Factor substitution and economies of scale in the southern Ontario hardwood sawmilling industry

1992 ◽  
Vol 22 (8) ◽  
pp. 1139-1146 ◽  
Author(s):  
G.D. Puttock ◽  
D.M. Prescott
Keyword(s):  
Manufacturing Industry ◽  
Economies Of Scale ◽  
Scale Economies ◽  
Southern Ontario ◽  
Total Cost ◽  
Pooled Data ◽  
Hardwood Lumber ◽  
Factor Substitution ◽  
Sawmilling Industry ◽  
Input Prices

An analysis of pooled data reveals that a nonhomothetic transcendental logarithmic cost function provides an appropriate representation of the hardwood lumber manufacturing industry in southern Ontario. In this study, total cost was specified as a function of mill output; the input prices for wood, labour, and energy; and a measure of mill capacity. All own-price elasticities have the expected negative sign. All input pairs are found to be substitutes, with labour and energy displaying the strongest substitutability relationship. There are economies of scale that have yet to be exploited by sawmills producing less than 16 × 106 board ft (1 board ft = 2.360 dm3) of lumber annually. Scale economies are fully exhausted for mills with annual output greater than this value.

Factor substitution and economies of scale in the Alberta sawmill industry

1985 ◽  
Vol 15 (6) ◽  
pp. 1025-1030 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kamal Banskota ◽  
William Phillips ◽  
Timothy Williamson
Keyword(s):  
Economies Of Scale ◽  
Scale Economies ◽  
Positive Association ◽  
Timber Supply ◽  
Cross Sectional ◽  
Factor Substitution ◽  
Sawmill Industry ◽  
Econometric Approach ◽  
Input Prices

An analysis of cross-sectional data reveals that a nonhomothetic transcendental logarithmic cost function provides an appropriate representation of the structure of the Alberta sawmill industry. While the econometric approach used is well established, its application to forestry using cross-sectional data is rare. In this study, mill lumber output was specified as a function of the input prices for labour, capital, wood, and energy. All own-price elasticities are significant and negative as expected. There are significant degrees of factor substitution among the inputs in the sawmills in response to changes in factor prices. Virtually all mills have positive scale economies. There is a positive association between larger sawmills and significant scale economies. These results have important implications regarding long-term timber supply and economic efficiency.

scholarly journals The Cost Function and Scale Economies in Academic Research Libraries

2002 ◽  
Vol 63 (5) ◽  
pp. 406-420 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lewis Guodo Liu
Keyword(s):  
Cost Function ◽  
Economies Of Scale ◽  
Academic Research ◽  
Scale Economies ◽  
Information Provision ◽  
Total Cost ◽  
Research Libraries ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
The Cost ◽  
Total Cost Function

This empirical research examined scale economies of academic research libraries that belong to the Association of Research Libraries and developed a total cost function for estimating economies of scale. The author argues that libraries in general, and academic research libraries in particular, are information provision organizations that provide multiproducts and multiservices and points out that some previous studies that used the production function have limitations due to the fact that this function only permits a single-output variable. This investigation incorporated a wide range of collections and service output variables into the total cost function. The regression results show that the R square of the cost function model is .8142 and that the coefficients of three very important output variables (volumes held, serials, and group presentations) are statistically significant at high confidence levels. The findings of this research show that the function coefficient is .93, indicating that slight economies of scale exist in academic research libraries.

scholarly journals Spatial Agglomeration of China’s Forest Products Manufacturing Industry: Measurement, Characteristics and Determinants

Forests ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 12 (8) ◽  
pp. 1006
Author(s):  
Zhenhuan Chen ◽  
Hongge Zhu ◽  
Wencheng Zhao ◽  
Menghan Zhao ◽  
Yutong Zhang
Keyword(s):  
Spatial Distribution ◽  
Spatial Data ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Manufacturing Industry ◽  
Economies Of Scale ◽  
Forest Products ◽  
Spatial Data Analysis ◽  
Forest Protection ◽  
Spatial Agglomeration ◽  
Continuous Space

China’s forest products manufacturing industry is experiencing the dual pressure of forest protection policies and wood scarcity and, therefore, it is of great significance to reveal the spatial agglomeration characteristics and evolution drivers of this industry to enhance its sustainable development. Based on the perspective of large-scale agglomeration in a continuous space, in this study, we used the spatial Gini coefficient and standard deviation ellipse method to investigate the spatial agglomeration degree and location distribution characteristics of China’s forest products manufacturing industry, and we used exploratory spatial data analysis to investigate its spatial agglomeration pattern. The results show that: (1) From 1988 to 2018, the degree of spatial agglomeration of China’s forest products manufacturing industry was relatively low, and the industry was characterized by a very pronounced imbalance in its spatial distribution. (2) The industry has a very clear core–periphery structure, the spatial distribution exhibits a “northeast-southwest” pattern, and the barycenter of the industrial distribution has tended to move south. (3) The industry mainly has a high–high and low–low spatial agglomeration pattern. The provinces with high–high agglomeration are few and concentrated in the southeast coastal area. (4) The spatial agglomeration and evolution characteristics of China’s forest products manufacturing industry may be simultaneously affected by forest protection policies, sources of raw materials, international trade and the degree of marketization. In the future, China’s forest products manufacturing industry should further increase the level of spatial agglomeration to fully realize the economies of scale.

“Small Is Beautiful”

2016 ◽  
pp. 113-134 ◽  
Author(s):  
Juraj Nemec ◽  
Lenka Matejova ◽  
Jana Soukopová
Keyword(s):  
Czech Republic ◽  
Public Services ◽  
Economies Of Scale ◽  
Scale Economies ◽  
Optimal Size ◽  
The Czech Republic ◽  
Municipal Expenditures

This chapter discusses the problem of territorial fragmentation and summarizes the arguments for and against a solution in the form of territorial consolidation regarding the example of the Czech Republic. The main reason for the consolidation of municipalities are the benefits derived from the theory of the economies of scale. Linked to this is also the question of how to determine the optimal size of a municipality in order to make the best use of the principles of scale economies. The second part of this chapter shows an analysis of Czech municipal expenditures on selected public services that municipalities provide, and based on the results, determine the optimal size of the municipality for the analyzed services. Data from the Czech Republic do not clearly support the economic arguments for territorial consolidation

scholarly journals Marital Matching, Economies of Scale, and Intrahousehold Allocations

2020 ◽  
Vol 102 (4) ◽  
pp. 823-837
Author(s):  
Laurens Cherchye ◽  
Bram De Rock ◽  
Khushboo Surana ◽  
Frederic Vermeulen
Keyword(s):  
Economies Of Scale ◽  
Panel Study ◽  
Scale Economies ◽  
Preference Heterogeneity ◽  
Income Dynamics ◽  
Public And Private ◽  
Preference Information ◽  
The Public ◽  
The Us ◽  
Allocation Patterns

We propose a novel nonparametric method to empirically identify economies of scale in multiperson household consumption. We assume consumption technologies that define the public and private nature of expenditures through Barten scales. Our method (solely) exploits preference information revealed by a cross-section of household observations while accounting for fully unobserved preference heterogeneity. An application to data drawn from the US Panel Study of Income Dynamics shows that the method yields informative results on scale economies and intrahousehold allocation patterns. In addition, it allows us to define individual compensation schemes required to preserve the same consumption level in case of marriage dissolution or spousal death.

Study on the Layout and Structure of the Waste Electronic Products Recycling Network

2012 ◽  
Vol 518-523 ◽  
pp. 3613-3620 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yun Xiao Zu ◽  
Shan Shan Jia ◽  
Zhe Li ◽  
Yue Jia
Keyword(s):  
Optimization Model ◽  
Economies Of Scale ◽  
Relative Concentration ◽  
Simulated Data ◽  
Waste Recycling ◽  
Transportation Costs ◽  
Actual Condition ◽  
Electronic Products ◽  
Total Cost ◽  
Recycling Networks

The current recycling networks of the waste electronic products in China are analyzed from the view of the layout of the recycling center and the structure of recycling channel. The optimization model of an e-waste recycling network is established according to our national actual condition, and solved with simulated data. The results show that setting up detecting centers dispersedly can reduce the transportation amount of the waste electronic products and reduce transportation costs, and the relative concentration of recycling processing center can achieve economies of scale and lower the total cost.

The evidence on the existence of economies Of scale in local government units

2017 ◽  
Vol 1 (2) ◽  
pp. 379 ◽  
Author(s):  
Primož Pevcin
Keyword(s):  
Local Government ◽  
Economies Of Scale ◽  
Returns To Scale ◽  
Scale Economies ◽  
Scale Efficiency ◽  
Data Envelopment ◽  
Administrative Costs ◽  
Government Operation ◽  
Major Reform ◽  
Limited Scale

<p>The purpose of this paper is to empirically verify if the possible existence of scale economies actually supports the argument that municipal consolidation is needed in Slovenia. The major reform of local self-government in Slovenia was implemented in 1994, when the transformation of existing 58 »communal« municipalities was envisaged. From 1995 onwards, the number of municipalities increased to the current number of 212 municipalities. Consequently, the necessity to implement structural reforms of local self-government in Slovenia has been stressed. The arguments favoring municipal amalgamations stressed that country has become too fragmented and municipal amalgamation would enable the reduction of (administrative) costs, and increase efficiency as well as quality of services provided, indicating that technical aspects of local government operation are targeted. Following, technical efficiency of Slovenian municipalities is estimated with the Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) method, in order to determine if (and which) municipalities are experiencing increasing returns to scale (i.e., scale economies). The results indicate that there is important scale efficiency component, and predominantly very small municipalities are experiencing economies of scale, but their number is relatively low. Therefore, one of the classical arguments for municipal amalgamation, achieving economies of scale, can only be applied at a limited scale. This does not imply that more extensive amalgamation is not warranted, but it demands that other arguments justifying municipal amalgamation should be presented.  </p>

Agglomeration and Firm Performance: Economies of Scale, Localisation, and Urbanisation among Swedish Export Firms

2000 ◽  
Vol 32 (2) ◽  
pp. 305-321 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anders Malmberg ◽  
Bo Malmberg ◽  
Per Lundequist
Keyword(s):  
Economies Of Scale ◽  
Recent Literature ◽  
Export Performance ◽  
Scale Economies ◽  
Agglomeration Economies ◽  
Theoretical Development ◽  
Industrial Districts ◽  
Data Set ◽  
Unique Data ◽  
The Impact

In the 1990s, there has been an increase in interest in the spatial agglomeration of similar and related firms and industries. The recent literature is, however, marked by a lack of balance between theoretical development and empirical validation of the importance of agglomeration economies. Our aim in this paper is to redress the balance by assessing empirically the impact of various types of agglomeration economies on export performance. Our study is based on a unique data set including all Swedish export firms. We find that localisation economies are not as important as recent theoretical contributions on industrial districts, new industrial spaces, and innovative milieus have led us to believe. Instead, traditional scale economies, together with urbanisation economies, have a larger effect on export performance.

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