The Economies Scale of Agricultural Product Processing Companies Listed on Stock Exchange in Hochiminh City and Hanoi, Vietnam

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.

Improving the methodology for creating a medical service based on the costs of its production

Background. Currently, the multichannel nature of financial flows determines the multivariate methods of payment for medical services, which are also influenced by the type of medical care, conditions, form of its provision, and type of institution. As a result, the cost of a medical service can vary significantly not only in different, but even in one medical organization. The lack of a unified methodological approach puts healthcare organizations in unequal conditions, as a result, public sector medical organizations are forced to seek additional resources to provide medical care to the population that meets the standards. None of the current methods for determining the cost of a medical service reflects its actual cost, since it does not take into account the structure of production costs.The aim. To improve the methodology for the formation of the cost of public services in the health care system, taking into account their resource intensity.Materials and methods. The study included the analysis of the forms of state statistical observation of medical organizations of the Irkutsk region, reports of the federal and regional accounting chambers, industry regulations, materials of scientific periodicals, conferences, monographic studies, including on the Internet; comparison of the cost of medical services in various medical organizations of the Irkutsk region; modeling methods for calculating the cost of medical services using the Cobb – Douglas production function.Results. A unified classification of medical services based on their resource intensity and an improved method of forming the cost of medical services based on the Cobb – Douglas production function are proposed, revealing the dependence of the volume of production on two factors of production – capital and labor; the cost of medical services was calculated using the example of real services provided in one of the medical organizations of the public health sector of the Irkutsk region.Conclusions. The proposed method for determining the cost of a medical service based on its resource intensity makes it possible to determine the real cost of a medical service, the full reimbursement of which will increase the financial stability of medical organizations in the public sector, which will be reflected in the improvement of their material and technical base and, as a result, will increase the quality of medical services.

Profitability, marketing, and resource use efficiency of ginger production in Rukum west, Nepal

The study was designed to investigate the profitability, marketing, and resource use efficiency of ginger production in Rukum west. The sample size of 62 ginger-growing farmers out of 187 farmers was determined using slovin’s formula. In addition, 20 traders from two major market hubs Simrutu and Jhulneta were interviewed. The pre-tested semi-structured interview schedule was administered to interview a randomly selected sample size. Data were analyzed using descriptive and statistical tools, including the Cobb-Douglas production function. Result showed that the average area under ginger cultivation was 0.14 ha. A major portion (46.56%) of the cost was found to be incurred by the seed alone in ginger cultivation. The benefit-cost ratio (2.02) indicates that ginger production enterprise was profitable. The productivity of ginger in the study area was estimated to be 11.39 Mt/ha, while per kg cost of production was found to be (NRs 35.67 = USD 0.30). Most of the gross income (78.85%) was found to be contributed by fresh ginger. Similarly, gross margin, market margin, and producer’s share were found to be 21.16, 33.33, and 62.97%, respectively, for 1 kg of ginger. The indexing technique identified high-cost with low-quality seed and price instability as the major problems associated with the production and marketing of ginger, respectively. Cobb-Douglas production function estimated the value of return to scale at 0.889, implying that ginger production exhibited decreasing returns to scale. A study on resource allocative efficiency revealed that farm yard manure and total labor were underutilized resources while seed rhizome was overutilized resource. Thus, for optimal allocation of resources, expenditure on farm yard manure and total labor need to be increased by 87.374% and 39.908%, respectively. The study concluded that an effort should be made to bridge the gap between optimal resource utilization and current practices. For this, it is prime important to interconnect the combined efforts of ginger growers, provincial government, or any developing partners.

On randomized Cobb-Douglas production function

The paper considers a Cobb-Douglas function with n random elasticities. A theorem on the concavity and strict concavity of such a function is proved.

Adoption of banana (Musa spp) production technology among small-scale farmers in Embu West Sub-County, Kenya

The study examined adoption of recommended banana production technology among small-scale farmers in Embu West Sub-County, Kenya. Data were obtained from a sample of 384 small-scale banana farmers that were proportionately selected from four wards of the study area. A structured interview schedule was used for data collection. Both percentages and inferential statistics were employed in data analysis. The study used a logarithmic multiple linear regression model based on Cobb-Douglas production function. The amount of credit accessed, cost of the banana plantlets, fertilizer and manure had significant effects on banana output area. In addition, adoption of tissue culture banana, use of irrigation, debudding, desuckering, deleafing and banana value addition had positive and significant effects on banana production. The County government to enhance sensitization of small-scale banana farmers on the importance of adopting these and other recommended technologies for improved banana yields.

The Effects of New Entries on Economic Growth: a Story on Advanced and Laggard Sectors

<p>The main goal of this thesis is to construct a theoretical model that provides an explanation for the relationship between growth and new entry that is consistent with empirical evidence. The model is a four sector endogenous growth model in which there is a technologically advanced and a technologically laggard consumption goods which are imperfect substitutes. The production of each good requires its own stock of human capital and physical capital. The accumulation of physical capital and human capital in each industry is modelled by a Cobb-Douglas production function. The main result of the model is that new entries have a positive effect on the fraction of the existing stock of human capital devoted to the accumulation of human capital in both the advanced and laggard sectors. However, this effect is stronger in the advanced sectors than in the laggard sectors. This result is consistent with empirical evidence.</p>

The Effects of New Entries on Economic Growth: a Story on Advanced and Laggard Sectors

<p>The main goal of this thesis is to construct a theoretical model that provides an explanation for the relationship between growth and new entry that is consistent with empirical evidence. The model is a four sector endogenous growth model in which there is a technologically advanced and a technologically laggard consumption goods which are imperfect substitutes. The production of each good requires its own stock of human capital and physical capital. The accumulation of physical capital and human capital in each industry is modelled by a Cobb-Douglas production function. The main result of the model is that new entries have a positive effect on the fraction of the existing stock of human capital devoted to the accumulation of human capital in both the advanced and laggard sectors. However, this effect is stronger in the advanced sectors than in the laggard sectors. This result is consistent with empirical evidence.</p>

Returns to Farming

This chapter describes problems associated with marginal returns analysis and the form taken by the Cobb-Douglas production function. It goes on to compare the returns to production of bush- and village-field millet, for 1980 and 1981, and discusses the wide divergence in returns between crops within and between years. This is followed by comparison of returns to different factors of production with the prices at which these are occasionally available, before reviewing the reasons for some farmers showing markedly different returns from the average.

Millet-Production Analysis

Analysis of millet-production shows the size and variability of returns to different farm inputs, for each of the millet varieties. Regression analysis is based on the Cobb-Douglas production function, to generate a set of marginal returns to factors between uses, from one year to the next and between farmers. Farmers make decisions based on past experience and in a context of uncertainty about the future. The principal inputs are described for analysis of village-field and bush-field millet varieties, their measurement and representation in regression equations. Results from the analysis are presented to show the relative significance of each factor, and the high levels for R2 associated with manure use, plough-team use, and the soil dummy variable. The labour variable was more problematic. Analysis of the residual error term permitted a review of each farming household, difficulties in accurately measuring particular variables, and significant differences in farmers’ knowledge, aptitude and judgement.

Axiomatizing additive multi-effort contests

A rent seeking model is axiomatized where players exert multiple additive efforts which are substitutable in the contest success function. The axioms assume the sufficiency of exerting one effort, and that adding an amount to one effort and subtracting the same amount from a second equivalent substitutable effort keeps the winning probabilities unchanged. In contrast, the multiplicative Cobb–Douglas production function in the earlier literature requires players to exert all their complementary efforts. The requirement follows from assuming a homogeneity axiom where an equiproportionate change in two players’ matched efforts does not affect the winning probabilities. This article abandons the homogeneity axiom and assumes an alternative axiom where the winning probabilities remain unchanged when a fixed positive amount is added to all players’ efforts. This article also assumes a so-called summation axiom where the winning probabilities remain unchanged when a player substitutes an amount of effort from one effort into another effort. The summation axiom excludes multiplicative production functions, and furnishes a foundation for additive production functions.