Suchergebnisse

Efficiency plays an important role in the operation of firms. If firms are pursing a policy of shareholder wealth maximisation, this implies that maximum efficiency is extracted from a firm's resources during the production process, or that the minimum quantity of inputs is used to achieve a desired level of output. Studies on efficiency in firms have been relatively forthcoming and include work on technical efficiency in the Japanese manufacturing sector [Hitomi (2004)], the UKCS Petroleum Industry [Kashani (2005)] and labour efficiency of the Indian farming industry [Kumbhakar (1996)]. However, there is little in the way of research conducted on efficiency within the banking sector, and even less on the banking sectors of developing economies [Berger and Humphry (1997)]. This is unfortunate, as banks and financial institutions are the most important organisations in overall financial intermediation and economic acceleration of a country. Banks play a significant role in converting deposits into productive investment [Podder and Mamun (2004)]. For this reason, the study of banking in developing economies entails a greater significance.

Efficiency plays an important role in the operation of firms. If firms are pursing a policy of shareholder wealth maximisation, this implies that maximum efficiency is extracted from a firm's resources during the production process, or that the minimum quantity of inputs are used to achieve a desired level of output. This is especially true in the case of labour demand and labour usage, as wage expenditure constitutes a significant portion of the average firm's cost structure. Knowledge of relative inefficiencies in labour usage will therefore be of great interest to firm and, as such, academic studies on efficiency of labour demand in firms have been relatively forthcoming. These include work on the Indian farming industry [Kumbhakar (1996), Swedish social insurance offices [Kumbhakar and Hjalmarsson (1991)], Tunisian Manufacturing [Haouras, et al. (2003) and Kalimantanian rice production [Padoch (1985)].............

The essential feature of a perfectly competitive labour market is that workers who accept jobs can expect to receive compensation equal to their opportunity cost. Firms pay a wage which is just sufficient enough, to attract workers of the quality they desire and no higher [Krueger and Summers (1988)]. Overall, the markets do not follow the law of one price, contradicting the competitive framework. This is where the problem of wage differentials across different industries needs to be assessed, and has also been the focus of many studies over the years, mainly in the industrialised countries, e.g. USA, European Countries. However, the issue of wage differentials has been addressed by very few studies in the developing countries [Arbache (2001) and Erdil, et al. (2001)]. Wage differentials analysis in developing countries should also have equal importance as in the industrialised countries, in order to gauge the effect of the corporate culture and centralisation/decentralisation on the different industries and labour market of those developing countries.

There is an extensive empirical literature on returns to education that focuses both on developed and developing countries. Available literatures in developing countries compare the returns to academic education and vocational education [Nasir and Nazil (2000)], or seek to identify the impact of completing a given schooling cycle on earnings [Appleton (2001)]. The aim of this study is to contribute the literature by conducting a systematic analysis on returns to education and education inequality in Pakistan. In particular it asks to what extent inequality for different level of education vary across the wage distribution. In order to address simultaneously the two issue of return to education and education inequality, study adopt a quantile regression framework. A characteristic of the wage and salary structure of most countries is that people with more education tend to receive higher remuneration than those with less [Colclough (1982)]. To do so, the paper has used data drawn from Labour Force Surveys, conducted by Government of Pakistan for the time period between 1990 and 2003, which contains eight different surveys, using methodology developed by Agrist, et al. (2006), where weighted least squares interpretation of Quantile Regression is used to derive an omitted variables bias formula and a partial quantile regression concept, similar to the relationship between partial regression and OLS. Estimation uses personal and household characteristics, occupational and employment characteristics in order to assess the education inequality. Empirical estimates indicate that education inequality is much higher for the middle level educates compare to educate that has less education or high level education and qualifications. The education level coefficients decrease when different sets of exogenous variables are introduced in the estimation equation. Analysis also suggests the existence of the education inequality across different areas and regions and over the time it has increased.

Purpose– The purpose of this paper is to investigate market competition for three product types of salmon (smoke, fresh and whole salmon) to understand whether supermarkets are exercising market power over salmon consumers in the UK retail market.Design/methodology/approach– Competition and the corresponding pricing conduct among supermarkets are tested by applying dynamic structural simultaneous system equations and using similar data set used by Jaffryet al.(2003).Findings– The results indicate that the market is competitive for fresh fillets and whole salmon but retailers appeared to exert some level of market power for smoke salmon. The hypothesis that market power is the same for all three products in the study was rejected; further indicating that the market for fresh products are competitive while retailers may be exercising market power over consumers for smoke salmon.Research limitations/implications– Current data limitations did not allow the investigation to cover the past few years in the modelling process. However, the results are still relevant as there have been no major structural changes in aquaculture products retailing landscape in the recent past.Practical implications– Concerns over the supermarkets' exercise of market power over consumers have prompted the competition authorities to continue investigating the situation in the UK supermarket sector since 1996. The most recent investigation by competition authorities was in 2006. In all cases, no evidence of market power was found despite increased market concentration. Results from this study generally uphold the claim of the competition authorities in the UK.Originality/value– This is the first study to use a model within a structural econometric framework of firms to test for competitiveness of salmon products in the UK market place.

This study evaluates the impact of privatisation on efficiency and productivity of the Pakistani cement industry. To address some of the serious concerns about the problem of dimension and outlier, we use a newly developed unconditional hyperbolic α-quantile estimator of Wheelock and Wilson to estimate efficiency (Wheelock D. C., and Wilson P. W., 2008, Non-parametric, unconditional quantile estimation for efficiency analysis with an application to Federal Reserve check processing operations, Journal of Econometrics, 209-225). Subsequently, we use these efficiency estimates to calculate the Malmquist productivity growth and its components. The results show that deregulation and privatisation had the desired positive effect on productivity growth due to technological progress. We conclude that this improvement in the post reform period could be linked to political stability, improved economic conditions and a competitive industry.

The global financial turmoil of 2008 has resulted in the curtailment of military expenditure in most western countries. At a sub-regional-level reductions in the level of activity at a major military facility can have significant economic impact. In the light of this, the paper has two objectives: to analyse the impact of the decision to terminate naval shipbuilding at the United Kingdom's Portsmouth Naval Base; and, for illustrative purposes, to examine the possible economic consequences of further contraction at the facility. In pursuit of these aims, it is necessary to establish the output, income and employment generated by the base using a bespoke input–output model. The methodology employed can, with appropriate adjustments, be utilised in other military or civilian contexts.