Urban water demand for manufacturing, construction and service industries: a microdata analysis

This study analyses the industrial demand for urban water using a panel dataset of firms operating in the city of Zaragoza (Spain) and looking at three sectors (manufacturing, construction and services) disaggregated on 24 subsectors. Evidence in favour of using the marginal price rather than the average price is obtained, and the selection of the price is found to influence the value of the elasticities. Based on a translog cost function, the direct price elasticity of water (−0.86), the output elasticity (0.73) and the cross-price elasticities between water and capital, labour and supplies (being all of them substitutes) were estimated. By subsectors, the influence of price is only significant in those with a higher share of water in the total production cost. These results indicate that pricing can be used as a tool for managing water demand by promoting conservation of the resource. However, these results also indicate that the simultaneous use of other instruments is advisable to reinforce the impact of pricing policy on water consumption.

Estimating the Translog Cost Function for the Telecommunications Sector in Saudi Arabia: The Case of Saudi Telecom Company: An Empirical Study

The objective of this research paper is to estimate a translog cost function for the Saudi Arabian telecommunications sector. Telecommunications sector is one of the rapidly growing sectors during the past decade nationwide. A Saudi Telecom Company (STC) data set has been used, as STC has the largest share of the telecommunications sector in Saudi Arabia. Three input cost factors have been considered: marketing and sales, capital and other expenditures. The outputs were total revenue and number of subscribers. The estimation results show that marketing and sales costs are the most important productive components and that capital costs come next. The demand price elasticity values suggest that capital is the most important factor in terms of price sensitivity, which underlines the importance of capital and technology supplies as a necessary component, primarily for the telecommunications sector. From the findings, the telecom sector today relies on advanced technology that incurs high cost. Searching for appropriate funding mechanisms is logical and even necessary for sophisticated technologies and increasing costs. Upgrading marketing techniques, supporting customer services programmes and developing training programmes would yield excellent outcomes and enhance performance. The estimation results end with checking the existence economics of scale, and it has been found that the industry has increasing returns to scale. Therefore, it would be highly recommended to expand the services offered by the telecommunications sector.

Tamaño óptimo de las empresas de transporte colectivo que operan en el Área Metropolitana de Mendoza (Argentina), 2005-2012

This work makes contributions regarding the knowledge of the productive structure of the collective transport service in the Mendoza Metropolitan Area (Argentina) during the stage prior to a structural change in its mobility system. The existence of economies of scale is studied through the estimation of a translog cost function, using panel data for bus operating companies during the period 2005-2012. The results of this research show a market that operates in the production section with diseconomies of scale, where the average costs are increasing. Therefore, it is recommended for this system to operate through a larger number of small companies.

An Analysis of the Cost Structure of Food Industries in Pakistan: An Application of the Translog Cost Function

Given the importance of food industriesin Pakistan, this studyanalyzestheircost structure by estimating thetranscendental logarithmic cost function. The study also considers elasticity of substitution along with own-price elasticity and cross-price elasticity. Four factor inputs,i.e.,labor, capital, energy,and materials,are used toestimatethe cost function. The results indicate that materialsaccount for the highest share of the cost. The elasticity of substitution of materialsfor capital and energy is also weak. The own-price elasticities indicate that the demand for materialsis least responsive to a change in its own price while the demand for other inputs varies with price. The cross-priceelasticities show that labor, capital and energy are substitutes foreach other. The output elasticity of cost demonstrates the presence of economies of scale.

Empirical Study on Economies of Scale in China Manufacturing

The paper is based on Chinese industrial enterprises database, applying the method of translog cost function to measure the economies of scale in manufacturing during the period between 2000 to 2013. The result shows that the mean of scale economies (SCE) is between 0.993 and 0.996, which indicates slight diseconomies of scale. From the perspective of the SCE variation trend, before 2010, there was a decreasing trend year by year, and the variation remained stable after 2010. Considering manufacturing heterogeneity, the paper divides manufacturing into nine groups to measure economies of scale. The group measurement results show that mining industry and light industry have high economies of scale, but in a decreasing state, other sub-sectors show slight diseconomies of scale and in a stable state.

Economies of scale: the case of KiwiSaver fees

Purpose International evidence of economies of scale in mutual funds is mixed. KiwiSaver offers an interesting opportunity to examine economies of scale given its growth from a new scheme with few members and low balances, where fund costs should be high, to a much larger scheme that should be cheaper to run. As a defined contribution superannuation scheme, fees play an important role in determining the eventual retirement savings members achieve. This paper aims to examine whether the anticipated economies of scale are passed onto members. Design/methodology/approach The authors use a sample of 267 KiwiSaver funds over 2013-2018 and relate fund fees to assets under management (AUM) and the number of participants using regression analysis and a translog cost function. Findings The authors find evidence to suggest funds are passing on cost savings. Specifically, the authors observe that fees increase slower as the number of members grows, suggesting economies of scale are driven by the number of members, but not the size of the assets being managed. All else held constant, a 1 per cent increase in fund participants increases fees by 0.93 per cent on average. In contrast, a 1 per cent increase in AUM results in effectively 1 per cent increase in fees, all else held constant. Originality/value While KiwiSaver has been an undeniable boost to the local funds management industry, regulators are increasingly under pressure to ensure fees are appropriate. In 11 years, New Zealand-based KiwiSaver has grown to over $50b in AUM, with over $400m in total fees per year. This paper provides evidence that economies of scale are partially present in the KiwiSaver sector, although not where it arguably counts: in the size of the AUM.

Price Elasticity of Production Factors in Beijing’s Picking Gardens

Picking agriculture is a form of leisure agriculture based on the concept of traditional garden. Due to their unique layout and construction style, picking gardens have different attractive elements, including sightseeing, leisure, entertainment, crop production, and crop picking. However, despite its increasing importance, there is no systematic research on price elasticity or price substitution elasticity of production factors in picking gardens. To fill this gap, we surveyed 308 farmers in five districts of Beijing and employed a translog cost function to compare the impact of operation patterns on peach and cherry production cost by estimating elasticities of substitution between and among inputs. We found that own-price elasticity of all input factors was negative, while substitution relationships existed between labor and land, labor and fertilizer, fertilizer and manure, and manure and pesticide. This indicates that Beijing’s agricultural sector is labor intensive, while fertilizer and pesticide are scarcely used.