A stochastic frontier approach to measuring regional technical efficiency in China

This paper applied a stochastic translog production function to examine the underlying causes of technical inefficiency for 28 provinces in the mainland China over the period 1970-2004. We found that inefficiency was present in production and several relevant explanatory variables contributed to it. Specifically we found that the provinces with higher level of human capital, higher engagement in international trade, and further relaxation of the household registration system (hukou system) and a smaller government size tended to lie closer to the national frontier. In addition, we found that public infrastructure was not productive and we found no evidence to support the general view that state-owned enterprises (SOEs) were operating relatively inefficiently as compared to the non-SOEs.Stochastic production frontier; Hypothesis testing; Panel data

Fine structures of solar radio type III bursts and their possible relationship with coronal density turbulence

Solar radio type III bursts are believed to be the most sensitive signatures of near-relativistic electron beam propagation in the corona. A solar radio type IIIb-III pair burst with fine frequency structures, observed by the Low Frequency Array (LOFAR) with high temporal (~10 ms) and spectral (12.5 kHz) resolutions at 30–80 MHz, is presented. The observations show that the type III burst consists of many striae, which have a frequency scale of about 0.1 MHz in both the fundamental (plasma) and the harmonic (double plasma) emission. We investigate the effects of background density fluctuations based on the observation of striae structure to estimate the density perturbation in the solar corona. It is found that the spectral index of the density fluctuation spectrum is about −1.7, and the characteristic spatial scale of the density perturbation is around 700 km. This spectral index is very close to a Kolmogorov turbulence spectral index of −5/3, consistent with a turbulent cascade. This fact indicates that the coronal turbulence may play the important role of modulating the time structures of solar radio type III bursts, and the fine structure of radio type III bursts could provide a useful and unique tool to diagnose the turbulence in the solar corona

Hedonic analysis of state and local fiscal policy on nonmetropolitan economic development

Scope and Method of Study: Following the quality-of-life hedonic pricing approach of Rosen (1979) and Roback (1982) as extended to fiscal conditions by Gyourko and Tracy (1989; 1991), this paper examines how state and local government taxes and expenditures affect the location decisions of households and firms in U.S. nonmetropolitan areas. We consider comprehensively the government budget constraint, sample heterogeneity, fixed effects, endogeneity, and spatial correlation in modeling.Findings and Conclusions: This study finds that growth of the state tax variables (general sales tax, individual income tax, corporate income tax, selective, license taxes) generally are negatively associated with both wage and rent growth, reflecting the households' diamenity and firms' counter-productivity effects, which is in accordance with the theory that greater taxes increase business cost and discourage labor supply.This study also finds that the state expenditures on first-secondary education, highway, and public safety are positively associated with wage and rent. This result indicates that education, highway, or public safety have both amenity and productivity effects, in addition, the productivity effects of these the expenditure variables would have to dominate their amenity effects to be consistent with the positive sign in the wage model. These results indicate that more investment in education, highway, and public safety are preferred by both households and firms.None of the existing literatures has done such fiscal study at the nonmetropolitan level.No hedonic fiscal policy studies have been done at the non-metropolitan level, which hence is the focus of this dissertation. This study could fill the gap in the hedonic literature and should be of interest to economists and policy makers. Specifically, policy makers should be aware of the dual role of taxes and public services in affecting households and firms in their location decisions. Furthermore in order to further the economic development of nonmetropolitan territories, it is better for the state governments to lower the personal income tax and corporate income tax while still being able to maintain the education, public safety and highway expenditures on a high level

A stochastic frontier approach to measuring regional technical efficiency in China

This paper applied a stochastic translog production function to examine the underlying causes of technical inefficiency for 28 provinces in the mainland China over the period 1970-2004. We found that inefficiency was present in production and several relevant explanatory variables contributed to it. Specifically we found that the provinces with higher level of human capital, higher engagement in international trade, and further relaxation of the household registration system (hukou system) and a smaller government size tended to lie closer to the national frontier. In addition, we found that public infrastructure was not productive and we found no evidence to support the general view that state-owned enterprises (SOEs) were operating relatively inefficiently as compared to the non-SOEs