Jin-Li Hu

Total-factor water efficiency of regions in China

Water is a limited and unevenly distributed resource in China, with the per capita amount of water resource there only about onefourth of the world’s average. However, water is an essential resource for people’s lives and economic development. Over the past two decades China has seen the fruit of its rapid economic growth; nevertheless, a severe water shortage is behind this prosperous scenario and is becoming worse. Efficient water supply is certainly essential for the sustainable development of human beings. This paper analyzes water efficiency by incorporating water as an input as well as using conventional inputs such as labor employment and capital stock. An index of a water adjustment target ratio (WATR) is established from the production frontier constructed by data envelopment analysis (DEA) including water as an input. The water efficiency of regions is obtained from a total-factor framework with both residential and productive water use. A U-shape relation is discovered between the total-factor water efficiency and per capita real income among areas in China. The central area has the worst water efficiency ranking and the total adjustment amount of water used there is around threefourths of China’s total. More efficient production processes and advanced technologies need to be adopted in the central area to improve its water efficiency, especially for its productive use of water. r 2007 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Environmental Research Joint Ventures under Emission Taxes

The effect of environmentalpolicy depends crucially on the strategicbehavior of firms. Firms can undertakepollution abatement innovation cooperativelythrough environmental R&D joint ventures(RJVs). Environmental RJVs have not onlyenvironmental but also economic impacts. Threetypes of environmental RJV are discussed inthis paper: R&D cartelization in which firmschoose R&D efforts to maximize the jointprofit, RJV competition in which firms sharethe R&D fruits to maximize their own profits,and RJV cartelization in which firms share R&Dfruits and maximize the joint profit. An R&Dcartelization minimizes output quantities,maximizes the total emission, and minimizes thesocial surplus. An RJV cartelization with asufficiently high spillover coefficientmaximizes R&D efforts, minimizes the totalemission, and maximizes the social surplus.

Cost efficiency of international tourist hotels in Taiwan: a data envelopment analysis application.

This paper uses the data envelopment analysis approach to measure cost, allocative and overall technical efficiencies of international tourist hotels (ITHs) in Taiwan during 1997–2006. There are three outputs, three inputs, three input prices and four environmental variables in the empirical model. The cost inefficiency of these hotels is from overall technical inefficiency. International tourist hotels in Taiwan have an average efficiency of 57%. Chain systems, non-metropolitan areas and occupancy rate have significantly positive impacts on all efficiency scores of Taiwans ITHs. The distance from the nearest international airport significantly worsens their efficiency scores.

Efficient three industrial waste abatement for regions in China

This paper computes efficient three industrial waste abatements (solid, water and gas) for 30 regions in China from 1996–2003. Data envelopment analysis (DEA) with a single output (real GDP) and five inputs (labour, real capital stock, solid wastes, waste water and waste gas) is used to compute the target wastes of each region for each year. The efficient abatement ratios of each region in each year are then obtained by comparing the actual waste to the actual waste of a pollutant. Our major findings are: 1. The east area contains the most efficient regions with respect to the three wastes in every year during the research period. 2. The east, central and west areas have 1996–2003 average target abatement ratios of solid wastes of 24.90%, 64.77% and 62.33%, of waste water 14.27%, 27.45% and 32.01%, and of waste gas 18.42%, 43.21% and 46.66%, respectively. 3. Because the central and west areas have similar critical problems on the three wastes, China is actually divided into two parts considering the three wastes. 4. Compared with the cases of waste water and gas, solid waste reduction is Chinas most urgent task.

Influence of uncertain demand on product variety: evidence from the international tourist hotel industry in Taiwan.

Hotels provide many different types of rooms in terms of capacity as well as quality to diversify their products. This paper examines the relationship of uncertain demand and product variety by using monthly operation data from international tourist hotels in Taiwan during 2007–2009. First, the authors apply the two-stage least squares (2SLS) and random-coefficients models to estimate the demand function in Taiwans international tourist hotel industry. They then examine the relationship between uncertain demand and product variety. The empirical results indicate that the markets uncertain demand significantly induces the hotels to expand their product variety.

An International Comparison of R&D Efficiency of Multiple Innovative Outputs: The Role of the National Innovation System

Abstract This paper compares research and development (R&D) efficiency across nations based on various output-oriented R&D efficiency indices that are developed by the data envelopment analysis approach. Empirical results show that nations have similar R & D efficiency in terms of patents and royalties, while their performance for journal publications is quite different. We then investigate how the innovation environment, especially in the national innovation system, affects these output-oriented R&D efficiency indices. R&D intensity, intellectual property rights protection, knowledge stock, and human capital accumulation all have significantly positive effects on efficiency indices. Private sector R&D, funded by either foreign sources or funded and poformed by private businesses, plays an important role in improving scores on the output-oriented R&D efficiency index for patents and for royalties and licensing fees. The R&D intensity performed by higher education institutions has a positive effect on the journal-oriented R&D efficiency index.

Environment-adjusted total-factor energy efficiency of Taiwan's service sectors

Abstract This study computes the pure technical efficiency (PTE) and energy-saving target of Taiwans service sectors during 2001–2008 by using the input-oriented data envelopment analysis (DEA) approach with the assumption of a variable returns-to-scale (VRS) situation. This paper further investigates the effects of industry characteristics on the energy-saving target by applying the four-stage DEA proposed by Fried et al. (1999). We also calculate the pre-adjusted and environment-adjusted total-factor energy efficiency (TFEE) scores in these service sectors. There are three inputs (labor, capital stock, and energy consumption) and a single output (real GDP) in the DEA model. The most energy efficient service sector is finance, insurance and real estate, which has an average TFEE of 0.994 and an environment-adjusted TFEE (EATFEE) of 0.807. The study utilizes the panel-data, random-effects Tobit regression model with the energy-saving target (EST) as the dependent variable. Those service industries with a larger GDP output have greater excess use of energy. The capital–labor ratio has a significantly positive effect while the time trend variable has a significantly negative impact on the EST, suggesting that future new capital investment should also be accompanied with energy-saving technology in the service sectors.

R&D Efficiency and the National Innovation System: An International Comparison Using the Distance Function Approach

This paper applies the distance function approach for stochastic frontier analysis (SFA) to compare research and development (R&D) efficiency across 24 nations during 1998–2005. In this multiple input–output framework, R&D expenditure stock and R&D manpower were inputs, while patents, scientific journal articles, and royalties and licensing fees (RLF) were outputs. Intellectual property rights protection, technological cooperation among business sectors, knowledge transfer between business sectors and higher education institutions, agglomeration of R&D facilities, and involvement of the government sector in R&D activities significantly improve national R&D efficiency.

Total-factor Energy Efficiency for Regions in Taiwan

Abstract This study applies data envelopment analysis (DEA) to compute the efficient energy-saving ratios for 23 administrative regions in Taiwan from 1999–2005. One output (total income) and seven inputs (local government expenditure, employment, processed trash, household and commercial electricity consumption, industrial electricity consumption, gasoline sales volume, and diesel sales volume) are considered in the DEA models. It is found that most of the 23 administrative regions do not efficiently use household and commercial electricity, industrial electricity, gasoline, and diesel, even with respect to Taiwans own efficiency frontier. Our results suggest that improving energy efficiency in household and commercial electricity use is a priority for non-metropolitan regions. There is still much room to improve the efficiency of electricity use for industries, especially for regions where manufacturing and high-tech industries concentrate, by means of cleaner production, energy-saving technology and equipment, etc. Motor vehicle energy efficiency is the key factor for saving gasoline. The energy efficiency of farming machines and carrying equipment should be continuously improved, especially for rural regions.

Ownership and production efficiency: Evidence from Taiwanese banks

In the early 1990s, Taiwan began her deregulation trend in order to enhance competition and economic efficiency across all industries. We derive a theoretical framework to predict possible rankings in technical efficiencies of public, mixed, and private banks. A panel data set with 43 Taiwanese banks during 1997–1999 is used for empirical analysis. We then apply a translog distance function to estimate technical efficiencies. The relationship between technical efficiency and government shareholding is also examined. Empirical results show that a public bank in Taiwan can improve its technical efficiency by mixed ownership at a diminishing rate. Moreover, banks in Taiwan on average performed worse after the 1997 Asian financial crisis.