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| 1 |
ID:
162270
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| Summary/Abstract |
The transport sector is attracting increasingly attention in the context of climate change and sustainable development, for its rapidly growing demand for energy and heavy reliance on oil products. Especially in China, where the demands for transportation are tremendous and ever-increasing, it is worthy to explore the provincial variations in energy efficiency in the transport sector, in order to enhance energy efficiency and to promote energy savings in this sector. By using stochastic frontier analysis (SFA) approach, this paper calculates the provincial energy efficiency as well as energy saving potential in China’s provincial transport sector over 2007–2016. Results suggest that China’s national average energy input efficiency in the transport industry is 0.673 during the sample period, which implied that relatively large degree of non-efficiency exists in this sector. Besides, the increase of government support (GS), the improvement of road condition (RC) and public transport (PT) are influencing factors for the improvement of China’s provincial energy efficiency in the transport industry. Additionally, energy saving potential in the transport sector is also estimated in this paper. It is shown that, although energy efficiency in the eastern China is the highest (much higher than the country-wide level), the estimated absolute amount of the energy saving potential in the eastern area is significantly larger than those in the central area and western area due to the fact that the eastern area contributes to the largest share of the total energy consumption in this sector.
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| 2 |
ID:
112720
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2012.
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| Summary/Abstract |
We investigate bank risk taking, efficiency and their relation to law enforcement using a unique sample of 133 Chinese city commercial banks across 31 regions for the 1999-2008 period. We find that stronger law enforcement tends to promote greater bank risk taking in the region. Furthermore, employing a stochastic distance function approach, our analysis shows that the performance of Chinese city commercial banks, as measured by bank efficiency, is heavily influenced by the effectiveness of law enforcement in the region. Better legal environment, higher efficiency in the legal system, and stronger protection of intellectual property right are associated with a higher level of efficiency among these banks.
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| 3 |
ID:
099363
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2010.
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| Summary/Abstract |
We compare the welfare effects of different regulation schemes of electricity distribution utilities. The compared regulation schemes are Fixed Price regulation, Cost of Service regulation, Menu of Cost-Contingent Contracts and Simple Menu of Contracts. In our calculations we utilize the information of a firm's potential to improve cost efficiency. The firm-specific cost information of Finnish electricity distribution utilities is obtained by using various Stochastic Frontier models. Our basic result is that welfare can be improved by changing the Cost of Service regulation scheme to the Menu of Contracts regulation. Welfare also increases in the case of Fixed Price regulation and Simple Menu of Contract regulation. There is however, a significant difference among regulation regimes on how this improved welfare is distributed to consumers and producers.
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| 4 |
ID:
150771
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| Summary/Abstract |
This paper investigates the impact of institutional quality – typified as regulatory governance – on the performance of thermal power plants in India. The Indian power sector was reformed in the early 1990s. However, reforms are effective only as much as the regulators are committed in ensuring that they are implemented. We hypothesize that higher the quality of regulation in a federal Indian state, higher is the efficiency of electric generation utilities. A translog stochastic frontier model is estimated using index of state-level independent regulation as one of the determinants of inefficiency. The dataset comprises a panel of 77 coal-based thermal power plants during the reform period covering over 70% of installed electricity generation capacity. The mean technical efficiency of 76.7% indicates there is wide scope for efficiency improvement in the sector. Results are robust to various model specifications and show that state-level regulators have positively impacted plant performance. Technical efficiency is sensitive to both unbundling of state utilities, and regulatory experience. The policy implication is that further reforms which empower independent regulators will have far reaching impacts on power sector performance.
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| 5 |
ID:
143390
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| Summary/Abstract |
This paper estimates the cost and profit efficiency of the Chinese domestic banking sector to evaluate the effectiveness of China's financial reforms since 1978. We use the performance of foreign banks as the benchmark because foreign banks, subject to intensive worldwide competition, are perceived as possessing superior governing structure and organization, more advanced technologies and better trained labor force. On the other hand, competition in China's banking sector is mainly in the form of nonprice measures, thus putting foreign banks at a disadvantage. We find domestic banks have gradually caught up the cost advantage of foreign banks in a manner consistent with the increased competitive pressure. On the other hand, the profit advantage of domestic banks over foreign banks is widening because of institutional arrangements, cultural and social networks as well as the profit scope and revenue scale economy.
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| 6 |
ID:
092829
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2009.
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| Summary/Abstract |
This paper employs a stochastic frontier analysis (SFA) to examine cost efficiency and scale economies in Taiwan Power Company (TPC) by using the panel data covering the period of 1995-2006. In most previous studies, the efficiency estimated by the Panel Data without testing the endogeneity may bring about a biased estimator resulting from the correlation between input and individual effect. A Hausman test is conducted in this paper to examine the endogeneity of input variables and thus an appropriate model is selected based on the test result. This study finds that the power generation executes an increasing return to scale across all the power plants based on the pooled data. We also use installed capacity, service years of the power plant, and type of fuel as explanatory variable for accounting for the estimated cost efficiency of each plant by a logistic regression model to examine the factor affecting the individual efficiency estimates. The results demonstrate that the variable of installed capacity keeps a positive relationship with cost efficiency while the factor of working years has a negative relationship.
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| 7 |
ID:
166710
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| Summary/Abstract |
Evidence and conventional wisdom suggest that general poverty has a negative effect on the well-being of individuals. However, the mechanisms through which this effect occurs are not well-understood through economic approach. In this paper, we analyse the influence of general and fuel poverty as well as the social dimension through peer comparison on the subjective well-being of households. We develop a novel approach to analyse fuel poverty and well-being based on consumer theory. Individual preferences are modelled using indifference curves and a distance function where the preferences of individuals are affected by their poverty status. We use the survey data from the official Spanish Life Condition Survey for 2013, which contains over 16,608 observations on household members. The results show that both general and fuel poverty influence the reference indifference curve but that individuals also compare themselves with their peers. The proposed model also allows us to corroborate how general and fuel poverty affect well-being and how effective policies can be designed to improve social welfare.
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| 8 |
ID:
113488
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2012.
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| Summary/Abstract |
This paper examines global carbon dioxide (CO2) efficiency by employing a stochastic cost frontier analysis of about 170 countries in 1997 and 2007. The main contribution lies in providing a new approach to environmental efficiency estimation, in which the efficiency estimates quantify the distance from the policy objective of minimum emissions. We are able to examine a very large pool of nations and provide country-wise efficiency estimates. We estimate three econometric models, corresponding with alternative interpretations of the Cancun vision (Conference of the Parties 2011). The models reveal progress in global environmental efficiency during a preceding decade. The estimates indicate vast differences in efficiency levels, and efficiency changes across countries. The highest efficiency levels are observed in Africa and Europe, while the lowest are clustered around China. The largest efficiency gains were observed in central and eastern Europe. CO2 efficiency also improved in the US and China, the two largest emitters, but their ranking in terms of CO2 efficiency deteriorated. Policy implications are discussed.
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| 9 |
ID:
145581
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| Summary/Abstract |
Using three-wave survey data for four villages of Jiangsu Province in China, the present paper examines whether and to what extent off-farm employment affects the technical efficiency of agricultural production. The level of technical efficiency is measured using a stochastic frontier production function approach. Based on estimation results from instrumental variable panel quantile regressions we find that there is a positive significant effect of off-farm employment on the level of farm technical efficiency. We also find that fragmentation of farmland is a barrier to the improvement of technical efficiency. In addition, we find a downward trend in the level of agricultural technical efficiency among our sample. Therefore, the Chinese Government should stimulate agricultural mechanization and the development of farming techniques to improve technical efficiency in the context of increasing off-farm employment.
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| 10 |
ID:
088259
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2009.
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| Summary/Abstract |
This paper presents an integrated data envelopment analysis (DEA)-corrected ordinary least squares (COLS)-stochastic frontier analysis (SFA)-principal component analysis (PCA)-numerical taxonomy (NT) algorithm for performance assessment, optimization and policy making of electricity distribution units. Previous studies have generally used input-output DEA models for benchmarking and evaluation of electricity distribution units. However, this study proposes an integrated flexible approach to measure the rank and choose the best version of the DEA method for optimization and policy making purposes. It covers both static and dynamic aspects of information environment due to involvement of SFA which is finally compared with the best DEA model through the Spearman correlation technique. The integrated approach would yield in improved ranking and optimization of electricity distribution systems. To illustrate the usability and reliability of the proposed algorithm, 38 electricity distribution units in Iran have been considered, ranked and optimized by the proposed algorithm of this study.
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| 11 |
ID:
186226
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| Summary/Abstract |
By applying stochastic frontier analysis, and replacing total export with value added in exports as a more accurate measure of domestic content embodied in exports, we estimate the trade efficiency between China and EU countries and analyze the determinant factors. The results show that the value added in trade between China and EU countries is running at a low level of efficiency, and the trade efficiency has an obvious imbalance between export and import. Our calculation of unexplored trade potential indicates that western EU countries, such as France, Germany, Italy, and Spain together are China's top trading partner with the highest unexploited trade potential. Based on the principal component analysis of 14 trading-related variables, trade efficiency determinant results show that the tangible trade infrastructures of both exporter and importer matters most, including airports, container shipping, Internet, and broadband infrastructures. Meanwhile, intangible trade infrastructures, including customs procedures and domestic business environments, has a significant, but smaller influence on trade efficiency. Our important findings shed light on practical trade policymaking to encourage Sino-EU trade collaboration.
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| 12 |
ID:
186425
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| Summary/Abstract |
Controlling the growth of CO2 emissions has become a focus of China and improving energy efficiency is widely regarded as one of the most effective measures to reduce CO2 emissions. By constructing a dynamic comprehensive energy efficiency index, we estimated the energy efficiency of 30 provinces in China from 2001 to 2017 using the stochastic frontier analysis method. Then, we investigated the spatial effects of energy efficiency on CO2 emissions and its regional heterogeneity under geographic, economic, and social weight matrices by using the spatial Durbin model. The results indicate that the comprehensive energy efficiency of China shows a gradual improvement trend during the sample period. There exist spatial spillover effects of energy efficiency on regional CO2 reduction. Energy efficiency improvement in the eastern region shows significant spillover effect on neighboring area's CO2 reduction under the three weight matrices. The central region exhibits this spatial effect only under the weight of economic distance. However, there is no significant spillover effect in the western region. Economic factors play a greater role in the spillover effect of energy efficiency. The findings of this paper provide several important policy implications for improving energy efficiency and reducing CO2 emissions in various regions of China.
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| 13 |
ID:
161820
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| Summary/Abstract |
Official data are criticized for over-reported agricultural labour statistics. We derive an alternative series of labour participated in agriculture with the information of production cost and revenue. Using parametric stochastic frontier approach, labour requirement functions are estimated for 30 farm and animal husbandry products in rural China. The estimated required amount of labour is compared with our newly-derived observed agricultural labour to obtain the surplus labour. This surplus ranges from 18% to 12% of agricultural labour between 2001 and 2013. Our results reveal that China was relatively successful in reducing redundant labour in rice production. Equally important, the trends of our estimated surplus place China in the second stage of transition under the Lewis-Fei-Ranis framework, moving in the direction of full commercialization or the so-called Lewis turning point.
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| 14 |
ID:
177100
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| Summary/Abstract |
This paper utilizes cutting-edge panel stochastic frontier electricity production models to measure the impact of state and federal regulations on United States (U.S.) natural gas fired power plants from 1994 to 2016. Using an expansive dataset, I simultaneously account for plant specific heterogeneity as well as time varying and persistent inefficiency. Previous studies of electricity generation in the U.S. have ignored at least one of these components. The ability to control for unobserved heterogeneity is important in assessing long-term managerial effectiveness.
Deploying a translog functional form, I extract firm specific information on returns to scale (RTS). For the preferred model, results indicate that mean persistent technical efficiency (TE) for natural gas fired power plants is 71 percent, transient TE is 72 percent, and RTS are 0.94. I find an inverse relationship between RTS and plant output level, but a positive relationship between TE and output level. For a given plant, the regulatory variables under consideration tend to increase plant efficiency, along the lines of the Porter hypothesis. Furthermore, plants with higher transient TE have significantly lower costs per kWh.
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