An Assessment on the Cost Structure of the UK Airport Industry: Ownership Outcomes and Long Run Cost Economies

In this paper we analyze the cost structure of the UK airport industry by estimating a variable cost function for the period 1994-2005. Overall results suggest that the long run average costs curve is U-shaped: it decreases until passenger traffic reaches approximately five millions, it remains flat over the range between five and fourteen million passengers and afterwards it starts to increase. Moreover, our findings provide evidence consistent with the existence of some degree of overcapitalization for the largest regulated airports. Finally, we analyze whether different forms of ownership entail cost differentials across airports and we find that privately owned airports are characterized by lower costs with respect to public and mixed ones, although cost differentials shrank over time as public and mixed airports improved their rate of cost reduction. Main results are robust to unobserved heterogeneity at the airport or market level and to possible endogeneity biases. Possible regulatory and policy implications of these results are also discussed.scale economies, public ownership, airports

Cost Inefficiency in the English and Welsh Water Industry: An Heteroskedastic Stochastic Cost Frontier Approach.

In this study we analyze the evolution of operating cost inefficiency for the English and Welsh water industry over the period 1995-2001 by estimating an heteroskedastic stochastic variable cost frontier. The main aim of this paper is to provide an overall picture of the industry cost inefficiency, as we consider both the water and sewerage companies and the smaller water only companies. The main results of this paper are that industry operating cost inefficiency has decreased over the sample period and that inefficiency differentials among firms have steadily narrowed. This pattern of inefficiency might have been generated by the incentives provided by comparative and capital market competition which became fully operative after the 1994 price review.

And Yet they Co-Move! Public Capital and Productivity in OECD: A Panel Cointegration Analysis with Cross-Section Dependence

In this paper we add to the debate on the public capital - productivity link by exploiting very recent developments in the panel time series literature that take into account cross sectional correlation in non-stationary panels. In particular we evaluate the productive effect of public capital by estimating various production functions for a panel of 21 OECD countries over the period 1975-2002. We find strong evidence of common factors that drive the cointegration relationship among variables; moreover, our results suggest a public capital elasticity of GDP in the range 0.05-0.15, depending on model specification. Results are robust to the evidence of spillovers from public capital investments in other countries and to controlling for other productivity determinants like human capital, the stock of patents and R&D capital.Public capital; Productivity; Panel Cointegration; Cross-section Dependence.

The Appropriateness of the Poolability Assumption for Multiproduct Technologies: Evidence from the English Water and Sewerage Utilities

The empirical literature on the cost structure of multiproduct firms (e.g., public utilities providing in combination gas, water, and electricity) traditionally assumes a common technology across different products and stages of production, letting the issue of poolability unexplored. The appropriateness of this assumption is tested here by estimating a General cost function for samples of UK specialized and sewerage-diversified water utilities. The results show the existence of both aggregate scale economies and diseconomies of scope; more interestingly, the hypothesis that the two groups of water companies share the same technological parameters is rejected. Given the implications of this finding in terms of optimal industry configuration and possible restructuring policies (e.g., mergers and/or divestitures), our test suggests caution in pooling samples when undertaking empirical studies on data which refer to multiproduct technologies.Multiproduct technologies; Water and sewerage utilities; Poolability; General cost function

Cost Inefficiency in the English and Welsh Water Industry: An Heteroskedastic Stochastic Cost Frontier Approach.

In this study we analyze the evolution of operating cost inefficiency for the English and Welsh water industry over the period 1995-2001 by estimating an heteroskedastic stochastic variable cost frontier. The main aim of this paper is to provide an overall picture of the industry cost inefficiency, as we consider both the water and sewerage companies and the smaller water only companies. The main results of this paper are that industry operating cost inefficiency has decreased over the sample period and that inefficiency differentials among firms have steadily narrowed. This pattern of inefficiency might have been generated by the incentives provided by comparative and capital market competition which became fully operative after the 1994 price review

Algal Biotechnology: Properties of Bioactive Derivatives and Pharmaceutical Applications

Continuous development of new pathologies and mutations together with the increment of drug resistance make the research of new treatments and therapies more urgent and essential. Among the renewable resources, algae and related bioactive compounds are strongly considered. Algae are eukaryotic organisms characterised by high therapeutic potential. Indeed, because of biotic and abiotic factors, algae produce a wide variety of metabolites, which are useful for treating dysfunctions and diseases. The most produced metabolites are proteins, carbohydrates, lipids, vitamins, polyphenols, and pigments, which find several applications in daily life, as indicated in Fig. 1. The different classes of metabolites are relevant to the species they belong to; they are also divided into groups according to their medical properties. Over the years, advantages and performances of algae derivatives have been demonstrated by a growing number of analyses and researches, especially in recent years. Among the various properties of algae metabolites, anti-inflammatory, antiviral, antibacterial, antioxidant and antidiabetic are the most promising. Pigments (e.g. fucoxanthin) and polyphenols are the main compounds with anti-inflammatory activity; the latter also show antiviral, antidiabetic and antibacterial effects. Other compounds with antidiabetic activity are some xanthophylls and some polysaccharides (e.g. fucoidan and alginate). Among the antioxidant metabolites of algae, the most useful are flavonoids (i.e. polyphenols), carotenoids, pigments, vitamins, minerals and enzymes. Fatty acids show antibacterial ability, while carrageenans and other polysaccharides show both antibacterial and antiviral effects. Supporting algal research is a valid strategy to improve ongoing trials, expand or confirm obtained results, discover and include new molecules in biotechnology applications with the aim to introduce novel medical and pharmacological uses in modern medicine. A typical example is related to diabetes mellitus, which is a disease in constant growth. Nowadays, numerous trials are ongoing to develop innovative and more efficient treatments and several algae are analysed with respect to this pathology. Indeed, some algal bioactive compounds, in particular polyphenol derivatives, polysaccharides and pigments, have antidiabetic properties; these metabolites inhibit the enzymes α-glucosidase, α-amylase and aldose reductase, reduce reactive oxygen species, decrease lipid peroxidation and interfere on metabolic pathways. The results are decrement of blood glucose levels and increment of insulin values, which are critical in diabetic patients.

An explorative study on robotics for supporting children with Autism Spectrum Disorder during clinical procedures

This short report presents a small-scale explorative study about children with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) interaction with robots during clinical interactions. This is part of an ongoing project, which aims at defining a robotic service for supporting children with developmental disabilities and increase the efficiency of routine procedures that may create distress, e.g.having blood taken or an orthopaedic plaster cast applied. Five children with confirmed diagnoses of ASD interacted with two social robots: the small humanoid NAO and the pet-like MiRo. The encounters mixed play activities with a simulated clinical procedure. We included parents/carers in the interaction to ensure the child was comfortable and at ease. The results of video analysis and parents' feedback confirm possible benefits of the physical presence of robots to reduce children’s anxiety and increase compliance with instructions. Parents/carers convincingly support the introduction of robots in hospital procedures to their help children

Alcune riflessioni sulla pratica regolatoria, con riferimento ad alcuni settori dell’industria dei trasporti

La regolazione dei mercati rappresenta un elemento fondamentale per il raggiungimento di un’organizzazione più efficiente del sistema dei trasporti insieme ad una distribuzione equa dei vantaggi derivanti dallo stesso. In tale ottica la tutela del consumatore, le norme legate alla qualità e alla sicurezza dei beni e servizi scambiati su un mercato e una consona valutazione delle esternalità sono solo alcuni degli elementi di criticità di cui il regolatore dovrebbe tenere conto. In molti paesi, a partire dagli anni ’80, il settore dei trasporti è stato coinvolto dal processo di privatizzazioni e liberalizzazioni che ha interessato molte public utilities e che ha portato, in particolare, alla creazione di mercati regolati in cui le infrastrutture sono tipicamente gestite in concessione, mentre i servizi, laddove non sia possibile l’introduzione di forme di concorrenza, vengono invece regolamentati e le tariffe determinate secondo regole pre-definite. Nel corso del tempo alcune forme di regolazione tariffaria sembrano essersi imposte senza che la loro adozione nel caso di un particolare settore sia stata adeguatamente valutata alla luce delle caratteristiche economico-tecnologiche del settore stesso. Lo studio qui proposto si prefigge di effettuare un confronto tra i due principali metodi di regolamentazione tariffaria (price cap e regolazione del tasso di rendimento, RoR) tipicamente applicati nei settori altamente regolati, in cui la concorrenza è limitata per motivi tecnici o legati alla sicurezza. L’articolo è organizzato come segue. Il primo paragrafo è dedicato ad una breve discussione della letteratura, mentre nel secondo paragrafo vengono analizzate criticamente le principali caratteristiche dei metodi di regolazione tariffaria ispirati al price cap e al RoR. Quindi, nel terzo paragrafo viene analizzato, alla luce della discussione teorica sviluppata precedentemente, il caso di due diversi settori dei trasporti (autostrade e ormeggio) regolati in Italia con metodi di tipo price cap e RoR. Infine,il quarto paragrafo è dedicato alle conclusioni e alla discussione di possibili sviluppi futuri della ricerca

Roads to Innovation: Evidence from Italy

In this study, we leverage on the ancient Roman roads network as a source of exogenous variation to identify the causal effect of the modern highways network on innovative performance of Italian NUTS\u20103 regions. Empirical findings suggest that a 10% increase in the highways stock in a region generates an increase in the number of patents of about 3%\u20134%, over a 5\u2010year period. Further analysis suggests that our findings can in part be explained by a reduction in travel costs that fosters collaborations among inventors living in different regions and by an increase in the degree of centrality in the regional innovation network associated to denser highways networks. Finally, we find that the innovation\u2010enhancing effect of highways declines over time, possibly because of the introduction of information and communication technology, or the increasing congestion on the Italian network

Calabi-Yau cones from contact reduction

We consider a generalization of Einstein-Sasaki manifolds, which we characterize in terms both of spinors and differential forms, that in the real analytic case corresponds to contact manifolds whose symplectic cone is Calabi-Yau. We construct solvable examples in seven dimensions. Then, we consider circle actions that preserve the structure, and determine conditions for the contact reduction to carry an induced structure of the same type. We apply this construction to obtain a new hypo-contact structure on S^2\times T^3.Comment: 30 pages; v2: typos corrected, presentation improved, one reference added. To appear in Ann. Glob. Analysis and Geometr