Aggregate Industry Research Articles

Development of a mechanism for managing the level of investment in R&D of city-forming enterprises (by the example of the metallurgical industry)

The object of the study is investment in R&D of enterprises. The problem of developing a mechanism for managing the level of R&D investment at industrial enterprises has been solved. The results are obtained: – gradation of R&D investment levels at enterprises based on the application of the beta coefficient calculation methodology adapted to the R&D sphere; – distribution of city-forming enterprises of the metallurgical industry by R&D investment levels: high level – 27 % of surveyed enterprises, average – 18 %, low – 55 %, critical – 0 %; – development of a matrix based on the comparison of the level of R&D investment and the level of sales volumes of the enterprise's products calculated according to one algorithm. For each cell of the matrix, management decisions of strategic nature are proposed to increase the level of R&D investment. The results obtained are explained by the assumption of a linear relationship between the size of R&D investment of a particular enterprise over time and aggregate industry R&D investment (as a benchmark). The tendency of R&D investment growth in the industry, regularity of R&D investments of the surveyed enterprises were confirmed, time series of R&D investment both at the evaluated enterprise and in the industry as a whole were processed using trend smoothing. The features of the obtained results lie in the application of comparable coefficients (investments in R&D), as well as in the application of the developed assessment in the management of the enterprise. The practical significance of this study results is the possibility of applying the obtained conclusions and recommendations to increase the level of R&D investment of large industrial enterprises in the volume, scope and conditions corresponding to the developing economy

Logistics Service Recovery and Customer Retention in the Construction Aggregates Industry in Cross River State

Logistics Service Recovery and Customer Retention in the Construction Aggregates Industry in Cross River State

Energy Intensity Forecasting Models for Manufacturing Industries of “Catching Up” Economies: Lithuanian Case

The objective of this research was to construct energy intensity forecasting models for key manufacturing industries, with a particular focus on “catching up” European economies. Future energy intensity values serve as the foundation for energy demand forecasts, which are essential inputs for the analysis of countries’ decarbonisation scenarios. The Lithuanian case is analysed in the context of its efforts to reach the economic development level of the most advanced European Union (EU) countries. The scientific literature and energy policy analysis, interdependence (correlation and regression), tendency and case analysis, logical economic reasoning, and graphical representation methods have been applied. The energy intensity forecasts until 2050 were based on historical statistical data of value added and final energy consumption of EU countries from 2000 to 2021. The analysis of historical trends revealed a remarkable decrease in industrial energy intensity in most EU countries, including Lithuania. Given the rapid pace of decline in historical energy intensity, the values observed in individual Lithuanian industries have already reached levels comparable to the most economically advanced EU countries. Four econometric trendlines were employed to construct forecasting models for energy intensity. The results for Lithuania demonstrated that the selected trendlines exhibited a high degree of fit with historical energy intensity data from the EU, as evidenced by their R2 values. Furthermore, the forecasts were shown to be highly accurate, with their MAPEs remaining below 10% in most cases. Nevertheless, the logarithmic trendline was found to be the most accurate for forecasting energy intensity in total manufacturing (MAPE = 4.0%), non-metallic minerals (MAPE = 3.5%), and food, beverages, and tobacco (MAPE = 4.1%) industries, with the exponential trendline in the chemical industry (MAPE = 8.7%) and the moving average in the total manufacturing industry (MAPE = 4.0%), food industries (MAPE = 4.0%), and remaining aggregate industries (MAPE = 14.5%). It is forecasted that energy intensity could decline by 8 to 16% to 1.10–1.20 kWh/EUR in Lithuania’s manufacturing industries by 2050.

Estimating Market Power Exertion in the U.S. Beef Packing Industry: An Illustration of Data Aggregation Bias Using Simulated Data

This study investigates data aggregation bias in estimating market power in the U.S. beef packing industry using New Empirical Industrial Organization (NEIO) models and shows empirical procedures that can alleviate the bias. Unlike many earlier studies in estimating market power exertion, our study examines the data aggregation bias when market-level data are used in place of firm-level data and show how the bias could be reduced. We first derive data aggregation bias analytically, then empirically investigate the aggregation bias by estimating both firm and aggregate industry models. Because the firm-level data are not available, we use simulated data generated from the Monte Carlo simulation method. Hybrid models, combining limited firm-level data with aggregate data, are also estimated to illustrate how the aggregation bias could be reduced. Our results show that aggregate models with industry-level data tend to underestimate market power exertion in the U.S. beef packing industry, and the aggregation bias is statistically significant at the 1% level. Comparing results from hybrid models with firm-level estimates, we find that hybrid models reduce the bias but do not remove the aggregation bias significantly. The sensitivity analysis shows that market power estimate and aggregation bias are sensitive to functional forms.

Specifics of the implementation of key parameters for the systematization of PPP projects

The purpose of writing this paper is the theoretical substantiation of the thesis about the system of public-private partnership as an optimal tool for the development of energy efficiency of domestic production and its transfer to the innovative nature of development. When solving the problem of effective design of the mechanism of regulation of national and regional industrial markets in order to increase the resource efficiency of production activities and, as a result, increase the competitiveness of industrial enterprises, it is necessary to take into account the presence of significant sectoral heterogeneity of these markets. This heterogeneity is manifested not only in the existence of industries that perform different economic and production functions and, accordingly, perform various social functions, but also in the geographical space of the region. This means that in the process of forming the target set of management of the aggregate industry market, it is necessary to start from the existing sectoral and institutional specifics in the market. In this case, the specifics of the company are a combination of resources and the presence of goals that represent the embodiment of the strategic vision of the company's development by its management. In the structure of the institutions of the company's external environment, elements can be identified that exist independently of its functioning, on which it cannot have a significant impact, but which have a significant impact.

Development of production and environmental platforms for the European aggregates and minerals industries

Both quantification and communication of environmental impacts can create the foundation for improved sustainable production and decision-making. Without widespread information about site-specific environmental impacts, stakeholders cannot make a well-informed decision based on the local system boundaries. With organization-wide digital platforms, different aspects of production and management can be integrated and customized based on the organization's needs. This paper aims to give an overview of the development of three different process and environmental platforms, their purposes, system structure, system constraints and the applied framework. These respective platforms are being developed separately for the Swedish aggregates industry, the European aggregates industry and the European critical raw materials sector. The initial demonstrator can integrate site-specific information with a simulation-based allocation of resources and generate Life-Cycle Assessment and Environmental Product Declaration reports harmonized with the EN 15804 standard and the associated Product Category Rules.

Land transformation changes people´s values of ecosystem services in Las Vegas agrarian landscapes of Madrid Spain

Agrarian landscapes play a vital role in securing ecosystem services to people. These environments in central rural Spain are threatened by urban and industrial expansion, as expansion has and continues to cause the exile of young people to cities and rural abandonment. Land transformation in these environments not only alters the diversity of the services the ecosystems provide to people but may also change the values people hold on these landscapes. Incorporating people´s perceptions regarding trade-offs and synergies associated with land transformation is thus key for designing land use policies that mitigate these impacts. The general objective of this research is to explore whether the values that people attribute to land use and ecosystem service changes can inform land-related decision-making. To do so, we first 1) characterized and mapped major land use change trajectories that occurred for the 1990–2018 period, 2) assessed social perceptions regarding the impacts of land use change trajectories on ecosystem services, 3)explored the vulnerability level of ecosystem services, and 4) assessed the social importance of ecosystem services for the wellbeing of locals. From the results, we identified three major land use change trajectories, including agricultural abandonment, aggregate industry and agricultural intensification. The results identified that agricultural abandonment is generally perceived to negatively impact food from agriculture, soil fertility, and maintenance of the gene pool through local varieties. We also found that agricultural intensification is recognized as negatively impacting the gene pool through local varieties and soil fertility. Our findings indicate the need to study the impacts of land use changes beyond biophysical changes, and link them to changes in people´s values. We finally argue that this research will be crucial for identifying socially resilient pathways of European agricultural landscapes.

Flyrock Throw Calculations Unscientific and Unreliable – The “Hits” Just Keep on Coming

Flyrock is the dirty little secret of the aggregate industry and its explosives engineers, and they have been remarkably successful in concealing the potentially deadly consequences of flyrock from the public, while continuing to engage in reckless blasting practices based on theoretical guesswork rather than proven practical land use planning safeguards such as permanent (fixed) onsite setbacks (excavation limits) coupled with permanent offsite separation distances from existing and potential future sensitive land uses. Flyrock is an unavoidable by-product of blasting rock, and has the potential to damage personal or real property, injure, permanently disable or kill humans and non-humans, both onsite and offsite. Flyrock, along with other adverse effects such as vibrations, that leaves the boundaries of an aggregate operation, constitutes nuisance and trespass, and damage or injury caused by detonation of explosives, should be held to strict liability. Implementing proactive and forward-looking land use policies that safeguard existing and envisioned sensitive land uses from the potentially deadly consequences of detonation of explosives in aggregate extraction is the most effective way to protect the long-term health, safety and welfare of existing and future generations, and to avoid interfering with the use and enjoyment of third-party real property.

Improving the Characteristics of Less Active Geopolymer Binders Utilizing Ground Granulated Blast-Furnace Slag under Different Curing Conditions

In the current study, the influence of substitution of ground granulated blast-furnace slag (GGBFS) on the characteristics of less active geopolymer binders, including pumice and the waste material produced during the washing process of sand in aggregate industries (waste soil), is investigated. The aforementioned materials were examined individually and in hybrid form. In the hybrid mixes, less-active materials (pumice and the waste soil) were replaced with GGBFS at levels of 25%, 50%, and 75%. The evaluated properties consisted of compressive strength, modulus of rupture, sorptivity, rapid chloride ion migration coefficient, and the content of water absorption. Moreover, the effects of different curing conditions on the properties were investigated. The results indicate that partial replacement of the waste soil and pumice with GGBFS leads to enhanced durability and mechanical characteristics owing to the higher reactivity of GGBFS. The mixture denoted as P25S75 (with 75% GGBFS and 25% pumice) exhibited the best durability properties, surpassing even the S100 mixture (with 100% GGBFS). Substituting the waste soil with GGBFS had a greater enhancing effect compared to the mixtures containing the pumice mixes.

Potential use of weather derivatives in hedging aggregate viticulture yields: An analysis of the Niagara region of Canada

AbstractAlthough potentially useful for financially hedging systemic weather-related risks, weather contracts/derivatives (also referred to as parametric insurance) have not seen wide adoption in agriculture outside of applications in developing countries, frequently supported by governments and non-governmental organizations (NGOs). A significant impediment is the lack of financial firms willing to stand ready to sell weather derivatives to individual agricultural producers in the over-the-counter market who, due to the localized nature of weather, face idiosyncratic weather-related risks. In particular, the administrative and reinsurance costs of supplying relatively small contracts with specific terms to many different producers are often prohibitive. The current study considers the potential use of weather derivatives in hedging the aggregate yield/revenues of viticulture producers represented by an industry association located in the province of Ontario, Canada. We examine the sensitivity of aggregate industry yields to several relevant weather-related risks employing copula function analysis. We then consider the potential of a weather derivative in hedging the financial risk associated with cold winter temperatures, which pose the greatest risk to aggregate vinifera yields. The issue of attributing costs and payouts to individual association members remains unresolved, and several alternatives are suggested.

Adverse Effects: Thirteen Homeowners Near A Blasting Quarry Bought Out By Quarry Owner

In Ontario, a blasting quarry operation, once established, is allowed to effectively operate indefinitely, as a licence to permit aggregate extraction has no expiry date. Once established, the prospect of terminating a quarry operator’s licence is virtually non-existent, regardless of the nature or number of site plan and quarry violations or adverse impacts (e.g., flyrock, noise, toxic fumes, fugitive dust, vibrations, drain or damage domestic wells), all due to a lack of effective government oversight (e.g., government staff shortage exacerbated by allowing self-reporting of the aggregate industry). Before a blasting or non-blasting quarry operation is permitted, the owner of the quarry should be compelled to purchase potentially impacted properties, provided that in doing so the environmental impact is reduced to a “trivial” level and the surrounding community is not destabilized. Otherwise, once a quarry is operational, the only remedy available to the municipality and impacted property owners is to launch a civil action at considerable time and expense, a process that can drag on for years with no guarantee of success. Sometimes, a quarry operator will voluntarily commit to purchase adversely impacted properties, but sometimes the acquisitions are undertaken surreptitiously, and require the property owner to sign a non-disclosure agreement. This case study pertains to a number of adversely effected homeowners whose homes were bought out by the owners of the Acton Quarry in Halton Hills, Ontario. They concealed their true identity through the use of numbered companies and one with the delightful sounding name (Snowfarm Ltd.) when purchasing the houses and in the process destabilized the community.

Reflections on technological progress in the agri‐food industry: Past, present, and future

AbstractTechnological advances—for example, from hand milking to robotic milking—are at the heart of economic transformation and have significantly shaped the agri‐food industry and economic growth throughout history. A look at the lead article of the first issue (and the first volume, 1952) of theCanadian Journal of Agricultural Economics(CJAE) 70 years ago reveals an ongoing inquiry within the discipline about how technological progress has shaped how we manage our farms with the implications on aggregate industry productivity and food prices. The topics discussed along these lines in the first issue of the CJAE are still relevant today—for example, challenges with measuring productivity and innovation, diffusion of innovation, technological unemployment, demand for skilled workers, financing innovations, climate change and food security. Science, technology, and innovation for the 21st century hold the potential to foster resilient and sustainable intensification of farm production and productivity growth for the agri‐food industry. In this address, I reflect on the past, present, and future impacts of technological innovations and productivity growth on the agri‐food industry and discuss the implications for future research, welfare, and policy.

Competition, reallocation, and growth: Theory and evidence from Africa

This paper investigates whether economic policy facilitates output growth by exploring the role of competition. We present a growth model with heterogeneous firms in which exposure to competition induces reallocation of market shares from less productive to more productive firms and forces the least productive firms to exit the industry. Confronted by a competition threat, incumbent firms choose either upgrading their products or bribing a policymaker in order to prevent entry by potential competitors. Product upgrading is less profitable than bribing for low-productivity firms but more profitable for high-productivity firms. Reallocation of market shares to more productive firms leads to higher aggregate industry productivity. Testing this prediction of the model using a generalized difference-in-differences approach and production data that cover 23 manufacturing industries and 34 African countries, we found that industries that upgrade more grow disproportionately faster in countries where competition policy is more intensive.

Preventing the Potentially Deadly Consequences of Flyrock: Mandatory Minimum Setbacks and Separation Distances Required

Detonation of explosives is the principal method used in extracting rock in a quarry operation, and leads to a number of adverse effects on the environment and its inhabitants. The engineers associated with aggregate industry and its explosives have been remarkably successful in concealing from the public, including land use planners, mortgage lenders, real estate brokers, real estate appraisers, etc., the existence and danger of flyrock, which is the ultimate adverse effect of a blasting quarry operation, and a significant health and safety issue. Flyrock is an unavoidable and unpredictable by-product of blasting rock, and because of the way in which flyrock is defined or characterized varies from jurisdiction to jurisdiction the incidence or frequency of flyrock is understated and underreported. Flyrock has the potential to damage personal and real property, and to injure, disable permanently or kill human and non-human life. The purpose of this research paper is to create public awareness of flyrock, to dispel the notion that flyrock can be eliminated by the use of empirical formulae, and to support the argument that the only effective remedy to protect the environment and health and safety of onsite quarry employees and offsite third parties is by way of permanent onsite setbacks and offsite separation distances.

A re‐examination of the US insurance market's capacity to pay catastrophe losses

AbstractCummins, Doherty, and Lo (2002) present a theoretical and empirical analysis of the capacity of the property liability insurance industry in the US to finance catastrophic losses. In their theoretical analysis, they show that a sufficient condition for capacity maximization is for all insurers to hold a net of reinsurance underwriting portfolio that is perfectly correlated with aggregate industry losses. Estimating capacity from insurers' financial statement data, they find that the US insurance industry could adequately fund a $100 billion event in 1997. As a matter of comparison, Hurricane Katrina in 2005 cost the insurance industry $40 to $65 billion (2005 dollars). Our main objective is to update the study of Cummins et al. (2002) with new data available up to the end of 2020. We verify how the insurance market's capacity has evolved over recent years. We show that the US insurance industry's capacity to pay catastrophe losses is higher in 2020 than it was in 1997. Insurers could pay 98% of a $200 billion loss in 2020, compared to 81% in 1997.

Antitrust Reform and the Nirvana Fallacy: The Case Against a New Sherman Act

Demands for major antitrust reform are coming from all directions: politicians, industrial organization (IO) economists, and antitrust lawyers. While the political, legal, and economic debates vary in important ways, they all boil down to a single question: Do we need a “New” Sherman Act? Progressive IO economists argue that a “crisis” of competition in markets—evidenced by increasing levels of aggregate industry concentration—has resulted in systematic market power across the economy, and that a crisis of institutional credibility in the courts has biased antitrust law in favor of defendants. However, as this Article illustrates, the economic and empirical evidence support neither proffer. Rather than reform based on upon evidence of market failure or a failure of antitrust institutions, Progressive IO economists call for reform based upon the nirvana fallacy—a comparison of the today’s institutions with an imaginary set of perfect institutions guided by omniscient and well-intending economists. But economics is not on the agenda of current proposals for antitrust reform and calls for a “New” Sherman Act threaten to upend the long-standing partnership between law and economics on which the consumer welfare standard is predicated. Without such a partnership, antitrust institutions will struggle to achieve their objective of promoting competition on behalf of Americans.

Oil Price Fluctuation and Their Impact on Indonesia Manufacturing Industry

This study analyzes the effect of crude oil price fluctuations using the model approach of Fukunaga et al (2009) where crude oil price fluctuations are influenced by several components such as oil supply shocks, global demand shocks, and oil-specific demand shocks. Then analyze the effect of each component on the aggregate industry production index, food, beverage and tobacco industry production index, chemical and goods from chemical raw materials, petroleum, rubber and plastic industry production index, metal, non-machinery and equipment production index. The research method is VAR in difference and the analysis methods are Granger causality test, Impulse Response Function (IRF), and Forecast Error Variance Decomposition (FEVD). Global demand shocks and oil-specific demand shocks have a significant and positive effect on crude oil prices, while oil supply shocks have no significant effect. Oil-specific demand shocks have a significant effect on aggregate industry production index variables, while oil supply shocks and global demand shocks have no significant effect. The decomposition variables of oil price fluctuations, namely oil supply shocks, global demand shocks, oil-specific demand shocks, have no significant effect on the food, beverage and tobacco industry production index chemical and goods from chemical raw materials, petroleum, rubber and plastic industry production index, metal, non-machinery and equipment production index of metal, non-machinery and equipment.

Impact of the ATC on the performance and productivity of Indian apparel manufacturing

PurposeThis paper aims to study the productivity growth in the Indian apparel industry in aggregate over the period 1995–2015 and compare the performance of the Indian apparel industry during the decade of the Agreement on Textiles and Clothing (ATC) and the decade post its expiry.Design/methodology/approachThe aggregate productivity performance has been studied using the technique of growth accounting and the translog index. A comparison of industry performance has also been made by analysing data. The data has been collated from Annual Survey of Industries reports, CMIE Economic Outlook and CMIE Industry Outlook databases.FindingsThe apparel industry has seen significant growth in terms of all industry variables and exports. However, the growth in exports is much lower than the growth in other industry variables related to output and input. While there is productivity improvement in aggregate over the study period, the quantum is low. Total factor productivity growth is positive and higher for the period post the ATC.Originality/valueTo the best of the author’s knowledge, there has been no such recent study comparing performance and productivity in Indian apparel manufacturing during and after the expiry of the ATC.

EFFECT OF RISK AND MARKET COMPETITION ON EFFICIENCY OF COMMERCIAL BANKS: DOES OWNERSHIP MATTER

Purpose– This study aims to investigates the impact of risk and market competition on the efficiency of Bangladeshi commercial banks, having an special effect of ownership. Methodology– We select 43 commercial banks out of 61, adjusting outliers and missing data from 2000-2019. The two-step Generalize Methods of Momemts (GMM) opt for to investigate unbalanced dynamic panel data of 666 obsevations. Unit root, multicolinerity, and other prediagnostic tests support our selected method of investigation. Findings– The two-step Generalize Methods of Moments (GMM) reveals that the impact of risk, stability, and market competition has a homogeneous effect on cost and human capital efficiency in Aggregate industry, Conventional, and Private banks’ data. With the increase of risk (stability), the efficiency of banks increases (decreases); having an exception, the human capital efficiency of private banks decreases with risk-taking. However, market competition depicts the inverse association with the efficiency of Commercial banks, Conventional banks, and Private banks. Conclusion– The nonlinear and quadratic effect of risk and market competition on different ownership of banks is also found valid in the Bangladeshi banking industry. Finally, the reaction of Islamic and Public banks asserts the opposite response to Conventional and Private banks, respectively. Keywords: Efficiency, ownership, market competition, GMM estimators. JEL Codes: D61, G21, C20

Decomposition of Output, Productivity and Market Structure Changes

Building on the recent development in the literature on production function identification and decomposition methods, in this paper we examine the sources of output and productivity growth in China’s manufacturing industries from 1998 to 2007 using firm-level data. We first decompose the industry output growth into contributions stemming from the growth of the surviving firms and market dynamics, and then further decompose the former into the input factor deepening and firm productivity growth. To accommodate heterogeneity across firms in terms of production technology and sources of growth, we consider a nonparametric production function and decompose firm output growth at both the mean and different quantiles of the output distribution. Nonparametric estimation techniques and recentered influence functions are used to facilitate our decomposition. In addition, we decompose the aggregate industry productivity growth into three sources, viz., survivors’ productivity growth, market dynamics, and reallocation of market shares. Given the market-oriented economic reforms undergoing in China during our sample period, contributions to aggregate productivity coming from dynamic ownership changes are also examined.