On Research Efficiency: A Micro-Analysis of Dutch University Research in Economics and Business Management

We argue that efficiency assessments of academic research should focus on micro-units of research production rather than on conventionally employed (aggregated) macro-units, and show that such a detailed analysis of research performance provides interesting insights. In addition, we propose a non-parametric methodology that is specially tailored for analyzing the productive efficiency of research: it starts from a specification of the managerial objectives of research activities while imposing minimal structure on the (typically unknown) production technology. We illustrate our points by assessing the productive efficiency of research in Economics and Business Management faculties at Dutch universities. Next to measuring productive efficiency, we look for specific patterns in efficiency distributions over universities, years and areas of specialization. In addition, we investigate the impact of external funding and of the size of research programs on academic research efficiency.productive efficiency of research; micro-units of production; non-parametric analysis; research in economics; determinants of research efficiency

When xylarium and herbarium meet : linking Tervuren xylarium wood samples with their herbarium specimens at Meise Botanic Garden

Background: The current data paper aims to interlink the African plant collections of the Meise Botanic Garden Herbarium (BR) and the Royal Museum for Central Africa Xylarium (Tw). Complementing both collections strengthens the reference value of each institutional collection, as more complete metadata are made available and it enables increased quality control for the identification of wood specimens. Furthermore, the renewed connection enables the linking of available wood trait data with data on phenology, leaf morphology or even molecular information for many tree species, allowing assessments of performance of individual trees. In addition to studies at the interspecific level, comparisons at the intraspecific level become possible, which could lead to important new insights into resilience to and impact of global change, as well as biodiversity conservation or forest management of Central African forest ecosystems. New information: By interlinking the Tervuren Xylarium Wood database with the recently digitised herbarium of Meise Botanic Garden, we were able to establish a link between 6,621 xylarium and 9,641 herbarium records for 6,953 plant specimens. Both institutional databases were complemented with reliable specimen metadata. The Tervuren xylarium now profits from taxonomic revisions made by botanists at Meise Botanic Garden and a list of phenotypical features for woody African species can be extended with wood anatomical descriptors. New metadata from the Tw xylarium records were used to add the country of collection to 50 linked BR herbarium specimens for which this information was missing. Furthermore, metadata available from the labels on digitised BR herbarium specimens was used to update Tw xylarium records with the date of collection (817 records), collection locality (698 records), coordinates (482 records) and altitude (817 records). In conclusion, we created a reference database with reliable botanic identities which can be used in a range of studies, such as modelling analyses, community assessments or trait analyses, all framed in a spatiotemporal context. Furthermore, the linked collections hold historical reference data and specimens that can be studied in the context of global changes

Specification and Empirical Evaluation of a Simple Asymmetric Market Share Model

EIASM working-paper, Bruxelles, n° 1

Specification and empirical evaluation of a cluster-asymmetry market share model

Asymmetric models of market share response allow for specific cross-competitive effects between competitors. Various approaches have been suggested for building asymmetric market share models preserving the properties of logical consistency (i.e., respecting the sum and range constraints on market share) of the popular attraction formulation, including the recent “fully extended” attraction specification by Carpenter et al. (1988). It is argued that these approaches suffer from a number of theoretical or practical difficulties. Using the Nested Logit model as a source of inspiration, this paper introduces a simple and tractable cluster-asymmetric attraction specification for market share response and discusses its properties. The model is also shown to be related to the Cooper et al. approach. The specification is applied and evaluated in the context of a consumer appliance example