Shadow Prices of Non-performing Loans for Chinese Banks in the Post-Crisis Era

This paper examines how non-performing loans (NPLs) affect Chinese commercial banks before, during, and after the 2008 global financial crisis as well as the subsequent 2008--2010 stimulus. By accounting for NPLs as undesirable outputs, banks' technical efficiency is estimated using directional output distance function. The envelop theorem is applied to calculate the shadow price of NPLs. The shadow price of NPLs is the opportunity cost of reducing NPLs by one Chinese yuan. Empirical results show that the four major state-owned banks are the least technically efficient while foreign banks are the most efficient over the sample period 2007-2014. I also find that the crisis has a negative effect on banks' technical efficiency while the stimulus initially has a positive effect on four major stateowned commercial banks and joint-stock commercial banks, but later shows a negative effect with a higher default ratio and lower efficiency. Finally, the data show that the stimulus has greatly increased the shadow price of NPLs for four major state-owned commercial banks. Starting in 2011, the shadow prices of NPLs for four major state-owned commercial banks are much higher than all other bank types.

Payment for Rice Growers to Reduce Using N Fertilizer in the GHG Mitigation Program Driven by the Government: Evidence from Shanghai

The overuse of N fertilizer by rice growers triggers excessive greenhouse gas (GHG) emission, leading to the environmental and climatic problem. However, growers will probably suffer loss in profits if they reduce the use of N fertilizer under the existing technology condition. The payment in market-based or government-driven way may overcome the potential barrier. For the appropriate carbon trading market is absent, the government-driven program will play a role in the payment. Three key issues in the designed program are the price of the payment, the participation rate of rice growers, and the variation of items associated with the social welfare. Due to the difficulty in estimating the economic value, prices of the payment can be set according to shadow prices. This paper applies the parametric directional output distance function to derive shadow prices of CO2 for 308 rice growers in Shanghai from 2008–2015. Average shadow prices range from RMB 1130 to 3769 yuan/ton (or US 163 to 618 $/ton). Taking the year of 2015 as sample, this paper predicts the participation rate (97.08%) of rice growers with the aim of 10% N fertilizer reduction and the specific price of the payment (7.47 yuan/kg). Moreover, this paper discusses on the variation of factors linked with the social welfare, and derive two important relationships from it. In detail, the relationship between the yield of the rice and the reduction of the N fertilizer should be balanced; the relationship between the improvement on the profit of rice growers (or the participation rate) in the program and the payment by the government should also be balanced.

Application of the Nonparametric DEA Meta-frontier Approach with Undesirable Outputs in the Case of EU Regions

Background: The paper focusses on the efficiency evaluation of the EU-28 NUTS 2 regions production process according to the concept of the Regional Competitiveness Index 2013. Objectives: Production units are divided into four groups using the factors of regional competitiveness. Production technology also enables reduction of the undesirable outputs (a negative impact on health and long-term unemployment). Based on the analysis of distance of the production units from the efficiency frontiers, a directional output distance function assuming a constant return to scale is used. This approach thus respects the heterogeneity among the groups of regions. Methods/Approach: The nonparametric meta-frontier Data Envelopment Analysis approach was used in two steps. Firstly, the efficiency evaluation within each group of regions is provided and in the second step the meta-frontier is set down. For the measurement of the gap between the group-frontier and the meta-frontier, the technology gap ratios are provided. The paper also analyses environmental inefficiencies. Results: The obtained results indicate that a significant improvement of meta-technology ratio holds within the European context. Conclusions: The combination of empirical findings, with respect to technology gaps and environmental technology gaps, supports the evidence that traditional differences of technological frontiers formation are more significant in comparison to group frontiers constitution.

The Good and the Bad: Environmental Efficiency in Northeastern U.S. Dairy Farming

This study evaluates the environmental performance of northeastern U.S. dairy operations that differ in size using a directional output-distance function that measures the joint production of milk and emissions while incorporating a four-way error approach that captures farm-size heterogeneity, transient and persistent technical efficiency, and random errors. For the emission component, a comprehensive pollution index is generated that incorporates three major sources of pollution in dairy farming: fuel, fertilizer, and livestock. Computed shadow prices and Morishima elasticities of substitution reveal that large dairy operations are environmentally inefficient compared to their smaller counterparts.