returns to scale
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2022 ◽  
Author(s):  
Le Thanh Tung

This study applied the Cobb-Douglas production function to identify economics efficiency of 18agricultural product processing companies listed on the Stock exchange in Ho Chi Minh City(HOSE) and Hanoi (HNX) in such sectors as fisheries, rubber and sugar in the period 2009-2013.The method employed FEM and REM models using panel data. The results showed thatperformance of all and each sector in this study has increasing returns to scale. In particular,firms in the sectors of fisheries and rubber primarily relied on raising capital to increasetheiroutput value, while those in the sugar sectormainly increase labors toimprove theiroutput value. Finally, the paper also provides some policy implications to improve theefficiency of capital and labor in the agricultural product processing companies.


Agriculture ◽  
2022 ◽  
Vol 12 (1) ◽  
pp. 52
Author(s):  
Katarzyna Ziętek-Kwaśniewska ◽  
Maria Zuba-Ciszewska ◽  
Joanna Nucińska

Several studies conducted in various countries have addressed the technical efficiency of dairies. However, there is a paucity of research on the technical efficiency of dairies in Poland, particularly in relation to their legal form (i.e., cooperatives vs. non-cooperatives). The existing literature also does not provide insights into the technical efficiency of these entities with respect to different regions’ milk production capacity. Therefore, this paper aims to: (1) evaluate and compare the technical efficiency of cooperative and non-cooperative dairies in Poland, and (2) examine dairies’ technical efficiency due to spatial disparities in milk production potential. We use data envelopment analysis (DEA) to investigate the technical efficiency of 108 dairies in Poland for the year 2019. The milk production capacity of provinces is examined by applying the zero unitarization method. The results show that when assuming constant returns to scale (CRS), dairy cooperatives are less technically efficient than non-cooperatives, whereas when assuming variable returns to scale (VRS), these differences are not statistically significant. For inefficient dairies, we observe the greatest potential for improvement in labor costs and depreciation. Both cooperatives and non-cooperatives operate mostly under decreasing returns to scale. Thus, the potential for enhancing the technical efficiency of dairies through the consolidation process seems to be exploited. Our findings reveal that the technical efficiency of dairies in Poland is not differentiated by regional milk production potential.


Author(s):  
Gustavo Ferro ◽  
Carlos A. Romero

We are interested in how codified knowledge is produced around the globe (which inputs are used to produce scientific articles and patented inventions) and the efficiency of the process (how do the best performers produce more with the same inputs or produce the same with less inputs). Using a Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) efficiency frontier approach, we aim to determine which countries are more efficient at producing codified knowledge. We proxy knowledge production by publications and patents, obtained through human (researchers) and non-human (R&D expenditure) resources. We built a 15-year database with more than 800 observations of these and other variables. Our findings enable us to distinguish efficiency by country, geographical region, and income area. We run four different specifications and correlate the results with partial productivity indexes seeking consistency. Under constant returns to scale, the most traditional producers of knowledge are not fully efficient. Instead, small countries with limited resources appear to be efficient. When we add environmental conditions, both sets of countries are efficient producers of knowledge outputs. High-income regions, on the one hand, and East Asia, North America, and Europe and Central Asia, on the other, are the most efficient regions at producing knowledge.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Xu Xu ◽  
Lizhen Huang

Abstract Ecological efficiency (Eco-efficiency) index well represents the quality of regional development and measures the extensive or intensive development mode of a region. The traditional concept of Eco-efficiency refers to the maximum economic benefits through the minimum resource cost and environmental load. This paper argues that the goal of Eco-efficiency evaluation is not only to maximize economic benefits, but also to achieve high-quality development in many aspects such as society, science & technology and economy, so that people can enjoy the results of development.In this paper, the Eco-efficiency input indicators comprehensively considers the consumption of manpower, resources, energy and capital, and negative environmental benefits including waste gas, waste water and waste residue. Output indicators comprehensively consider the five high-quality development dimensions----innovation, coordination, green, openness and sharing, which are represented by indicators such as patents, total import and export, the number of patent, regional Theil index, disposable income, three waste emissions et al. .In terms of empirical research, the SBM model of undesirable output super-efficiency under the assumption of variable returns to scale is established to measure the Eco-efficiencies of 11 cities in Zhejiang Province. Secondly, Malmquist index model is estalished to study the temporal and spatial changes of Eco-efficiencies. Finally, the panel Tobit method is used for regression analysis to study the key factors affecting the Eco-efficiency of Zhejiang Province. The results show that the industrialization structure, economic level and export trade significantly positively correlated with Eco-efficiency. Urbanization level is significantly negatively correlated with Eco-efficiency.


Author(s):  
Sara Emamgholipour ◽  
Mohammad Arab ◽  
Abbas Rahimi-Foroushani ◽  
Sayede Somaye Forghani Dehnavi ◽  
Shahide Allahverdi ◽  
...  

Background: Measuring the efficiency of hospitals due to the high proportion of budget allocated to them on the one hand, and the need to ensure the best practices regarding the use of scarce resources on the other hand, is of particular importance. The purpose of this study is to evaluate the technical efficiency of the affiliated hospitals of Shahrekord University of Medical Sciences by using a combination of Principal Component Analysis and (PCA) & Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA). Methods: This was an analytical and cross-sectional study measuring the technical efficiency of all 8 hospitals affiliated to Shahrekord University of Medical Sciences. The required information was collected from the medical records unit of each hospital. For better differentiation between efficient and inefficient units, and the increase of research accuracy and further differentiation between hospitals in terms of efficiency, at first, 17 indicators were selected to assess and adjust these parameters to 3 components proportional to the number of the hospitals by using PCA and SPSS 16 software. After doing the PCA, 7 studied input variables became 7 principal components among which the first input component reflecting the 83 % of scattering data was selected as principal input component, and for being more influenced by human resource variables, it was named as a human resource index. Furthermore, among the output variables, the first 2 output components, which represented 76% of the variance of the data, were selected as the 2 principal components of the output for the study, which were mostly affected by these variables, respectively, the number of admissions and length of stay. Then, the modified input and output components were entered into the software Windeap 2.1 and the technical efficiency of hospitals and their rank were calculated by assuming constant and variable efficiency with respect to the scale. In order to evaluate the effect of using the combined method instead of the conventional method of efficiency measurement, the results of the PCA - DEA method were compared with the results of the conventional DEA method. Results: The result of DEA on the selected components showed the capacity to upgrade the Technical Efficiency (TE) of hospitals is 15 % (TE: 0.852). Moreover, out of 8 hospitals, 1 hospital was increasing return to scale, 3 decreasing returns to scale and 4 constant returns to scale. The technical efficiency of 3 hospitals was 1 (TE = 1), 2 hospitals had the technical efficiency between 0.80 to 1 (1 > TE > 0.80) and that in 3 hospitals was less than 0.80 (TE < 0.80).  The scale efficiency for 50 % of hospitals and the management efficiency for 62/5 % of them were equal 1. Conclusion: The average of total technical efficiency, management efficiency and scale efficiency were calculated to be 0.999, 1 and 0.999, respectively based on the usual comprehensive analysis method; while using the combined method, the average total technical efficiency, management efficiency and scale efficiency were 0.852, 0.947 and 0.902 respectively. The results confirm that the use of PCA method, due to its important role in reducing alignments, increases research accuracy and better differentiates between hospitals in terms of efficiency.


2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Luiz G. A. Alves ◽  
Diego Rybski ◽  
Haroldo V. Ribeiro

AbstractUrban scaling theory explains the increasing returns to scale of urban wealth indicators by the per capita increase of human interactions within cities. This explanation implicitly assumes urban areas as isolated entities and ignores their interactions. Here we investigate the effects of commuting networks on the gross domestic product (GDP) of urban areas in the US and Brazil. We describe the urban GDP as the output of a production process where population, incoming commuters, and interactions between these quantities are the input variables. This approach significantly refines the description of urban GDP and shows that incoming commuters contribute to wealth creation in urban areas. Our research indicates that changes in urban GDP related to proportionate changes in population and incoming commuters depend on the initial values of these quantities, such that increasing returns to scale are only possible when the product between population and incoming commuters exceeds a well-defined threshold.


Author(s):  
R. Sreedhar ◽  
R. Senthil Kumar ◽  
C. Muralidharan ◽  
R. Gangai Selvi

The Pearl millet is the staple and nutritive diet of farm households in developing and underdeveloped countries. It is grown as dual-purpose; grain and forage in drylands, marginal lands, and unirrigated lands of the Indian subcontinent. This study analysed the cost and returns, profitability, and resource productivity of the pearl millet growing farmers in a rainfed ecosystem of Thoothukudi District. Primary data were collected in selected blocks namely Vilathikulam and Pudur, based on the maximum area under pearl millet cultivation. The sampling design used in the study was Purposive random sampling. Totally 61 farmers were personally interviewed using a well-structured questionnaire. The Cost-C was Rs. 41115.65 per hectare. The proportionate expenditure of Hired Human Labour was 19.05 per cent to total costs. The net income was Rs. 4974.2 per hectare. The BCR was higher in small followed by medium and large farms. The partial regression coefficient of hired labour and fertilizers was 0.103, and 0.793 respectively, which were positive and highly significant. It indicated that gross return was increased by 0.793 per cent by increasing one per cent of expenses on fertilizers. The summation of all partial coefficients was 0.656 which indicated a decreasing return to scale. When the production function's returns to scale decrease, the average cost of production rises. Input prices have a significant impact on the economic profitability of farmers' crop cultivation. Rainfed pearl millet cultivation is unprofitable at market values in the Thoothukudi district. The current scenario requires the revising of minimum support prices and regulation in input market, particularly for crops grown in rainfed ecosystems.


Author(s):  
Dongdong Ma ◽  
Guifang Li ◽  
Feng He

In China, air pollution, especially fine particulate matter (PM2.5) pollution, has become increasingly serious with the rapid economic growth that has occurred over the past 40 years. This paper aims to introduce PM2.5 pollution as a constraint in the environmental efficiency research framework through the use of panel data covering the Chinese provinces from 2001–2018. PM2.5 environmental efficiency is measured with the slack-based measure (SBM)-Undesirable-variable returns-to-scale (VRS) model, and the results show that the average PM2.5 environmental efficiency score is 0.702, which indicates inefficiency, and is U-shaped over time. The PM2.5 environmental efficiency scores are unbalanced across the eight regions and 30 provinces of China. Additionally, the relationship between PM2.5 environmental efficiency and its influencing factors is examined with a tobit model, and the empirical findings indicate that the relationship between economic development and PM2.5 environmental efficiency is an inverted U, which is the opposite of the traditional environmental Kuznets curve (EKC). In addition, technological innovation, trade dependency, and regional development each have a significantly positive effect on PM2.5 environmental efficiency. However, environmental regulations, the industrial structure, and population density have significantly negative effects on PM2.5 environmental efficiency. Finally, this paper fails to prove that foreign direct investment (FDI) has created a PM2.5 “pollution haven” in China.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Brett Hollenbeck ◽  
Renato Zaterka Giroldo

This paper uses lottery allocation of retail store entry licenses as a natural experiment to understand the size and source of returns to scale in retail.


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