ACI Technical Report: Initial Measures Derived from Census

The decennial census provides a wealth of information about communities that has been mined by social scientist for decades. The purpose of this technical report is to describe an initial set of measures taken from or derived from the 2000 U.S. Census in an effort to develop a statistical description of Anchorage communities for use with the Anchorage Community Indicators project of the University of Alaska Anchorage Justice Center. The initial set of measures isolated from census are inspired by two principal bodies of work: (1) the Project on Human Development in Chicago Neighborhoods, an exceptionally well endowed research effort that took neighborhood measurement very seriously; and, (2) Peter Blau’s work that specifies parameter of social structure, heterogeneity, and inequality. The focus of the paper is on documenting how the measures were formed from 2000 Summary File 3 census tables. However, measures without conceptual content are of little value. Accordingly, the paper will offer a brief introduction to the derivative works (PHDCN, Blau) and then follow with a fairly detailed presentation of each measure (what concept is addressed, how it is measured, how the measure is distributed across block group and census tracts, and isolation of the census tables providing essential counts).Project on Human Development in Chicago Neighborhoods — Measures from Census / Peter Blau's Measures of Social Structure: Hetergeneity and Inequality Measures / Heterogeneity Measures (Industrial, Occupational, Racial) / Inequality Measures (Income Inequality) / Reference

Estimating Farm Efficiency in the Presence of Double Heteroscedasticity Using Panel Data

The accuracy of technical efficiency measures is important given the interest in such measures in policy discussions. In recent years the use of stochastic frontiers has become popular for estimating technical inefficiency, but estimated inefficiencies are sensitive to specification errors. One source of such errors is heteroscedasticity. This paper addresses this issue by extending the Hadri (1999) correction for heteroscedasticity to stochastic production frontiers and to panel data. It is argued that heteroscedasticity within an estimation can have a significant effect on results, and that correcting for heteroscedasticity yields more accurate measures of technical inefficiency. Using panel data on cereal farms, it is found that the usual technical efficiency measures used in stochastic production frontiers are significantly sensitive to the extended correction for heteroscedasticity.stochastic frontier production, heteroscedasticity, technical efficiency, panel data

Efficiency, Productivity and Stock Performance: Evidence from the Turkish Banking Sector

This paper investigates the link between stock performance of the listed commercial banks in the Turkish stock exchange and three measures of bank performance, such as technical efficiency, scale efficiency and productivity for the period 1998-2008. The relationship between efficiency and stock returns is investigated by running a regression of stock returns on measures of performance and some bank specific variables. The results indicate that the changes in three measures of performance have positive and significant effect on stock returns, suggesting that stocks of technical efficient, scale efficient and productive banks tend to outperform their inefficient and unproductive rivals.Stock returns, Technical efficiency, Productivity, Scale efficiency, Turkish banking

Technical Efficiency of U.S. Organic Farmers: The Complementary Roles of Soil Management Techniques and Farm Experience

Agricultural policymakers place increasing emphasis on developing efficiency measures for organic producers in order to evaluate regulatory strategies and evolving organic market conditions. We develop technical efficiency measures for U.S. organic farmers using a stochastic production frontier. Farm decisions about acquiring and managing organic soil materials from on-farm and local sources are incorporated into the technical efficiency measure. Productivity differences between newer entrants to organic farming and more experienced producers are estimated in order to isolate the impact of learning and management expertise on farm-level technical efficiency.organic farming, frontier production function, soil organic matter, performance measurement, technical efficiency, Farm Management,

Technical measures in fisheries management

Restrictions on size of fish that are caught are used as one of a number of measures considered for the sustainable management of fish stocks all over the world. The simple logic behind this conservation principle is to provide chance to the younger ones to grow, mature and reproduce at least once and contribute to the population before they are taken away in the catch. In many countries, there are legally implemented size (or length) limits for different species in the catch in the fishery including recreational fishing. Such size limits are arrived based on scientific research about the species especially its reproductive features. Though in most cases size restrictions are for the minimum size, there are restrictions on maximum size in some species were larger individuals contribute more to the population growth (example: Asian seabass younger ones are males and become females and spawn when they grow larger)

Impact of Sanitary and Technical Measures on Brazilian Exports of Poultry Meat

The major objective of this work is to evaluate the effects of technical and sanitary measures introduced by the main world importers upon Brazilian poultry meat in the international market. The impact of the measures is estimated using a gravity model constructed with disaggregated data about bilateral poultry meat between Brazil and its major trade partners for the period from 1996 to 2009. The gravity model is estimated with a fixed effects model and the results indicate that the impact of TBT and SPS measures upon Brazilian poultry meat exports is ambiguous. The results indicated that the existence of technical and sanitary regulations related to labelling might be stimulating trade of this product, while the presence regulations related to compliance appears to reduce the volume of Brazilian exports of poultry meat. In addition, the existence of prohibitive (and/or subject to quarantine) technical and sanitary measures may present a positive impact upon the traded volume of Brazilian exports of poultry meat. This result is relevant since it indicates the importance in considering different characteristics and content of regulations to analyse the impacts of TBT and SPS measures upon trade.Technical and Sanitary measure, Poultry meat, Gravity equation, International Relations/Trade,

PATTERNS OF CORPORATE GOVERNANCE AND TECHNICAL EFFICIENCY IN ITALIAN MANUFACTURING.

The purpose of this paper is to analyse the relationship between the corporate governance system and technical efficiency in Italian manufacturing. We use a non-parametric frontier technique (DEA) to derive technical efficiency measures for a sample of Italian firms taken from 9 manufacturing industries. These measures are then related to the characteristics of the corporate governance system. Two of these characteristics turn out to have a positive impact on technical efficiency: the percentage of the company shares owned by the largest shareholder and the fact that a firm belongs to a pyramidal group. Interestingly, a trade-off emerges between these influences, in the sense that one is stronger in industries where the other is weaker.

Effects of classification context on categorization in natural categories

The patterns of classification of borderline instances of eight common taxonomic categories were examined under three different instructional conditions to test two predictions: first, that lack of a specified context contributes to vagueness in categorization, and second, that altering the purpose of classification can lead to greater or lesser dependence on similarity in classification. The instructional conditions contrasted purely pragmatic with more technical/quasi-legal contexts as purposes for classification, and these were compared with a no-context control. The measures of category vagueness were between-subjects disagreement and within-subjects consistency, and the measures of similarity based categorization were category breadth and the correlation of instance categorization probability with mean rated typicality, independently measured in a neutral context. Contrary to predictions, none of the measures of vagueness, reliability, category breadth, or correlation with typicality were generally affected by the instructional setting as a function of pragmatic versus technical purposes. Only one subcondition, in which a situational context was implied in addition to a purposive context, produced a significant change in categorization. Further experiments demonstrated that the effect of context was not increased when participants talked their way through the task, and that a technical context did not elicit more all-or-none categorization than did a pragmatic context. These findings place an important boundary condition on the effects of instructional context on conceptual categorization

Assessing the Technical and Allocative Efficiency of Marketing Decisions by U.S. Organic Producers

We develop measures of technical and allocative efficiency of producers in marketing certified organic products. A stochastic output distance frontier and the associated revenue share equations are estimated using comprehensive U.S. data on certified organic producers. Farm-level measures of technical efficiency are calculated and factors which enhance performance are identified. Factors that systematically influence allocative efficiency are assessed. The revenue mix of organic producers is systematically inefficient as both male and female producers rely too heavily on revenue from organic markets relative to conventional outlets.organic farming, stochastic frontier, technical efficiency, allocative efficiency, Farm Management, Marketing, D21, C31, Q01,

Assessing the Technical and Allocative Efficiency of U.S. Organic Producers

We develop measures of technical and allocative efficiency of producers in marketing certified organic products. A stochastic output distance frontier and the associated revenue share equations are estimated using comprehensive U.S. data on certified organic producers. Farm-level measures of technical efficiency are calculated and factors that enhance performance are identified. Factors that systematically influence allocative efficiency are assessed. The revenue mix of organic producers is systematically inefficient as both male and female producers rely too heavily on revenue from organic markets relative to conventional outlets.organic farming, stochastic frontier, technical and allocative efficiency, Agribusiness, Farm Management, Marketing, Production Economics, Productivity Analysis, Public Economics, D21, C31, Q01,