• Environmental and Resource Economics Review
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• v.13 no.1
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• pp.33-47
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• 2004

Even though the price of extracted but unprocessed coal has been available in Korea, the use of it as scarcity index would be inappropriate because of price subsidy. Following Halvorsen and Smith(1984), Kim and Lee(2002) derived estimates of the shadow price of unextracted coal by estimating the restricted cost function and differentiating with respect to the quantity of coal extracted. In Korea, however, due to the limited data the capital prices have been computed inconsistently case by case without relying on the robust formula like the Christensen-Jorgenson methodology used in US, which could result in biased estimators of the restricted cost function. In the paper the shadow prices of the resources in situ are obtained by measuring an input distance function defined by Shephard (1970), which requires only the data on the quantities of inputs and output. Empirical results for the Korean coal mining industry show that these shadow prices as a coal scarcity have increased fast by approximately three times in comparisons with those obtained by Kim and Lee.

• Environmental and Resource Economics Review
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• v.15 no.4
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• pp.673-692
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• 2006

In order to test for the dynamic optimality condition for the use of nonrenewable resource, it is necessary to estimate the shadow value of the resource in situ. In the previous literatures, a time series for in situ price has been derived either as the difference between marginal revenue and marginal cost or by differentiating with respect to the quantity of ore extracted the restricted cost function in which the quantity of ore is quasi-fixed. However, not only inconsistent estimates are likely to be generated due to the nonmalleability of capital, but the estimate of marginal revenue will be affected by market power. Since firms will likely fail to minimize the cost of the reproducible inputs subject to market prices under realistic circumstances where imperfect factor markets, strikes, or government regulations are present, the shadow in situ values obtained by estimating the restricted cost function can be biased. This paper provides a valid methodology for checking the dynamic optimality condition for a nonrenewable resource by using the input distance function. Our methodology has some advantages over previous ones: only data on quantities of inputs and outputs are required; nor is the maintained hypothesis of cost minimization required; adoption of linear programming enables us to circumvent autocorrelated errors problem caused by use of time series or panel data. The dynamic optimality condition for domestic coal mining does not hold for constant discount rates ranging from 2 to 20 percent over the period 1970~1993. The dynamic optimality condition also does not hold for variable rates ranging from fourth to four times the real interest rate.

• Journal of Korean Society of Transportation
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• v.28 no.4
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• pp.157-166
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• 2010

The aim of this paper was to estimate efficiency using a directional distance function to compare performances of bus agencies to determine if they have made efforts to operate efficiently and reduce emissions and accidents since public transportation reforms 2004. Drivers, mechanics, staff, buses, and fuel were used as input data and vehicle-kilometers (a desirable output), accident costs, and emission costs (undesirable outputs) as output data during June 2005. As a result, the efficiency with undesirable outputs was lower than the efficiency without undesirable outputs. However, the number of efficient agencies was more in case of the consideration of undesirable outputs. The reason is that the number of agencies whose possibility to reduce undesirable outputs are less than the possibility to reduce inputs was increasing, while the efficiency deviation among agencies was larger in case of the consideration of undesirable outputs. Meanwhile, the increase of CNG buses and operating speed and the improvement of mechanical efficiency had positive influence on the efficiency.

• Environmental and Resource Economics Review
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• v.24 no.4
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• pp.727-745
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• 2015

This paper analyzes the firms' optimization behavior in response to rising demand for non-priced renewable energy in the manufacturing industries by using an input distance function. The annual estimates of the shadow price of renewable energy is derived and the trend of its shadow price over time is analyzed. The degree of substitution of renewable energy for fossil-fuels is examined. The input-based Malmquist productivity index, defined as a composite of the technical efficiency and technical change measures, is measured. The contribution of renewable energy input growth to the Malmquist index is analyzed. Empirical results indicate that the shadow price of renewable energy declined at an average annual rate of 17% over the period 1992-2012. Substitutability between renewable energy and fossil-fuels was limited. On average, a 1% increase in renewable energy would decrease Malmquist index by 0.04% per year.

• Journal of Digital Convergence
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• v.17 no.5
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• pp.117-125
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• 2019

This study measured inefficiencies of Korean banks with weighted Russell directional distance function, WRDDM, for the years of 2004-2013. Checking contributions of inputs and outputs to these inefficiencies, we found that non-performing loan as undesirable output was the most influential factor. The annual average of inefficiencies of Korean banks was 0.3912, and it consisted of non-performing loan 0.1883, output factors 0.098 except non-performing loan, input factors 0.098. The annual average inefficiency went sharply up from 0.2995 to 0.4829 mainly due to the sharp increase of inefficiency of non-performing loan from 0.1088 to 0.2678 before and after 2007-2008 Global financial crisis. We empirically showed the non-performing loan needed to be considered since it was the most important factor among the influential factors of technical inefficiency such as manpower, total deposit, securities, and non-performing loan. This study had some limitation since we did not control financial environment factor in WRDDM.

• Journal of Korean Society of Transportation
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• v.26 no.4
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• pp.77-86
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• 2008

Firstly, this study is to compare two types of productivity changes in Seoul's urban bus industry by public transport reforms: one with considering accident costs (ML), the other without considering accident costs (M). The directional distance function (DDF), which is a form of data envelopment analysis, and the Malmquist (Luenberger) productivity index (ML, M) are used for the analysis. The results show that productivity increased regardless of accident costs over time, and the ML index is a little higher than the M index, which means that most firms experienced more of a reduction ratio of accident costs than a reduction ratio of inputs. Secondly, this paper is to analyze how reforms affect productivity changes. The results show that operational speed improvements or passenger increases most affect productivity increases, which means that the installment of median bus lanes or introduction of free transfers among public transport modes were effective in reducing both inputs and accident costs. However, operational system reforms including mid-public management were related with productivity changes but they were not as effective.

• Environmental and Resource Economics Review
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• v.30 no.3
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• pp.471-501
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• 2021

We measure Environmental Efficiency (EE) based on CO₂ in four income groups from 1998 to 2018, using the Meta Stochastic Frontier Analysis method by Input Distance Function. Our results showed that economic growth and energy consumption would increase carbon dioxide emissions, and increasing labor and capital input will reduce it. Moreover, we compared Group Environmental Efficiency (GEE), Meta Environmental Efficiency (MEE), and Environmental Gap Ratio (EGR). The results showed that GEEs were be overestimated. Furthermore, the MEE showed a downward trend during this period. The lower-middle-income group had the highest EGR performance. High-income and upper-middle-income groups showed less efficiency in MEE and EGR. To improve environmental efficiency, we must reduce fossil fuels and find more scientific and technological ways to solve existing environmental problems as soon as possible.

• Environmental and Resource Economics Review
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• v.22 no.3
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• pp.459-479
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• 2013

To assess the feasibility of 'low carbon, sustainable growth' policy pursued of the Chinese government, this paper first measures technical efficiency, $CO_2$ shadow prices, and indirect Morishima elasticity of substitution between capital and energy for 24 of manufacturing sectors in Beijing and Chongqing, in which China launched pilot carbon emissions trading scheme, by estimating the input distance function. Based on these results, then the potential for $CO_2$ reduction, cost savings from emissions trading, and the effectiveness of capital investment in reducing $CO_2$ are compared across industries and provinces. In 2010, manufacturing industries in Beijing and Chongqing could potentially reduce the largest $CO_2$ emissions, amounting 5.2 and 17 million tons, respectively, by achieving 100% technical efficiency. While, on average, Chongqing has a comparative advantage in the cost savings from carbon trading over Beijing, Beijing is more likely to reduce $CO_2$ by expanding capital investment.

• Journal of Korea Society of Industrial Information Systems
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• v.17 no.2
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• pp.81-94
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• 2012

On December 11, 2001, China joined the WTO and became one of the member countries and the Chinese financial markets had to be open in 5 years. So, the Chinese government transformed national commercial banks into joint-stock banks. The purpose of this paper is to investigate the validity of this decision by the Chinese government. In order to measure the efficiency of banks, the directional distance function (DDF) methodology is used, which analyzes whether a bad output exists in the outputs. In the empirical analysis, the number of staffs, the fixed assets, and the equity capital are used as inputs, while the loans and the non-performing loans ratio are used as a good output and a bad output, respectively. The non-performing loans ratio is included in output since it could affect the efficiency of banks. If it isn't considered in the analysis, a distortion might occur in analyzing the efficiency of banks. The results show that the efficiency of the major commercial banks was improved, and that the efficiency of joint-stocks banks was higher for 2002-2003 while the efficiency of national commercial banks was higher for 2004-2006. It was due mainly to the foreign exchanges reserve funds injected into national commercial banks by the Chinese Ministry of Finance, and as a result bad assets were eliminated.

• Journal of Korean Society of Transportation
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• v.22 no.6
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• pp.159-173
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• 2004

Using a generalized translog multiproduct cost function model, this paper examines economies of scale and scope in the vertically-integrated Korean railway industry. The paper then conceptualizes that the Korea National Railroad (KNR) produces four outputs (passenger-kilometers, ton-kilometers of freight, average length of passenger trips, and average length of freight haul) using three input factors(labor, fuel and maintenance, and rolling stock and capital). Using time series data collected from the KNR's annual records for the years from 1977 to 2002, the simultaneous equation system consisting of a cost function and two input share equatins is estimated with the Zellner's iterative seemingly unrelated regression. The findings show that the cost function corresponding to a non-Cobb-Douglas, non-homothetic, and non-homogeneous production technology adequately represents the KNR's cost structure. On the other hand, the Korean railway industry experiences sizeable overall scale economies, which result from substantial product-specific scale economies associated with passenger-kilometers and freight ton-kilometers and from scope economies associated with their joint production. In addition, the magnitude of economies of scope is influenced largely by the ratio of passenger trips, and has increased over time as the former has increased while the latter has decreased.