Mechanization and efficiency in rice production in China

Agricultural mechanization and custom machine services have developed rapidly in China,which can influence rice production efficiency in the future.We calculate technical efficiency,allocative efficiency,and scale efficiency using data collected in 2015 from a face-to-face interview survey of 450 households that cultivated 3096 plots located in the five major rice-producing provinces of China.We use a one-step stochastic frontier model to calculate technical efficiency and regress the efficiency scores on socio-demographic and physical land characteristics to find the influencing variables.Variables influencing technical efficiency are compared at three different phases of rice cultivation.We also calculate technical efficiency by using the Heckman Selection Model,which addresses technological heterogeneity and self-selection bias.Results indicate that:(1)the average value of technical efficiency using a one-step stochastic frontier model was found to be 0.74.When self-selection bias is accounted for using the Heckman Selection Model,the average value of the technical efficiency increases to 0.80;(2)mechanization at the chemical application phase has a positive effect on technical efficiency,but mechanization does not affect efficiency at the plowing and harvesting phases;(3)machines are overused relative to both land and labor,and high machine input use on the small size of landholding has resulted in allocative inefficiency;(4)rice farmers are overwhelmingly operating at a sub-optimal scale.Future policies should focus on encouraging farmland transfer in rural areas to achieve scale efficiency and allocative efficiency while promoting mechanization at the chemical application phase of rice cultivation to improve technical efficiency.

An application of data envelopment analysis to investigate the efficiency of lumber industry in northwestern Ontario,Canada

This study aims at exploring the technical efficiency of lum- ber industry in northwestern Ontario, Canada using data envelopment analysis （DEA）. The DEA model analyzes relative technical efficiency of lumber mills with disproportionate inputs and outputs by dividing the 10- year time series data, for inputs and outputs of 24 lumber mills, over two periods （1999-2003 and 2004-2008）. Four inputs, namely, material （log volume）, labour （man-hours）, two types of energy （hog-fuel and electric- ity）, and one output （lumber volume） are used in this study. The trend analysis shows an annual reduction of 10%, 13% and 13% for lumber output, log consumption （input） and number of employees, respectively, during the period 1999-2008. The results from DEA with two scenarios with energy inputs and without energy inputs, for the two periods are found to be mixed and interesting. While some mills have improved their performance in terms of best use of available scarce inputs in the second period, some have shown negative per cent change in efficiency. In the with energy input and the without energy input scenario, some of the mills show a reduction in efficiency in the second period from the first period, with the highest estimated reductions of-13.9% and -47.6%, respectively. A possible explanation for these negative performances of mills in the latter period is the decline in production in the second period compared to the first period, where these mills were not able to adjust their inputs （mostly labour） as proportional lay-offs might not have been possible. These results provide policy makers and industry stakeholders with an improved understanding of the trends of efficiency and employ- ment as well as reallocation opportunities of future inputs in order to increase benefits from this sector.

Literature Review on the Impact of Blockchain Technology on Resource Allocation Efficiency

With the rapid development of Internet technology,the importance of blockchain technology has become increasingly prominent.Faced with this situation,extensive research has been carried out at home and abroad.Through the analysis of relevant literature on blockchain in recent years,it is found that there are many research results of blockchain technology in medical care,finance,education,etc.,but its application in the field of resource allocation efficiency is rare.From the existing studies on the influencing factors of resource allocation efficiency in China,it is found that there are significant differences in resource allocation efficiency between China and some developed countries or between various provinces and cities of China.

Cross-efficiency DEA model-based evaluation of allocative efficiency of rural information resources in Jiangsu Province, China

Purpose: This paper aims to compare and rank the allocative efficiency of information resources in rural areas by taking 13 rural areas in Jiangsu Province, China as the research sample.Design/methodology/approach: We designed input and output indicators for allocation of rural information resources and conducted the quantitative evaluation of allocative efficiency of rural information resources based on cross-efficiency model in combination with the classical CCR model in data envelopment analysis(DEA).Findings: Cross-efficiency DEA model can be used for our research with the objective to evaluate quantitatively and objectively whether the allocation of information resources in various rural areas is reasonable and whether the output is commensurate with the input.Research limitations: We have to give up using some indicators because of limited data availability. There is a need to further improve the cross-efficiency DEA model because it cannot identify the specific factors influencing the efficiency of decision-making units(DMUs).Practical implications: The evaluation results will help us understand the present allocative efficiency levels of information resources in various rural areas so as to provide a decisionmaking basis for formulation of the policies aimed at promoting the circulation of information resources in rural areas.Originality/value: Little or no research has been published about the allocative efficiency of rural information resources. The value of this research lies in its focus on studying rural informatization from the perspective of allocative efficiency of rural information resources and in the application of cross-efficiency DEA model to evaluate allocative efficiency of rural information resources as well.

A Literature Review of the Influence of Commercial Credit on the Efficiency of Enterprise Capital Allocation

The real economy is the main body of high-quality development,and the efficiency of capital allocation is an important manifestation of the development of the real economy.Therefore,it is very important to study the efficiency of capital allocation.As a representative of horizontal finance,commercial credit has a significant impact on the improvement of capital allocation efficiency.In view of this,this article combs the literature on commercial credit and capital allocation efficiency from the following aspects:firstly,by studying the literature,combing the literature on the macro-level,micro-level and economic effects of commercial credit;secondly,the measurement method of capital allocation efficiency And the influencing factors are systematically sorted out,and finally sorted out and evaluated the existing literature on the influence of commercial credit on the efficiency of capital allocation.

Efficient Cloud Resource Scheduling with an Optimized Throttled Load Balancing Approach

Cloud Technology is a new platform that offers on-demand computing Peripheral such as storage,processing power,and other computer system resources.It is also referred to as a system that will let the consumers utilize computational resources like databases,servers,storage,and intelligence over the Internet.In a cloud network,load balancing is the process of dividing network traffic among a cluster of available servers to increase efficiency.It is also known as a server pool or server farm.When a single node is overwhelmed,balancing the workload is needed to manage unpredictable workflows.The load balancer sends the load to another free node in this case.We focus on the Balancing of workflows with the proposed approach,and we present a novel method to balance the load that manages the dynamic scheduling process.One of the preexisting load balancing techniques is considered,however it is somewhat modified to fit the scenario at hand.Depending on the experimentation’s findings,it is concluded that this suggested approach improves load balancing consistency,response time,and throughput by 6%.

Can the low-carbon city pilot policy promote the upgrading of high-carbon emitting enterprises? Evidence from China

As a crucial environmental reform system to realize“carbon peaking”and“carbon neutrality”,the pilot policy of low-carbon cities(LCCs)puts pressure and challenges on high-carbon emitting enterprises(HCEEs)while providing opportunities for these firms to take the path of independent transformation.Employing the data of Chinese listed enterprises from 2006 to 2016 and adopting a difference-in-differences(DID)model,we evaluated the impact of LCC construction on the upgrading of HCEEs and its mechanisms.The results indicate that LCC construction enhances the upgrading of HCEEs in the pilot cities.The conclusions remain stable after a series of robustness tests.The mechanism analysis reveals that LCC construction triggers the upgrading of HCEEs by promoting resource allocation efficiency,R&D investment,and green technology innovation.The heterogeneity results indicate that this positive effect is more pronounced for HCEEs in regions with more stringent environmental law enforcement.This study also observes that the upgrading impact is more promi‐nent for state-owned enterprises,enterprises with higher bargaining power,and enterprises whose managers have a long-term vision.The above results provide directions for upgrading HCEEs and replicable evidence for cities in developing economies to fulfill the win-win target of environmental protection and economic transfor‐mation.

Comprehensive Utility Function for Resource Allocation in Mobile Edge Computing

In mobile edge computing(MEC),one of the important challenges is how much resources of which mobile edge server(MES)should be allocated to which user equipment(UE).The existing resource allocation schemes only consider CPU as the requested resource and assume utility for MESs as either a random variable or dependent on the requested CPU only.This paper presents a novel comprehensive utility function for resource allocation in MEC.The utility function considers the heterogeneous nature of applications that a UE offloads to MES.The proposed utility function considers all important parameters,including CPU,RAM,hard disk space,required time,and distance,to calculate a more realistic utility value for MESs.Moreover,we improve upon some general algorithms,used for resource allocation in MEC and cloud computing,by considering our proposed utility function.We name the improved versions of these resource allocation schemes as comprehensive resource allocation schemes.The UE requests are modeled to represent the amount of resources requested by the UE as well as the time for which the UE has requested these resources.The utility function depends upon the UE requests and the distance between UEs and MES,and serves as a realistic means of comparison between different types of UE requests.Choosing(or selecting)an optimal MES with the optimal amount of resources to be allocated to each UE request is a challenging task.We show that MES resource allocation is sub-optimal if CPU is the only resource considered.By taking into account the other resources,i.e.,RAM,disk space,request time,and distance in the utility function,we demonstrate improvement in the resource allocation algorithms in terms of service rate,utility,and MES energy consumption.

Some Financial Problems in the Light of EMM Results:Asset Pricing and Efficient Portfolio Allocation

Discussing results in asset pricing and efficient portfolio allocation,we show that mixed success and errors in these results often follow from a lack of information about the asset return distribution and wrong assumptions about its properties.Some mistakes in asset pricing come from the assumption of symmetry in return distributions.Some errors in efficient portfolio allocation follow from Markowitz’s approach when applying it to portfolio optimization of skewed asset returns.The Extended Merton model(EMM),generating skewed return distributions,demonstrates that(i)in skewed asset returns,the variance is not an adequate measure of risks and(ii)positive skewness in the asset returns comes together with a high default probability.Thus,the maximization of the mean portfolio returns and skewness with controlled variance used in mainstream papers can critically increase portfolio risks.We present the new settings of the optimal portfolio allocation problem leading to less risky efficient portfolios than the solutions suggested in all previous papers.

The measure and characteristics of spatial-temporal evolution of China＇s science and technology resource allocation efficiency

According to the connotation and structure of science and technology resources and some relevant data of more than 286 cities at prefecture level and above during 2001-2010, using modified method--Data Envelopment Analysis （DEA）, science and tech- nology （S＆T） resource allocation efficiency of different cities in different periods has been figured out, which, uncovers the distributional difference and change law of S＆T resource allocation efficiency from the time-space dimension. Based on that, this paper has analyzed and discussed the spatial distribution pattern and evolution trend of S＆T resource allocation efficiency in different cities by virtue of the Exploratory Spatial Data Analysis （ESDA）. It turned out that： （1） the average of S＆T resource allocation efficiency in cities at prefecture level and above has always stayed at low levels, moreover, with repeated fluctuations between high and low, which shows a decreasing trend year by year. Besides, the gap between the East and the West is widening. （2） The asymmetrical distribution of S＆T resource allocation effi- ciency presents a spatial pattern of successively decreasing from Eastern China, Central China to Western China. The cities whose S＆T resource allocation efficiency are at higher level and high level take on a cluster distribution, which fits well with the 23 forming urban agglomerations in China. （3） The coupling degree between S＆T resource allocation efficiency and economic environment assumes a certain positive correlation, but not completely the same. The differentiation of S＆T resource allocation efficiency is common in regional devel- opment, whose existence and evolution are directly or indirectly influenced by and regarded as the reflection of many elements, such as geographical location, the natural endowment and environment of S＆T resources and so on. （4） In the perspective of the evolution of spatial structure, S＆T resource allocation efficiency of the cities at prefecture level and above shows a notable spatial autocorrelation, which in every period presents a positive correlation. The spatial distribution of S＆T resource allocation efficiency in neighboring cities seems to be similar in group, which tends to escalate stepwise. Meanwhile, the whole differentiation of geographical space has a diminishing tendency. （5） Viewed from LISA agglomeration map of S＆T resource allocation efficiency in different periods, four agglomeration types have changed differently in spatial location and the range of spatial agglomeration. And the conti- nuity of S＆T resource allocation efficiency in geographical space is gradually increasing.

Financial Development, Foreign Direct Investment, and the Efficiency of Capital Allocation in China

We study the roles of local financial development and foreign direct investment, and more importantly, their interaction with one another, in local capital allocation, based on Chinese industrial and regional data. Our main finding is that, although local financial development and FDI each individually tended to improve the efficiency of local capital allocation during the sample period, they tended to compete and crowd out each other＇s effect, so that one impaired the individual function of the other. In particular, there exists a threshold value for local financial development, above which an increase in FDI reduces the efficiency of local capital allocation, rather than improve it. On the other hand, there exists a threshold value for FDI, above which further development in the local financial system lowers the efficiency of local capital allocation, rather than increase it. Our estimations suggest that the levels of FDI and local financial development in some relatively more developed Chinese regions have already surpassed such threshold values. We provide some interpretations of our findings and we discuss potential policy implications.

Measuring health care efficiency with a tripartite configuration under the ＂National＂ Health Insurance system

Background The ＂National＂ Health Insurance （NHI） in Taiwan, China is a single-payer system that was introduced in 1995 to provide universal health care. It is worth noting that three stakeholders are involved in Taiwan＇s NHI, which can be seen as a triangular governance regime between the Bureau of ＂National＂ Health Insurance （BNHI）, the insured and providers. Accordingly, this study intended to assess the efficiency of various different production processes that occur among these stakeholders in Taiwan＇s NHI system. Methods A two-stage relational Data Envelopment Analysis （DEA） model is adopted to investigate the sub-process efficiencies of the health care resources held by 23 cities and counties through stages I or II, where the outputs of the first stage serve the inputs of the second. The dataset was collected from the annual reports published by the Department of Health, Taiwan, China. Results Under the proposed framework, the efficiency of the whole process can be obtained from the product of productivity and allocative efficiency. Ten DMUs are efficient either in stages I or II, with only two DMUs being efficient with regard to both sub-processes. Conclusion The relational DEA model not only demonstrates the physical relationship between the whole process and the sub-process components, but also produces reliable outcomes in efficiency measurement among different stakeholders in Taiwan＇s NHI system.

Total Factor Productivity in China's Manufacturing Sector in the Aftermath of the Global Financial Crisis

This paper improves the estimation of firm-level total factor productivity(TFP)by considering energy use and including small-and medium-sized enterprises using data from the Chinese National Tax Survey Database(2008-2011).It analyzes the production efficiency of Chinese manufacturing firms using the improved TFP data and finds that(i)the TFP data frequently used in previous studies overestimated firms'real production efficiency;(i)the TFP of manufacturing firms decreased from 2008 to 2011 due to declines in both technical efficiency and allocation efficiency,(ii)the lower capacity utilization of production factors led to lower technical efficiency;and(iv)allocation efficiency decreased more in provinces and industries with higher shares of state-owned enterprises.The findings have policy implications for enhancing growth potential in the long run.

Determinants of Factor Misallocation in Agricultural Production and Implications for Agricultural Supply-side Reform in China

Alloeative inefficiency in agriculture is an issue puzzling researchers and poliey-makers in China. Based on household data from the China Family Panel Studies of 2012, the present paper quantifies the potential distortions in China ＇s agricultural production and examines their underlying determinants across regions. The results reveal that there are different levels of distortions across regions. The Middle region is facing the greatest distortion. Increases in machinery input, the proportion of non-farm income and effective labor input will reduce distortions. Household saving, farmland rent and farmland size are significantly positively related to distortions. There is a complementary effect between labor and farmland in alleviating production inefficiency, but substitution effects exist between capital and farmland and also capital and labor. The increase in farmland size will aggravate the impact of capital on distortions. Given the constraint of super small-scale farmland, facilitating land transfer is a necessary precondition for improving, allocative efficiency.

中亚五国农业要素配置效率评价及优化建议

Based on methods such as stochastic frontier production function,this paper analyses the changes of single factor productivity(SFP)and total factor productivity(TFP)of agriculture in the five Central Asian countries,during the period of 1992 to 2017.The research results show that the agricultural output in most of the five Central Asian countries has increased steadily,while agricultural labor productivity has shown a growth trend.With the exception of Kazakhstan,the land productivity of the other four countries shows a growth trend.In terms of factor input,the number of agricultural workers in the five Central Asian countries mainly shows a trend of decrease,with the input of chemical fertilizer increasing,and the amount of agricultural machinery increasing or decreasing within a small range.The total factor productivity in the five Central Asian countries has improved,but it is still at a low level.The policy suggestions contained in the research conclusions are as follows:(1)Promote the growth of agricultural TFP in the five Central Asian countries,and strengthen the emphasis on the input and allocation of agricultural factors;(2)be aware of the innovation of agricultural technology,as well as the promotion and diffusion of existing agricultural technologies,and improve the overall technical efficiency of agriculture;and(3)accelerate the effective flow of capital and other elements to the agricultural sector,improve infrastructure,better release the'dividend'of science and technology,and enhance the output efficiency.

Using Bayesian Model to Analyze the Efficient Allocation of Research Funds

Using Bayesianmodel, we explore the efficient allocation of research funds. With the theory of standard and all-pay auctions, we obtain the applicant＇s equilibrium payout and the committee＇s expected return in a symmetric independent private value and asymmetric independent private value model. Moreover, we compare two different evaluated manners. We obtain that applicants will be more aggressive when the committee valuates by the research plans than by the research results, but both situations give the same effect to the committee in a symmetric independent private value model. However, when applicants are asymmetrical, the committee will prefer allocating research plans to research results. Finally, we analyze applicant＇s equilibrium payout when the award the winner gets is related to the applicant＇s value of research plans or results.

Performance evaluation of a WDM/OCDM based hybrid optical switch utilizing efficient resource allocation

A hybrid optical switch （HOS） with physical layer of wavelength division multiplexing and optical code division multiplexing （WDM/OCDM） scheme is proposed. An additional feature to the HOS than optical cross connect （OXC） is that the controller can process requests for both circuit establishment and burst scheduling. In our study, the measurement criteria of HOS are the blocking probability, probability of error, and probability of outage. To simplify the analysis, no distinction is made between a circuit in progress and a burst in progress. Moreover, a minimum fit （MinF） resource allocation strategy is applied in order to increase the bandwidth efficiency and control the multiplexing interference of the OCDM. A 2D Markov model for the HOS is presented using the MinF strategy. Numerical results reveal that the code parameters and the resource allocation strategy greatly affect the performance. Certain periority can be achieved by assigning shorter codes to high periority users and longer codes to low periority users. Also, the probability of error and outage are reduced bv aonling the MinF strategy.