Efficient Reallocation Research Articles

COVID-19 Impact on SMEs in Bangladesh: An Investigation of What They Are Experiencing and How They Are Managing?

Purpose: It is too early to make judgments referring to COVID-19 impressions on various aspects of the economy. However, SMEs in Bangladesh have already been experiencing the devastating and ruthless impact as such the motivation of the study to develop insight relating to what is experiencing by SMEs and how they are managing. Methodology– This study used a descriptive analysis method of primary and secondary data obtained directly both from field survey and from various publication sources Findings: These study findings might assist in formulating the strategic decision focusing on SME's revival and regrowth after the pandemic become stable. Study findings also utterly established the fact i.e. government should invest considerable effects for mobilization and efficient reallocation of resources through collaboration of both Banks and nonbanks financial instructions. Else, unemployment, decline growth speed, and social insecurity might appear and prevail in the long run. Research limitations – This study is focused on the Dhaka city area during the Covid-19 pandemic outbreak with a policy of social distancing and physical distancing. Originality– This is the first study of exploring and investigating the effects of the current pandemic on SMEs concentrating on Dhaka city. It is noteworthy that SMEs in Bangladesh is predominantly located in the major city area, Dhaka is one of them.

Digital technology diffusion: A matter of capabilities, incentives or both?

Insufficient diffusion of new technologies has been quoted as one possible reason for weak productivity performance over the past two decades (Andrews et al., 2016). This paper uses a novel data set of digital technology usage covering 25 industries in 25 European countries over the 2010-16 period to explore the drivers of digital adoption across two broad sets of digital technologies by firms, cloud computing and back or front office integration. The focus is on structural and policy factors affecting firms’ capabilities and incentives to adopt -- including the availability of enabling infrastructures (such as high-speed broadband internet), managerial quality and workers skills, and product, labour and financial market settings. We identify the effects of structural and policy factors based on the difference-in-difference approach pioneered by Rajan and Zingales (1998) and show that a number of these factors are statistically and economically significant for technology adoption. Specifically, we find strong support for the hypothesis that low managerial quality, lack of ICT skills and poor matching of workers to jobs curb digital technology adoption and hence the rate of diffusion. Similarly our evidence suggests that policies affecting market incentives are important for adoption, especially those relevant for market access, competition and efficient reallocation of labour and capital. Finally, we show that there are important complementarities between the two sets of factors, with market incentives reinforcing the positive effects of enhancements in firm capabilities on adoption of digital technologies

Human Development, Political Stability and Economic Growth: The way forward

Economic growth has been known to foster human development for long term economic stability. The evidence of bi-causality in the human development and economic growth nexus is however limited. This paper builds on the reverse causality between human development and economic growth in context of Pakistan, with the moderating impact of political stability. The study applies OLS and VECM on the data collected from World Bank Database from year 2006 to 2018. Our findings exhibit empirical evidence related to endogenous growth models and a significant causal relationship between human development and economic growth, moderated by political stability. The relationship is further explained by trajectories of happiness, health and income redistribution. Our findings suggest efficient reallocation of resources towards human development to address post pandemic growth concerns.

Can Spectrum Fees Incentivize Federal Agencies to Release Spectrum? Lessons From the United Kingdom and GOSPLAN

One proposed market-based approach to repurposing federal spectrum involves levying administratively-controlled fees that approximate the opportunity cost of spectrum on federal agencies. This article examines the theory and evidence that a system of spectrum use fees can promote an efficient reallocation of spectrum and finds that the spectrum fee approach has no intrinsic advantage over the existing command and control system. Under the system of Administered Incentive Pricing in the United Kingdom, calculating the opportunity cost of spectrum imposes a heavy burden on regulator Ofcom, but spectrum fees still give the wrong price signals, and in Ofcom’s own 2016 assessment, financial incentives of government departments to release or share spectrum have been weak or non-existent. With imperfect information, it is no easier for the regulator to specify correctly the right prices under the spectrum fee approach than the right quantities under the command and control system. As budget-funded non-profits, federal agencies have a soft budget constraint that weakens their responsiveness to prices and costs. In these respects, the spectrum fee model shares the information and incentive problems of the classical and reform versions of socialist economic systems. The practice of charging federal agencies market-based rental rates for office space in federally owned or leased buildings does not validate the spectrum fee proposal given that federal property is managed in a top-down fashion. The overlay approach to repurposing federal spectrum has an intrinsic advantage over the spectrum fee model because auctioning flexible-use overlay licenses generates market-based pricing information about the value of federal spectrum.

Improved efficient queue resource reallocation strategy for traffic dynamics on scale-free networks

In recent years, the transportation systems have to face the increasing challenges of congestion and inefficiency, and therefore the research on traffic dynamics of complex networks has become a significant area. When the total node capacity of the network is fixed, a reasonable queue resource reallocation strategy is effective in improving the network traffic capacity. In this paper, a new queue resource allocation method is proposed based on the betweenness centrality and the degree centrality of nodes. With the proposed strategy, the node queue length is allocated accurately to enhance the transport efficiency. Simulation results show that the proposed strategy can effectively improve the traffic capacity of the scale-free networks.

Market-based stochastic optimization of water resources systems for improving drought resilience and economic efficiency in arid regions

Efficient reallocation and conjunctive operation of existing water supplies have been receiving increasing attention as the competition among water users are intensified in worldwide. In this paper, a market-based stochastic optimization model is developed to address inherent uncertainties and complexities in water resources planning in arid regions. This model can be used not only to explore the water conservation potential via three strategies as cropping pattern optimization, irrigation infrastructure improvement and water trading, but also to help generate related water policy that promote the local welfare and facilitate local cleaner production.A real case study of the pumping irrigation system located in Yellow River basin is conducted to demonstrate applicability of the proposed model. Our findings indicate that the adjusted cropping pattern significantly increases the irrigator's income by growing economic crops such as herb and wolfberry; meanwhile, it does not sacrifice the food production. With the efficient infrastructural development, substantial water resources are saved and traded to other industries, thereby stimulating the local economy. Optimum subsidization policy is identified to increase the local welfare by allowing seasonal water trading while lessening the financial burden of the local government.

Efficient reallocation under additive and responsive preferences

Reallocating resources to get mutually beneficial outcomes is a fundamental problem in various multi-agent settings. While finding an arbitrary Pareto optimal allocation is generally easy, checking whether a particular allocation is Pareto optimal can be much more difficult. This problem is equivalent to checking that the allocated objects cannot be reallocated in such a way that at least one agent prefers her new allocation to her old one, and no agent prefers her old allocation to her new one. We consider the problem for two related types of preference relations over sets of objects. In the first part of the paper we focus on the setting in which agents express additive cardinal utilities over objects. We present computational hardness results as well as polynomial-time algorithms for testing Pareto optimality under different restrictions such as two utility values or lexicographic utilities. In the second part of the paper we assume that agents express only their (ordinal) preferences over individual objects, and that their underlying preferences are additively separable. In this setting, we present characterizations and polynomial-time algorithms for possible and necessary Pareto optimality.

Procedures performed by general practitioners and general internal medicine physicians - a comparison based on routine data from Northern Germany

BackgroundIn response to a rising shortage of general practitioners (GPs), physicians in general internal medicine (GIM) have become part of the German primary care physician workforce. Previous studies have shown substantial differences in practice patterns between both specialties. The aim of this study was to analyse and compare the application of procedures by German GPs and GIM physicians based on routine data.MethodsThe Association of Statutory Health Insurance Physicians in the federal state Schleswig-Holstein (Northern Germany) provided invoicing data of the first quarters of 2013 and 2015. Differences between GPs and GIM physicians in the implementation rate of 46 selected primary care procedures were examined by means of the Pearson χ2-test. The selection of procedures was based on international and own preliminary studies on primary care procedures.ResultsIn the first quarter of 2013/2015 respectively, 1228/1227 GPs and 447/484 GIM physicians provided services in Schleswig-Holstein. Significant differences were found for 20 of the 46 procedures. GPs had higher application rates of procedures concerning health screening (e.g. adolescent health examination, well-child visits) and minor surgery. GIM physicians more often applied technology-oriented procedures, such as ultrasound scans, electrocardiograms (ECG), and 24-h ambulatory blood pressure measurements. The treatment patterns of both specialities did not vary much during the study period. Cardiac stress testing was the only significantly increased GP procedure in that time.ConclusionsOur results suggest substantial differences in the application of procedures between GPs and GIM physicians with potential consequences for the overall primary healthcare provision. The findings could foster a discussion about training needs for procedures in primary care to ensure its comprehensiveness. The results reflect scope for changes in vocational training in the future for an effective and efficient re-allocation of primary healthcare.

Two-sided allocation problems, decomposability, and the impossibility of efficient trade

Previous literature has shown that private information is a transaction cost that prevents efficient reallocation in two-sided setups with bilateral trade or homogeneous goods. We derive conditions under which the impossibility of efficient trade extends to rich environments in which buyers and sellers have multi-dimensional private types, accommodating many-to-many trades and heterogeneous objects. If agents can be decomposed into unit constituents, the allocation problem can be represented as an assignment game and impossibility obtains through a generalization of Shapley's (1962) result that buyers and sellers are complements. We introduce a general family of payoff functions that ensures decomposability and thus impossibility.

Income diversification strategies and household welfare: empirical evidence from forestry farm households in China

Extant literature has documented the positive effects of off-farm work and non-wood forest products on economic welfare. However, little empirical evidence has been provided on the combination of participating in both of the aforementioned income diversification strategies (IDS) and an assessment of the correlation with economic welfare. This study aims to fulfill the knowledge gap by identifying the determinants of IDS and empirically assessing the association between the IDS and household welfare and resource allocation of forestry farm households in China. Using a unique survey data of 3099 forestry farm households from seven provinces of China, a recently-developed multi-valued treatment effect model was estimated to address the potential selectivity bias. The empirical results show that household size, labor force, forestland size, farmland size, access to the forestland property certificate, human capital of the household head, and regional heterogeneity are associated with the IDS decisions. Farm households that participate in IDS have a higher value of forestry income, agricultural income, off-farm income, consumption, savings, and lower odds of relative poverty compared with their counterparts without IDS participation. The improvement in economic performance, as a result of IDS, is possible because of an efficient reallocation of family resources and a high likelihood of receiving government financial and technical support.

A Robust Routing Strategy for Efficient Reallocation in Multi-Grid Environment

Grid Computing is becoming the rising procedure in this ongoing condition. System figuring is the social affair of PC resources from various territories to accomplish a run of the mill objective. The framework can be considered as a spread structure with non-instinctive workloads that incorporate innumerable, the multi-grid environment which provides the multi-tenancy startup for the multiple inputs that is transmitted in the form of the data. The routing strategy which provides the robust reallocation in the grid environment. This paper proposes a Strategic Multi-Reallocation procedure which makes the reallocation in the multi-grid environment. We Propose the Grid-Hadlock Algorithm for the efficient reallocation in the multi-grid environment. The implementation proves the maximum occupancy and its reallocation strategies more efficient. The experimental results proves the phenomenon is more efficient.

On Mergers in a Stackelberg Market with Asymmetric Convex Costs

This paper analyzes profitability, the incentives to free ride and the price effects of horizontal mergers in a Stackelberg market with an efficient leader and a group of inefficient followers when costs are convex. It is shown that a leader-follower merger is always profitable even though the free-riding incentives may reappear in situations where it would be absent with symmetric convex costs. On the contrary, a merger of two followers is only profitable if they are inefficient enough since in this case the free-riding behavior of the non-merging followers is more than compensated by the efficient reallocation of outputs derived from the merger. Finally, we also show that the mergers considered generally increase price except when the leader and a moderately inefficient follower merge.

Is deregulation of forest land use rights transactions associated with economic well-being and labor allocation of farm households? Empirical evidence in China

Economic development literature has documented the importance of property rights of farmland for household well-being. Despite this well-supported consensus, limited empirical evidence has been provided for forestland. This study fills the gap in existing literature by identifying the determinants of forestland use rights transaction decision (FTD)–that is the decision of households to rent in or rent out the forestland. This paper also empirically assesses the association between the FTD and the economic well-being and labor allocation of households in China. Using unique survey data of 2228 households in 7 provinces of China, a multiple-choice treatment effect model was estimated to cope with potential endogeneity bias. Results indicate that forestland size, forestland fragmentation, and age and education of the household head, as well as region heterogeneity, are associated with the decision to participate in FTD. Households renting forestland from others have higher household consumption and savings than those households without forestland transaction, and households renting out forestland also have a higher level of savings. The improvement in household economic well-being due to FTD is possibly because of an efficient reallocation of family and hired labor as well as a higher likelihood to receive policy financial loans on forest production.

Firm-Level Productivity Dispersion and Convergence

The productivity slowdown has been analysed as an effect of weaker technological progress, of the digital economy or of a less efficient reallocation process. Using data on firms operating in France, we highlight that, at the technological frontier, productivity has accelerated, especially over the recent period, which contradicts the hypothesis of a decline in innovation. The most productive firms in a given year do not, however, improve their relative advantage. The convergence of firms’ productivity does not seem to have slowed down in the 2000s, which does not confirm the hypothesis of a decrease in the dissemination of innovation. On the other hand, the dispersion of productivity between firms has increased, which suggests growing difficulties in reallocating production factors, labour and capital, between firms.

Deregulation and Productivity: Empirical Evidence on Dairy Production

We investigate productivity development and its relation to resource reallocation effects in the dairy sector in southeast Germany during the phasing‐out of the European Union milk quota. We hypothesize that both extreme output price levels and market deregulation fostered efficient reallocation of production resources. We use a farm‐level dataset containing financial accounting data for a period of 15 years. Farm‐level productivity is estimated by a proxy variable approach that is robust to endogenous input choice. We compare this approach to other estimation techniques as well as an index‐based analysis. After aggregation we decompose sector productivity into unweighted mean productivity and a covariance term measuring the allocation of resources toward more productive farms. We observe an increase in the covariance term coinciding with a period of deregulation efforts and volatile milk prices. We seek to find support for our hypotheses by a regression analysis linking the measure for the potential covariance between resource reallocation and productivity on the one hand, and deregulation as well as price variability on the other. In this analysis we find some empirical evidence for the hypotheses.

Imperfect Labor Mobility and the Trickle-down Effect in International Trade

Purpose – Unlike the common belief in the so-called ‘trickle-down effect,’ trade-induced output growth in a small open economy does not necessarily improve the domestic welfare of the economy. This paper analyzes the conditions under which the trickle-down effect does not work properly such that the connection between trade-induced output growth and welfare improvement is broken. Design/methodology/approach – This paper introduces an inter-sectoral migration barrier in the general equilibrium model and conducts various simulation experiments under reasonable parameter values. Findings – This paper demonstrates that subsidizing export industries may raise the total value-added of an economy but deteriorate aggregate welfare. This worsens especially when the supply of non-tradable domestic goods is labor intensive and inelastic, and the demand for them is more substitutable by tradable goods. Practical implications – To reinforce the trickle-down effect, it is necessary to facilitate efficient labor reallocation and to induce capitalization in the non-tradable sector. Originality/value – That output growth and welfare improvement do not always move in the same direction requires a reappraisal of the trickle-down effect which emphasizes output growth as an indicator of welfare improvement.

Agricultural water allocation strategies along the oasis of Tarim River in Northwest China

Efficient reallocation of existing water supply is gaining importance as demand grows and competitions among users intensify. In extremely arid regions, where deficit irrigation needs to be applied, management decisions on agricultural water allocation are often onerous tasks due to the confliction among water users. This paper presents a hydrological modeling approach to assist decision-makers and stakeholders to resolve potential water-sharing conflicts among water users. We combine the land use map with water distribution methods to solve the water allocation problems in a large basin scale. The model is tested and applied in three steps: (i) calibration and validation of water supply and demand along the Tarim River with a combined hydrological and groundwater model, (ii) developing climate change scenarios, (iii) optimizing agricultural water allocation for the entire Tarim River Basin for these scenarios and deriving of conclusions. The comprehensive management of farmland areas and water distribution strategies are investigated in the model scenarios. The results of these assessments provide opportunities for substantial improvement on water allocation and water right. The access of a user to use the water efficiently should be guaranteed, especially in the lower reaches of the river in the arid land. In practice, the hydrological model assists on decision-making for water resource management in a large river basin, and incentive to utilize water use in an efficient manner.

Plant-herbivory feedbacks and selective allocation of a toxic metal are behind the stability of degraded covers dominated by Brachypodium pinnatum in acidic soils

Perennial tall-grasses have experienced a successful expansion in the last decades leading in some cases to extremely degraded communities, which remain in an alternate stable state. This research focuses on the mechanisms of persistence of the spreading native Brachypodium pinnatum in acidic soils. We hypothesize that plant-herbivory feedbacks and an adapted response to soil constraints, promote species cover stability. Eight on-site populations of the species growing in two contrasted situations (high-diversity grazed and low-diversity ungrazed communities) were sampled during a growing season and analysed for nutrient (N, P and K), metal (Al) and C allocation, biomass production and tissue quality. The species showed a high capacity for belowground accumulation of Al and an efficient reallocation and resorption of nutrients, which may explain its success in acidic, poor soils. The lack of attractiveness to herbivores of the species-poor stands prevented biomass removal, which strengthened some effects and enhanced the build-up of a thick layer of recalcitrant tissues, an effective barrier (aboveground and belowground) for the establishment of sympatric species. Density-dependent feedback mechanisms (herbivory attractiveness), and the particular attributes of B. pinnatum (i.e. powerful rhizomes with a selective performance for nutrients and aluminium) may lead to critical processes of community domination and degradation.

Foreign Exchange Intervention and the Dutch Disease

We study the optimal foreign exchange (FX) intervention policy in response to a positive terms of trade shock and associated Dutch disease episode in a small open economy model. We find that during a Dutch disease episode tradable production drops below the socially optimal level, resulting in lower welfare under learningby- doing (LBD) externalities. FX reserves accumulation improves welfare by preventing a large appreciation of the real exchange rate and by inducing an efficient reallocation between the tradable and non-tradable sectors. For an empirically plausible parametrization of LBD externalities, the model predicts that in response to a 10 percent increase in commodity prices FX reserves should increase by 1.5 percent of GDP. We also find that the welfare gains from optimally using FX reserves are twice as high as the gains from relying only on monetary policy. These results suggest that FX intervention is a beneficial policy to counteract the loss of competitiveness during a Dutch disease episode.

Foreign Exchange Intervention and the Dutch Disease

We study the optimal foreign exchange (FX) intervention policy in response to a positive terms of trade shock and associated Dutch disease episode in a small open economy model. We find that during a Dutch disease episode tradable production drops below the socially optimal level, resulting in lower welfare under learningby- doing (LBD) externalities. FX reserves accumulation improves welfare by preventing a large appreciation of the real exchange rate and by inducing an efficient reallocation between the tradable and non-tradable sectors. For an empirically plausible parametrization of LBD externalities, the model predicts that in response to a 10 percent increase in commodity prices FX reserves should increase by 1.5 percent of GDP. We also find that the welfare gains from optimally using FX reserves are twice as high as the gains from relying only on monetary policy. These results suggest that FX intervention is a beneficial policy to counteract the loss of competitiveness during a Dutch disease episode.