关于运输业规模经济和范围经济问题的探讨

On the Economies of Scale and Scope in Transport Network

运输业的网络特性决定了其规模经济和范围经济问题的复杂性 ,也造成了这个极端多产品行业的规模经济和范围经济通常密不可分。以往的研究和文献在运输业的网络经济、规模经济、范围经济、密度经济及幅员经济等有关概念的界定和使用上并不清楚和明确 ,以至造成一定混淆。本文提出运输业的网络经济由其规模经济和范围经济以及它们的转化形态运输密度经济和幅员经济共同构成 ,又各有多种表现形式。这方面的深入研究 ,对判明不同运输行业及各种运输类别的市场结构、对建立合理和有效的运输业管理体制具有重要实践意义 ;对从一般意义上理解规模经济与范围经济也有理论上的参考价值。

From the author′s opinion, the natures of transport networks contribute to the inseparably relationship between the economies of scale and the economies of scope in this ultra multi-production industry, and caused the complexities of studying on the economies of scale and scope in transport. There have been a lot of ambiguities, or even mistakes, in both defining and using the concepts of economies of network, economies of scale, economies of scope, economies of traffic density, economies of size and so on in previous studies, so many confusions exit in this field. The paper presents that economies of transport network are composed by economies of traffic density and network size, which are transformed from economies of scale and economies of scope, and which take on many other transformations in practice. Based on this analysis frame, people can distinguish the market structure of various transport industries and their subsets, and build efficient regulation or management systems for the sectors. Moreover, it is helpful to understand the concepts of economies of scale and scope in the general micro-economic researches.