production function approach is adopted, 93 farmer samples have been collected, pure efficiency, technical efficiency, technical change and scale efficiency and the institutional contribution have been calculated. The results indicated that increasing productivity is the sole measurement to reduce poverty, institution and technical change are the two key factors. Therefore, stable institution, improving technical changes are required. At present, it is urgent to make technical progre...
文摘Recently, there have been more debates on the methods of measuring efficiency. The main objective of this paper is to make a sensitivity analysis for different frontier models and compare the results obtained from the different methods of estimating multi-output frontier for a specific application. The methods include stochastic distance function frontier, stochastic ray frontier, and data envelopment analysis. The stochastic frontier regressions with and without the inefficiency effects model are also com-pared and tested. The results indicate that there are significant correlations between the results obtained from the alternative estimation methods.
基金National Natural Science Foundation of China,No.41501593,No.41601592National Program on Key Research Project,No.2016YFA0602500
文摘The question of how to generate maximum socio-economic benefits while at the same time minimizing input from urban land resources lies at the core of regional ecological civilization construction. We apply stochastic frontier analysis （SFA） in this study to municipal input-output data for the period between 2005 and 2014 to evaluate the urbanization efficiency of 110 cities within the Yangtze River Economic Belt （YREB） and then further assess the spatial association characteristics of these values. The results of this study initially reveal that the urbanization efficiency of the YREB increased from 0.34 to 0.53 between 2005 and 2014, a significant growth at a cumulative rate of 54.07%. Data show that the efficiency growth rate of cities within the upper reaches of the Yangtze River has been faster than that of their counterparts in the middle and lower reaches, and that there is also a great deal of ad- ditional potential for growth in urbanization efficiency across the whole area. Secondly, results show that urbanization efficiency conforms to a ＂bar-like＂ distribution across the whole area, gradually decreasing from the east to the west. This trend highlights great intra-provincial differences, but also striking inter-provincial variation within the upper, middle, and lower reaches of the Yangtze River. The total urbanization efficiency of cities within the lower reaches of the river has been the highest, followed successively by those within the middle and upper reaches. Finally, values for Moran＇s / within this area remained higher than zero over the study period and have increased annually; this result indicates a positive spatial correlation between the urbanization efficiency of cities and annual increments in agglomeration level. Our use of the local indicators of spatial association （LISA） statistic has enabled us to quantify characteristics of ＂small agglomeration and large dispersion＂. Thus, ＂high- high＂ （H-H） agglomeration areas can be seen to have spread outwards from around Zhejiang Province and the city of Shanghai, while areas characterized by ＂low-low＂ （L-L） patterns are mainly concentrated in the north of Anhui Province and in Sichuan Province. The framework and results of this research are of considerable significance to our understanding of both land use sustainability and balanced development.
基金supported by Japan International Research Center for Agricultural Sciences
文摘This paper estimates a stochastic frontier function using a panel data set that includes 4 961 farmer households for the period of 2005-2009 to decompose the growth of grain production and the total factor productivity （TFP） growth at the farmer level. The empirical results show that the major contributor to the grain output growth for farmers is input growth and that its average contribution accounts for 60.92% of farmer’s grain production growth in the period of 2006-2009, whereas the average contributions sourced from TFP growth and residuals are only 17.30 and 21.78%, respectively. The growth of intermediate inputs is a top contributor with an average contribution of 44.46%, followed by the planted area （18.16%）, investment in fixed assets （1.05%）, and labor input （-2.75%）, indicating that the contribution from the farmer’s input growth is mainly due to the growth of intermediate inputs and that the decline in labor inputs has become an obstacle for farmers in seeking grain output growth. Among the elements consisting of TFP growth, the contribution of technical progress is the largest （32.04%）, followed by grain subsidies （8.55%）, the average monthly temperature （4.26%）, the average monthly precipitation （-0.88%）, the adjusted scale effect （-5.66%）, and growth in technical efficiency （-21.01%）. In general, the contribution of climate factors and agricultural policy factor are positive and significant.
基金financial support from the National Social Science Foundation of China(14BGL094)the Rice Research System in Guangdong Province,China(2019KJ105)+2 种基金the EU Project H2020 Program(822730)supported by the United States Department of Agriculture(USDA)National Institute of Food and Agriculture(NIFA)funded Hatch projects(#94382 and#94483)。
文摘Agricultural mechanization and custom machine services have developed rapidly in China,which can influence rice production efficiency in the future.We calculate technical efficiency,allocative efficiency,and scale efficiency using data collected in 2015 from a face-to-face interview survey of 450 households that cultivated 3096 plots located in the five major rice-producing provinces of China.We use a one-step stochastic frontier model to calculate technical efficiency and regress the efficiency scores on socio-demographic and physical land characteristics to find the influencing variables.Variables influencing technical efficiency are compared at three different phases of rice cultivation.We also calculate technical efficiency by using the Heckman Selection Model,which addresses technological heterogeneity and self-selection bias.Results indicate that:(1)the average value of technical efficiency using a one-step stochastic frontier model was found to be 0.74.When self-selection bias is accounted for using the Heckman Selection Model,the average value of the technical efficiency increases to 0.80;(2)mechanization at the chemical application phase has a positive effect on technical efficiency,but mechanization does not affect efficiency at the plowing and harvesting phases;(3)machines are overused relative to both land and labor,and high machine input use on the small size of landholding has resulted in allocative inefficiency;(4)rice farmers are overwhelmingly operating at a sub-optimal scale.Future policies should focus on encouraging farmland transfer in rural areas to achieve scale efficiency and allocative efficiency while promoting mechanization at the chemical application phase of rice cultivation to improve technical efficiency.
基金the University of Economics Ho Chi Minh City,the German Research Foundation(DFG,funding No.DFG-FOR 756/1&2)the Open Access Fund of Leibniz University Hannover,Germany.
文摘The Vietnamese agricultural sector has experienced a dramatic structural change based on increased specialization in rice cultivation.However,small-scale rice-farmers have continued to grow multiple crops,especially in less developed provinces.While the literature advocates crop diversification for reasons of both economic and ecological sustainability,there lacks empirical evidence as to whether crop diversification brings efficiency and productivity gains to small farms.The present study is the first applications of the input-oriented stochastic distance function approach in estimating scale and scope economies using data of multi-crop farming households in Vietnam.We find strong evidence of product-specific economies of scale.Scope economies are also present for rice,vegetable,and other annual crop production.This suggests that crop diversification enhances efficiency and productivity.However,there still exists significant technical inefficiency in crop production,indicating opportunities to expand farm output at the existing level of inputs and technologies.More specifically,our empirical results indicate that it is desirable to expand vegetable and other annual crop production in mountainous areas while rice cultivation can be further expanded in delta and coastal regions.
基金Under the auspices of National Natural Science Foundation of China(No.41271136,41501142)
文摘This paper measures the efficiency of ports in the Yangtze River Delta Region(YRDR) in 2008 and 2013 using port berth quantity, quay length, and human resources as input indicators, using cargo and container throughput as output indicators, and considering traditional(foreign trade dependence and industrialization level) and modern environmental factors(traffic line density, financial development level, and informatization level). To achieve such aim, this study constructs a multi-stage data envelopment analysis model(DEA) that identifies effective port decision-making units(DMUs) and generates a highly accurate conclusion by eliminating the interference from the exogenous environment and random errors. First, the external environment significantly affects port efficiency, with the traditional environmental factors showing huge fluctuations and the modern environmental factors producing great benefits. Second, the efficiency of ports in YRDR has increased from 2008 to 2013 primarily because of their pure technical efficiency. Third, the weighted standard deviation ellipse(SDE) analysis results reveal that the efficiency pattern of ports significantly deviates from their throughput pattern, while the center of SDE of port efficiency moves from the eastern coastal regions to the northwest regions. Based on these findings, this paper proposes spatial development strategies for YRDR, such as creating an unblocked environment where spatial elements can freely circulate, intensifying port-city joint development, implementing differentiated policies, and focusing on the spatial collaboration of port efficiency.
基金support was partially provided by the University of Connecticut Research Foundation,Storrs Agricultural Experiment Station,Chinese Academy of Sciences Outstanding Overseas Chinese Scholars Award,and the National Natural Science Foundation of China(40671071).
文摘The impact of inputs on farm production growth was evaluated by analyzing the economic data of the upper and middle parts of the Yellow River basin, China for the period of 1980-1999. Descriptive statistics were employed to characterize the temporal trends and spatial patterns in farm production and five pertinent inputs of cultivated cropland, irrigation ratio, agricultural labor, machinery power and chemical fertilizer. Stochastic frontier production function was applied to quantify the dependence of the farm production on these inputs. The growth of farm production was decomposed to reflect the contributions by input growths and change in total factor productivity.. The change in total factor productivity was further decomposed into the changes in technology and in technical efficiency. The gross value of farm production in the region of study increased by 1.6 fold during 1980-1999. Among the five selected farm inputs, machinery power and chemical fertilizer increased by 1.8 and 2.8 fold, respectively. The increases in cultivated cropland, irrigated cropland, and agricultural labor were all less than 0.16 fold. The growth in the farm production was primarily contributed by the increase in the total factor productivity during 1980-1985, and by input growths after 1985. More than 80% of the contributions by input growths were attributed to the increased application of fertilizer and machinery. In the change of total factor productivity, the technology change dominated over the technical efficiency change in the study period except in the period of 1985-1990, implying that institution and investment played important roles in farm production growth. There was a decreasing trend in the technical efficiency in the region of study, indicating a potential to increase farm production by improving the technical efficiency in farm activities. Given the limited natural resources in the basin, the results of this study suggested that, for a sustainable growth of farm production in the area, efforts should be directed to technology progress and improvement in technical efficiency in the use of available resources.
基金National Natural Science Foundation of China:The enhancing potential and realizing paths of China’s industrial total factor productivity:A perspective of energy price distortion correction[Grants number.71774122]China Postdoctoral Science Foundation:Research on the Emission Reduction Effect Evaluation and Mechanism of China’s Low-Carbon City Pilot Policies[Grants number.2019M662721].
文摘The continuous progress of industrialization is a fundamental cause of China’s increasingly severe environmental pollution problem.Improving the efficiency of industrial pollution control is an inevitable choice to effectively decrease pollution emissions,thus winning the battle of pollution prevention and control.In this paper,we used the stochastic frontier analysis(SFA)model to measure the provincial efficiency of industrial pollution control based on the input and output data of industrial pollution control of 29 administrative provinces in China from 2000 to 2017.On this basis,a spatial econometric model was used to explore the influence of environmental regulation intensity on the efficiency of industrial pollution control.In addition,the spatial spillover effect of pollution reduction was thoroughly examined.The results show that:(1)The efficiency of industrial pollution control in China has improved year by year,but the overall efficiency is still low,with the average value increasing from 0.165 in 2000 to 0.309 in 2017.Furthermore,there is significant regional heterogeneity with the highest efficiency level in the east and lowest efficiency level in the west.(2)By increasing the financial and material input,the efficiency of industrial pollution control has increased.However,the increase of human input has not been so helpful.(3)The global Moran’s I index is significantly greater than zero,indicating a strong spatial correlation and agglomeration in the efficiency of industrial pollution control,which is reflected in high-high agglomeration in the eastern region and low-low agglomeration in the western region.(4)Stringent environmental regulation has a positive effect on improving the efficiency of industrial pollution control.It also imposes a positive spatial spillover effect,indicating a strategic interaction and coordination of regional pollution control.In line with this,related proposals have been made to optimize the investment structure for environmental pollution control,establish a flow mechanism for the factor market,and strengthen the environmental responsibility awareness of state-owned enterprises.On this basis,we expect to provide a policy for improving the efficiency of industrial pollution control and promoting regional joint pollution control in China.
文摘Elevation is one of many components that influence agriculture, and this in turn affects the level of both inputs and outputs of farmers. This article focuses on the productivity and technical efficiency of 100 cocoa farms using cross-sectional data from areas ranging from 190 to 1021 m above sea level which were classified as low, medium, and high elevation in Davao City, considered as the chocolate capital of the Philippines. Using stochastic frontier analysis, the results showed that the cost of inputs per ha and the number of cocoa trees per ha significantly increase yield. Farms at high elevations were less technically efficient, as this entails lower temperatures and increased rainfall, and cocoa farming in those areas and conditions can be more challenging, especially with changes in farming practices, terrain, and distance to markets. Other significant variables were age of cocoa farms, married farmers, and age of the farmers. Older farms may be more developed, farmers who are married benefit from their spouses being able to readily contribute as farm labor, and lastly, older farmers' inefficiency may likely stem from nonadaptation of newer farming practices. With an average technical efficiency of 0.61, 0.63, and 0.26 in low, medium, and high elevation areas, respectively, farmers therefore have an incentive to improve farm practices and consider topographical variations found in high elevation areas. Recommendations for the improvement of technical efficiency of cocoa farms are better connectivity to markets, enhancing farm practices, and continuation and improvement of government programs on cocoa with an added emphasis on research. For farmers in high elevation areas, mitigating solutions such as sustainable agriculture practices and ecolabelling are key to improving efficiency and minimizing the potential negative impact on upland farming systems. Moreover, such adaptation measures may also contribute to sustainability of cocoa farming in high elevation areas.
基金supports from National Natural Science Foundation of China(71774087).
文摘“Belt and Road” is the important origin of oil import in China. Based on social network analysis and stochastic frontier gravity model, this paper studied the characteristic evolution and influence factor of oil import network between China and “Belt and Road” countries. Then by constructing a stochastic frontier gravity model including the crude oil future price and oil importing price, it found that the international crude oil future price, the oil importing price, the political situation, the trade agreements have the effects on the China's oil import from “Belt and Road” region. It provided suggestions for improving the spatial pattern of China's petroleum trade.
文摘In the current paper, the authors investigate empirically the relationship between the share price volatility and the amount of voluntary information disclosed in the corporate annual report. The authors use the data envelopment analysis （DEA） and the stochastic frontier analysis （SFA） models on a sample of 50 listed French firms belonging to the Soci6t6s des Bourses Fran^aises （SBF250） index from 2004 to 2008. The authors focus on the extent of voluntary disclosure in the annual reports that have been measure by using a composite disclosure index. Then, the authors study the relevance of disclosure policies through the ability of the voluntary disclosure level to effectively reduce the share price volatility. The findings of DEA and SFA provide, in average, highly efficient scores of the sample, reveal the several dispositions taken by the French Exchange Market authorities and the initiative of French firms to improve the market stability. In addition, the findings highlight, in average, stability of the firms＇ efficiency scores over the studied period. The authors explain these findings by the stability of corporate disclosure policy as suggested in previous literature （e.g., Botosan, 1997）. However, there are some differences between the findings of SFA and DEA models.
