Based on Desli et al. (2003), this comment defines a stochastic frontier production model in a panel data framework. The firms can learn from their past errors to improve technical efficiency. This is done by introducing the inefficiency error term as an AR(p) process. The ways to estimate the...

Implementing mandatory building codes is a major approach to preparing for natural disasters. Using a simple hybrid model which considers expected utility and spatial equilibrium, this paper analyzes the roles as self-insurance and self-protection played by building codes for regulating land...

By using output distance functions, this paper decomposes energy productivity change into several components: effects of the changes in the ratios of non-energy inputs to energy, energy supply composition, and output composition; technical efficiency change; technological change. We apply this...

This paper explores the importance of differential output growth across regions within a country in reducing the country's total carbon dioxide emissions from the combustion of fossil fuels. It proposes a framework that decomposes changes in emissions into sources attributable to 1) national...

This paper decomposes energy intensity change across countries into five components attributable to technological catch-up, technological progress and changes in capital–energy ratio, labor–energy ratio and output structure. It is found that (1) technological progress, capital accumulation...

This work investigates the dynamic behaviors of one-prey multi-predator model with defensive ability of the prey by introducing impulsive biological control strategy. By using the Floquent theorem and the small amplitude perturbation method, it is proved that there exists an asymptotically...

This paper examines how a respondent’s socioeconomic characteristics influence her willingness to support tax increases for spending on highway transportation infrastructure and four modes of public transportation (i.e., bus, light rail, commuter rail, and streetcar) in a fast growing...

The purposes of this paper are to determine the sources of energy productivity growth at the provincial level in China and to examine the relative contributions of the sources and their impacts on regional inequality. Energy productivity change is first decomposed into five components...