A long-term strategy for China's national development is to foster the growth of "Specialized, Refined, Niche, and Innovative (SRNI)" small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). However, these enterprises often face significant financing constraints due to their high technological input, high...

The State government of Western Australia is currently working through a significant program of local government reform that has as a core objective a reduction in the number of local councils. The perception that there are economies of scale in service delivery is a key reason behind the State...

We distinguish between intended production and residual generation and introduce the concept of by-production. We show that by-production provides the fundamental explanation for the positive correlation that is observed between intended production and residual generation. Most of the existing...