Economic Production Function Research Articles

Assessing Land Use Ecological-Social-Production Functions and Interrelationships from the Perspective of Multifunctional Landscape in a Transitional Zone between Qinghai-Tibet Plateau and Loess Plateau

Investigating the evolution and drivers of multifunctional land use is essential for sustainable land management and regional biological conservation. This research focuses on the Hehuang Valley, where we developed an “ecological-social-production” evaluation system for assessing land use multifunctionality from the perspective of multifunctional landscape. Leveraging Geographic Information System technologies, we conducted a quantitative analysis of spatiotemporal variations in multifunctional land use across the valley in recently twenty years. Correlation coefficients were employed to identify trade-offs and synergies among various land use functions. Additionally, geographical detector and grey relational analysis models were utilized to pinpoint the factors influencing spatiotemporal changes in land use functions during the specified period. The results showed that: (1) During the period, the overall multifunctionality of land use in the Hehuang Valley exhibited an increasing trend. The economic production function of the land showed the highest growth, while the ecological and social functions showed lower growth. (2) In most areas of the Hehuang Valley, there was a positive correlation between social and economic production functions and a negative correlation between social and ecological functions, as well as between economic production and ecological functions. (3) Natural conditions were the main factors of spatial variation of land use comprehensive functions, but human factors, including land use intensity and the rate of farmland conversion to non-agricultural uses, were the primary drivers of temporal changes in multifunctional land use. The findings provide valuable references and scientific support for policymakers in optimizing land use and multifunctional landscape conservation.

Optimizing Process-Improvement Efforts for Supply Chain Operations under Disruptions: New Structural Results

Rampant disruptions have probed the fragility of supply chains: Renewed perspectives and comprehensive operational models are needed to enhance resiliency and sustainability in business. This paper proposes a new inventory management model that explicitly integrates process improvement efforts to improve supply chain sustainability through the better use of capital (materials, assets, and technology) and labor (workforce and know-how). Under a desired service-level constraint, we study reducing setup (fixed) costs when they are expressed in terms of economic production functions of two (input) decision variables: the level of capital (e.g., process change, and technology investments) and the level of labor required. This research is motivated by lean manufacturing practices, which rely on shaping the operating environment and operating optimally within that business environment. Based on mathematical modeling and analysis, we provide closed-form optimality expressions and structural results that lend themselves to decision insights. In particular, we provide, along with illustrative numerical examples, results on the sensitivity of setup-reduction efforts to demand rates, variability, and explicit expressions for determining the required labor and capital resources. A generalization of the model for carbon emissions is also presented.

ІДЕНТИФІКАЦІЯ КАТЕГОРІЇ «ЦИФРОВА ЕКОНОМІКА» В ТЕОРЕТИЧНІЙ ТА ПРИКЛАДНІЙ ЕКОНОМІЦІ

The article deals with the scientific problem of clarifying the content of the concept of "digital economy". According to the authors, this problem is relevant for the theory of the digital economy, since its solution contributes to the formation of the theory's conceptual apparatus. It (the problem) is also relevant for improving the practice of public management of the economy, as it contributes to the correct assessment of the object of management, which is the digital economy. The purpose of the study is to justify the scientific tools, which would make it possible to get rid of a certain "blurring" of the concept of "digital economy", recognized by many researchers. The final goal of the study is to achieve a more accurate and concrete identification of the concept of "digital economy" for its relevant application in solving applied management and economic development tasks. To achieve the specified goal, a set of research methods with the tools inherent in these methods is applied, namely: sectoral models of economic analysis and production functions for individual sectors, identification of the core and so-called "belts" of technological changes in the digital economy, evaluation based on economic multipliers, comparative analysis the level of digital development of countries according to indicators of the contribution of certain sectors to the created GDP of countries. The application of the mentioned methods and the corresponding tools of analysis gave grounds for such identification of the digital economy. The digital economy is part of the national economy, which is formed in the process of interconnected movement of resources and products of three sub-sectors. Such sub-sectors are the "technological core" in the form of the ICT sector, the "consumer e-belt" sector and the "public administration infrastructure" sector, which is directly related to the creation of an enabling environment for the ICT sector and the "consumer e-belt ". The general type of production functions of each of the three sub-sectors of the digital economy is determined. Reasoned feasibility of quantitative identification of the digital economy using a set of indicators that reflect: the share of the digital economy in the GDP of the country, the share of the ICT sector in the GDP, the multiplier effect on the entire economy of the digital economy itself and its ICT sector (mde, mIKT/de, mIKT/Y).

Institutions governance is critical to economic success: Evidence from Tanzania’s economic growth

Economic performance is considered the fundamental cause of economic growth. Economic performance affects economic growth through the allocation of resources like physical and human capital. Unfortunately, there are few empirical studies showing institutions’ impact on Economic growth in Tanzania. This study aimed to examine the causal relationship between institutions and economic growth by focusing on the evidence from Tanzania Economic growth. More specifically, the study established the state or characteristics of key components of governance in economic production function of Tanzania. This is a time series study using econometric estimation to give empirical contents of the relationship between governance institutions and economic growth. Estimation techniques deployed to analyze the data were Regression approach within Ordinary Least Square (OLS), generalized Auto Regressive Distributed Lag (ARDL) and Error Correction Model (ECM) process. The results revealed that a causal relationship of institutions has a positive and significant impact on economic growth in Tanzania. The study recommends that components of governance since are critical to economic growth should be emphasized to the public institutions for raising better performance in the country. Therefore, the study concludes that institutional quality may lead to a sustainable increase in country’s income in the long run, and at the same time, success of any policy could be influenced by the soundness of institutions.

Roots of Ecosystem Services from Economics

The consequence of human action on environmental resources was noticed by ancient thinkers like Plato. Modern concern for natural resources started with the publication of Marsh’s book Man and Nature in 1864 where he pointed out that natural resources are not infinite. Nature always remained at a core position in economic analysis. During pre-classical period, physiocrats believed that nature was the primary source of value. Classical economists like Ricardo, Malthus, Mill, put nature as an important determinant in their theories. But classical economists concentrated only to the use values, neglecting their exchange values. The writings of Marx are also rich in ecological hints. Rise of neoclassical economists brought about a change in economic analysis. Emphasis was shifted from use value to exchange value. By 1930s scope of economic analysis was restricted to the factors that command price. Gradually, natural resources completely disappeared from economic production function. Economists started to believe that natural resources can substituted for manufactured capital. During that period, non-marketed ecosystem services were kept outside the scope of economic analysis. The advent of environmentalists during the second half of 20th century opened the door for non-marketed services to be incorporated in economic analysis. For this purpose, they devised various tools like market value approaches, revealed preference approaches and stated preference approaches. Present paper will give an account of the trend of environmental concern in economic analysis.

Народнохозяйственная производственная функция России с учетом инфраструктуры в 1990-2020 гг.

In the period 1990-2020, the econometric methods were used to study the national economic production function of Russia, one of the arguments of which is the transport and communication infrastructure represented by the main funds of transport and communications. The results of the study indicate a continuing decline in the elasticity of Russia's GDP in transport and communication infrastructure in 2020 at a lower rate than in previous years. The dynamics of the marginal rate of technological substitution of production factors in 2009-2020 is researched. Among the main reasons for the decline in the elasticity of GDP for transport and communication infrastructure, the economic downturn and a decrease in the volume of capital investments in transport and communication industries were highlighted. It is noted that the spread of the Wuhan coronavirus in Russia has somewhat slowed down the rate of decline in the elasticity of GDP in infrastructure due to the sharply increased role of its communication component. For the successful implementation of the policy of advanced infrastructure development announced by the President of Russia, it is necessary not only to increase the volume of investments in infrastructure bottlenecks, but also to adopt an additional set of measures aimed at stimulating economic growth, among which, in the conditions of sharply increased foreign economic and foreign policy restrictions for Russia from our Western and overseas neighbors in 2022. it is possible to highlight the weakening of the centuries-old dependence of the Russian economy on raw materials and, as academician S.Yu. Glazyev, the transition of our country's economy to a new technological order.

HOW DO ADAPTATION OPTIONS TO CLIMATE CHANGE, RISK PREFERENCES AND SOCIAL CAPITAL AFFECT TECHNICAL EFFICIENCY OF SMALL VINEYARD FARMERS IN CENTRAL CHILE?

Climate change can be seen as a shock that decreases the value of economic activities and production functions. Therefore, this study estimates technical efficiency as an integrated approach with risk preferences and social capital for small vineyard farmers who have adapted to climate change, because empirical evidence shows the key role of adaptation, risk preferences and social capital related to technical efficiency on a one-to-one basis, but not as overarching analysis. This study took place in the O’Higgins and Maule regions of central Chile, data were collected through a field experiment and an exit survey from September to December 2016. Specifically, we conducted an artefactual field experiment to elicit risk preferences from 175 small vineyard farmers; we used the midpoint method to estimate the Cumulative Prospect Theory (CPT) parameters, which indicate vineyard farmers are risk averse, sensitive to losses, and tend to distort probabilities. Then we applied a stochastic frontier analysis on the main variety area of vineyards. Results showed that the influence of capital (0.55) and number of vines (0.32) is higher enough; whereas, labor (0.13) and intermediate inputs (0.11) are also important but relatively low. The scale elasticity is 1.11, showing a Constant Returns to Scale (CRS). On average, technical efficiency was 0.73, which means that farmers could improve their performance by 27%. Additionally, results suggest that experience and education positively influence the technical efficiency, contrary to age, gender, region and density; whereas, access to extension services and irrigation increases efficiency. Also, general trust and membership in farmer organizations increases efficiency; and, as we expected, risk aversion and probability weighting decreases efficiency. In this regard, it is necessary to design policies and strategies focused on facilitate accessibility to exchangeable inputs; in the promotion of extension services with greater action area; facilitate access to irrigation through subsidies and credits; improve trust in programs and networks; develop cooperative enterprises or local and horizontal organizations to share information and services from farmer to farmer; and also generate action plans to promote a better risk and loss behavior in order to seize technological and economic opportunities and not overestimate extreme events.

An eco-Marxist reinterpretation of formal abstraction in Ecological Economics

An eco-Marxist reinterpretation of formal abstraction in Ecological Economics

Estimating the Scoring Output of National Football League Teams During a Season Using Economic Production Functions

Estimating the Scoring Output of National Football League Teams During a Season Using Economic Production Functions

Application of duality theory to solve two-criteria problem of linear programming for ecological-economic system

In the paper, we investigate two-criterion optimization problem: maximization of one target function and minimization of another target function. To solve the offered two-criterion problem, the method of the main criterion is applied. We consider the problem of production activity of the ecological-economic system with the maximization of the value of the final product as the first target function and the minimization of emissions of polluters into the environment as the second target function. We constructed of two production functions (economic and ecological). To construct the economic production function, we select maximal producing of the final products in a costing form as the most essential (main) criterion. Also, there is introduced the appropriate data of the criterion level total volume of emissions of polluters into the environment. After this two-criteria problem is reduced to one-criteria problem. For the construction of ecological production function, the main criterion in the problem of the minimal general volume of emissions of polluters into the environment is defined. We use a parameter of the criterion level of the second criterion and obtained one-criterion problem. Therefore, investigation of the appropriate dual problems explicitly provides economic and ecological production functions to the deduced one-criterion problems. These functions in input two-criterion problem give way to optimal manage of ecological-economic system.

Polarity of the Regional Space – the Dilemma of Shaping the Investment Attractiveness of Poland

This study aims to show how the polarisation of the economic space can modify the investment attractiveness of the regional space. A thesis has been put forward that the polarisation of the economic space affects the investment attractiveness of the regional space by strengthening the polarising power of the regions with the highest investment attractiveness. This study uses the results of the parameterisation of investment attractiveness of Polish regions for 2015 by gmina; it also identifies growth poles in four five-year time periods: 2008–2012, 2009–2013, 2010–2014, and 2011–2015. The study shows that the permanent growth poles are created at a distance of several dozen kilometres from large cities. It indicates the depletion of development reserves of large and medium-sized cities, especially those with extensive space management. Smaller centres are gaining location attractiveness, especially those located in the vicinity of communication routes, where access to investment areas and lower costs of running a business attract investors. Special economic zones are also located in such places. The poles and their clusters usually form large agglomerations and industrial centres in the development phase. They are usually places with high investment attractiveness, adjusted by management decisions of large enterprises, local government units and the state government. The polarisation of the economic space affects the increase of the investment attractiveness of the regions, strengthening the succession of economic production and service functions in special economic zones. Investments in road infrastructure and revitalisation processes supported by special economic zones are essential.

A Nonparametric Economic Analysis of the US Natural Gas Transmission Infrastructure: Efficiency, Trade-Offs and Emerging Industry Configurations

This paper presents a study aimed at measuring the efficiency of the transmission segment of the US natural gas industry from an economic perspective. The gas transmission infrastructure is modeled as an economic production function and a multi-stage modeling approach based on the implementation of Data Envelopment Analysis is employed to obtain an efficiency measure in a two-dimension performance space, i.e., cost and revenue-efficiency. This approach allows taking into account conflicting business goals. The study also performs cluster analysis to uncover homogeneous efficiency profiles relative to the gas transmission systems to explore determinants of efficiency rates, and trade-off situations. A sample containing 80 US gas transmission systems is used in the analysis. Results indicate that the transmission segment of the US gas industry has considerable inefficiencies, while average cost and revenue-efficiency scores are 0.324 and 0.301, and only three transmission systems achieve high scores on both efficiency dimensions. Cluster analysis identified seven configurations. In three of them there are no trade-off situations between cost and revenue efficiencies. However, only in one of them gas transmission systems have high efficiencies. The remaining four configurations exhibit trade-off situations having different intensity. Such trade-offs can be determined by the gas transmission infrastructure size.

AN ECONOMIC ANALYSIS OF BARLEY PRODUCTION FUNCTIONS IN WASIT PROVINCE FOR 2014

The production function of the important methods in the analysis in the components of the production process , by it can be identified the increasing in production for a given amount of resources , there for the objective of search analysis economic production functions of barley crop and knowing nature of the relationship between the factors , to fulfill the requirements of the research we are collected questionnaire from 130 farmers from crop farmers in Wasit province . We estimated by using Cobb-Douglas production function production function and restricted Cobb-Douglas. The results showed that the capital is the most influential factor in the production of barley since raised by 1% will increase production by 0.43% in a Cobb-Douglas function because the capital increase means increasing the technology used , and the factors use fall in the second stage and functions are subject to diminishing returns to scale and ealasticity replacement amounting to 0.76 indicates to the inability to intensity labour to the capital account G.Tintner test pointed to the superiority of the Cobb-Douglas unrestricted model . Also estimated the TL production function according to the random border analysis using the Frontier program , and in a way of the greatest possible ML which shows that if we increased employment by 1% , the production will increase by 0.33 and cross elasticity between labour and capital , amounting to 0.16 has shown to replacement relationship the two factors and technical effeciency at the level of the sample averaged 90% and there was no apparent effect of the acquisition . The research recommended encourage farmers to adopt improved varieties and use of resources packages with high productivity and try to stimulate the demand side of attention to livestock.

Oil Extraction, Economic Growth, and Oil Price Dynamics

We use economic production function theory and an empirical model of oil prices based only on oil extraction data to analyze the dynamics of the economy and oil prices as we transition into the contraction phase of oil extraction. We explore the implications with respect to several common scenarios. We find that price feedback cycles which lead to increased production during the growth phase of oil extraction go into reverse in the contraction phase of oil extraction speeding decline.

Comparison of Machine Learning methods applied to the estimation of manufacturing cost of jet engine components

This paper compares the performance of five statistical models on the estimation of manufacturing cost of jet engine components, during the early design phase and using real industrial data. The analysis shows that recent techniques such as Gradient Boosted Trees and Support Vector Regression are up to two times more efficient than the ones typically encountered in the literature (Multiple Linear Regression and Artificial Neural Networks). If goodness-of-fit and predictive accuracy remain crucial to assess the performance of a model, other criteria such as computational cost, easiness to train or interpretability should be considered when selecting a statistical method for estimating the manufacturing cost of mechanical parts. Ideally, cost estimators should rely on several statistical models concurrently, as their distinct characteristics yield complementary views on the drivers of manufacturing cost. Finally, some engineering insights revealed by the statistical analysis are presented. They include the ranking and quantification of the most important cost drivers, the approximation of the economic production function of component cost according to accumulated production volume and a different view on the traditional breakdown of manufacturing cost of some jet engine components. As a conclusion, Machine Learning appears to be an effective, affordable, accurate and scalable technique to cost mechanical parts in the early stage of the design process.

Relationships between ecological infrastructure and the economy: The case of a fishery

The Millennium Ecosystem Assessment identified the regulating services as amongst the least understood but potentially most valuable services offered by ecosystems. This lack of understanding of regulating services has been a major reason for the overexploitation and degradation of ecosystems. The value of regulating services is best determined through an economic production function approach, which derives the value of regulating services as intermediate inputs into other economic goods and services. We used existing scientific knowledge and data sourced from existing scientific databases and studies to develop and demonstrate empirical production functions that measure relationships between ecological infrastructure and the economy in fisheries in KwaZulu-Natal, along the east coast of South Africa. We applied econometric analyses – a technique that allows for evidence-based analysis of observed data, based on existing scientific knowledge. Our work demonstrates that existing scientific databases may contain useful evidence of relationships between ecological infrastructure and the economy, and that decisions need not always wait for the results of controlled experiments.

Emergy evaluations of the global biogeochemical cycles of six biologically active elements and two compounds

Estimates of the emergy carried by the flows of biologically active elements (BAE) and compounds are needed to accurately evaluate the near and far-field effects of anthropogenic wastes. The transformities and specific emergies of these elements and of their different chemical species are also needed to quantify the inputs to many ecological and economic production functions. In this study, we performed emergy evaluations of the global biogeochemical cycles of the BAE, carbon, C, nitrogen, N, sulfur, S, phosphorus, P, oxygen, O2 and silica, Si, as well as the global cycles of two compounds (+2), methane, CH4 and water, H2O. We assembled budgets for the global flows of the “BAE+2” from the literature for the Preindustrial Era and the Industrial Age. The emergy basis for these elemental flows was obtained by documenting the global inflows of renewable and nonrenewable emergy for the Preindustrial Era (i.e., circa 1850) and for the Industrial Age. The nonrenewable emergy inputs in the Industrial Age were documented using a variable time window corresponding to the period of observation when the different elemental budgets were evaluated. We calculated specific emergies and some transformities of the total flows of the elements and of some of their chemical species. The elemental cycles were diagrammed in Energy Systems Language (ESL) and tables of specific emergies are provided for use in subsequent emergy evaluations. The accuracy of evaluating the global cycles of the BAE+2 at intermediate complexity was assessed by comparison to the results of an earlier detailed analysis of the global N cycle. Joint evaluation of the BAE+2 allowed us to examine these elemental cycles with respect to commonalities and differences in their structure, function, and potential impacts of their perturbations on the global ecosystem. We characterize the coupling of the BAE in terms of a fast biogeochemical loop and a slow geochemical loop, an insight which emerged from the process of diagramming the nitrogen cycle in ESL. Finally, we compared our emergy evaluation results to other means of ranking greenhouse gases (GHGs) and other wastes and developed specific recommendations that more research and management attention should be focused on N2O, S and CH4, while continuing present efforts to better understand and manage CO2 and reactive N.

Redefining Sustainable Investing: A 'Next Economy' Model Approach

The need for transition to indefinitely sustainable macro economic production functions and the attendant required evolution of modern portfolio theory are discussed. A new, 'next economy' methodology is proposed to practically apply modern realities to portfolios in meaningful ways. Existing yet insufficient attempts to modify portfolio theory to address climate and resource concerns are discussed. Next economy sector classification is discussed.

Econometric analysis of fire suppression production functions for large wildland fires

In this paper, we use operational data collected for large wildland fires to estimate the parameters of economic production functions that relate the rate of fireline construction with the level of fire suppression inputs (handcrews, dozers, engines and helicopters). These parameter estimates are then used to evaluate whether the productivity of fire suppression inputs during extensive fire suppression efforts are similar to productivity estimates derived from direct observation and used as standard rates by the US Forest Service. The results indicated that the production rates estimated with operational data ranged from ~14 to 93% of the standard rates. Further, the econometric models indicated that the productivity of all inputs taken together increases more than proportionally as their use is increased. This result may indicate economies of scale in fire suppression or, alternatively, that fire managers learn how resources may be deployed more productively over the course of a fire. We suspect that the identified productivity gaps are primarily due to unobserved factors related to fire behaviour, other resources at risk, firefighter fatigue, safety considerations and managerial decision-making. The collection of more precise operational data could help reduce uncertainty regarding the relative importance of factors that contribute to productivity shortfalls.

Linking effort and fishing mortality in a mixed fisheries model: Comparing linear versus non-linear assumptions

Since the implementation of the Common Fisheries Policy of the European Union in 1983, the management of EU fisheries has been enormously challenging. The abundance of many fish stocks has declined because too much fishing capacity has been utilised on healthy fish stocks. Today, this decline in fish stocks has led to overcapacity in many fisheries, leading to incentives for overfishing. Recent research has shown that the allocation of effort among fleets can play an important role in mitigating overfishing when the targeting covers a range of species (multi-species—i.e., so-called mixed fisheries), while simultaneously optimising the overall economic performance of the fleets. The so-called FcubEcon model, in particular, has elucidated both the biologically and economically optimal method for allocating catches—and thus effort—between fishing fleets, while ensuring that the quotas are not exceeded. Until now, the FcubEcon modelling approach has assumed that there is a simplified linear relationship between effort and fishing mortality. The present study introduces an extension of the FcubEcon model, the so-called SOMER model, that allows this relationship to be non-linear by linking the biological catch equation with the economic production function. Furthermore, the SOMER model relaxes the assumption of the joint production of fishing metiers, unique and separately defined sub-fleets, to allow for more detail regarding the flexibility to target specific groups of species. Thereby, the SOMER model enables the managers to assess the alternative management scenarios more accurately than the existing models.