• Korean Journal of Agricultural Science
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• v.32 no.1
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• pp.81-94
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• 2005

This study is aimed at giving the basic information for individual farm households to make decisions for optimizing their farm sizes and for the government to implement farm size optimization policies through the identification of combinations among rice production factors in plain areas like Cheolwon district and the suggestion of the optimal farm sizes of individual farmers based on the scale of economy calculated. The data of agricultural production costs of 50 rice farmers in the plain area which is located in Dongsong-eup Cholwon district, Kangwon province were used in the analysis. The 'translog' cost function among various methods which is a flexible function type was adopted to calculate the scale of economy in rice production. Seemingly unrelated regression(SUR) method was used in forecasting functions and processing other statistics by SHAZAM which is one of the computer aid program for quantitative econometric analysis. In conclusion, the long-run average cost(LAC) curve showed 'U-shape' which was different from 'L-type' one which was shown in the previous studies by others. The lowest point of the LAC was 9.764ha and the concerned production cost amounted to 633 Won/kg. Based on these results, it have to be suggested that around 10 ha of paddy is the target size for policy assistances to save costs under the present level of farming practices and technology. The above results show that the rice production costs could be saved up to 10ha in Cheolwon plain area which is a typical paddy field. However, land use, land condition, land ownership and manager's ability which may affect scale of economy should be considered. Furthermore, reasonable management will have to be realized by means of labor saving technology and cost saving management skill like enlargement of farm size of rice.

• Journal of Korean Society of Transportation
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• v.22 no.4 s.75
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• pp.7-18
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• 2004

There have been various research in analyzing airport productivity such as measuring total factor productivity using the models of translog cost function. DEA(Data Envelopment Analysis) model is very useful in measuring productivity with linear programming when the output is not clearly identified and measured quantitatively in such complex facilities as airport. This study is to measure airport productivity using DEA approach for Northeast Asia. Seven international airports were analyzed including Incheon International Airport in Korea, Cheklapkok Airport in Hongkong, Narita Airport in Japan, and Changi Airport in Singapore. With the productivity measured, we can identify one of the important aspects of comparative advantage in hub competition in Asia.

• International Area Studies Review
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• v.22 no.4
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• pp.19-35
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• 2018

This paper is to estimate the total factor productivity(TFP) in the Korean manufacturing and service industries during the period 1975:1-2016:4 using the stochastic frontier analysis model. In order to analyze the determinants for the total factor productivity the paper estimates the industry-specific determinant elasticities of TFP using the autoregressive distributed model. The industry-specific determinants, which reflect the industrial structure and properties include markup, the ratio of capital to labor(KL), and the ratio of foreign intermediate goods (FIG) to industrial output. The average value for total factor productivity growth was estimated to be 0.0199 in manufacturing and 0.0063 in the service industry. The markup and KL elasticities of TFP were estimated to be 2.481 and 0.651 in manufacturing respectively and -1.403 and 0.042 in the service industry respectively. The empirical results suggest that the industrial markup and the ratio of capital to labor have had decisive effects on the changes in the total factor productivity in the Korean manufacturing and service industries during the period 1975:1-2016:4.

• Journal of Korean Society of Transportation
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• v.19 no.6
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• pp.89-102
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• 2001

Using a multiproduct translog cost function model, this paper examines the existence or absence of scale and scope economies in Seoul's urban bus industry. The Paper then conceptualizes that the bus firm produces three outputs (city, seat and local bus-kilometers) using low input factors(labor, capital, fuel and maintenance). Using 1996 annual observations for 81 Seoul's bus firms, the equation system consisting of a cost function and three input share equations is estimated with the nonlinear iterative Zellner method. The findings show that the cost function corresponding to a non-homothetic production technology with separability between local bus outputs and inputs adequately represents the structure of cost for Seoul's bus firms, and that the demand lot all input factors is quite inelastic with respect to their own price. On the other hand, nearly all firms experience mild overall economies or scale, but rather marked product-specific economies of scale with respect to all the three outputs. In addition, there appear to be substantial economies or scope associated with the joint production of city and seat bus services, while considerable diseconomies of scope associated with that of city and local bus services. These results indicate that the merger of smaller firms into larger firms with a fleet of approximately 200 buses would result in more cost-efficient bus services.

• Journal of Korean Society of Transportation
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• v.25 no.6
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• pp.141-157
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• 2007

This paper evaluates the effects of privatization and deregulation on the firm-specific efficiency and total factor productivity (TFP) growth in the Korean and Japanese railways. Using a stochastic frontier approach and a generalized translog functional form, the paper specifies the equation system consisting of a multiproduct variable cost function and input share equations which is estimated with Zellner's iterative seemingly unrelated regression and the corrected least squares method. The Korean and Japanese railway firms are assumed to produce three outputs (Shinkansen passenger-kilometers, incumbent railway passenger-kilometers, ton-kilometers of freight) using three input factors (labor, fuel, maintenance and rolling stock). A monetary value of the ways and fixed installations held by the railroad firm is also included as a quasi-fixed input. The empirical results indicate that the average estimate of cost inefficiency is 2.57% for the total sample and on the average, JNR and JR Kyushu are found to be worst efficient while the most efficient railway firm in the sample is JR West. Also the cost efficiency levels of seven JRs have been improved after the reform and privatization of JNR. The findings also indicate that TFP growth of the privately-owned JRs are higher than those of the government-owned KNR and JNR. Three-island JRs and JR Freight have slightly higher TFP growth than Honshu JRs as well. Thus, the results suggest that managerial autonomy and increased competition via deregulation have improved efficiency and TFP growth.

• Journal of Environmental Policy
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• v.9 no.4
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• pp.3-27
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• 2010

In this paper, we have analyzed the cost structure of the Korean manufacturing industry in relation to the central government's environmental investment(CGEI below) by applying translog variable cost function. Important findings are as follows. First, sufficiency degree of CGEI of 0.7230, less than optimal level of 1, causes production inefficiency. Therefore, central government should forward a strategy to raise CGEI to meet appropriate standards. In addition, inspite of the deficiency of CGEI, shadow priceis lower than market price due to q-value of 0.9572, yielding unfavorable conditions for CGEI. However, CGEI brings about increase in output, variable cost saving, and economies of scale of firms. Second, by comparing this study with an existing study(2010), we have discovered the following facts. In both studies, we find that there are deficiency of investment, unfavorable conditions in investment, economies of scale, and output increase due to investment. However, the current study has found that, CGEI, which shows efficiency by positive(+) shadow price, saves variable cost. Therefore, firms suffer from production inefficiency due to variable cost caused by a shortage of efficient CGEI. Moreover, the previous study conducted in 2010 found that investment in prevention of environmental pollution(IPEP below), which indicates inefficiency by negative(-) shadow price, cannot reduce variable cost. In such circumstances, firms yield abnormal production efficiency based on variable cost savings caused by inefficient IPEP. For this reason, firms should raise IPEP to optimal level to reduce IPEP inefficiency to achieve production efficiency by reducing variable cost.

• Journal of Korea Port Economic Association
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• v.26 no.4
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• pp.63-87
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• 2010

The purpose of this paper is to measure the efficiency of Korean container terminals by using SFA(Stochastic Frontier Analysis). Inputs[Number of Employee, Quay Length, Container Terminal Area, Number of Gantry Crane], and output[TEU] are used for 3 years(2002,2003, and 2004) for 8 Korean container terminals by applying both SFA and DEA models. Empirical main results are as follows: First, Null hypothesis that technical inefficiency is not existed is rejected and in the trasnslog model, the estimate is significant. Second, time-series models show the significant results. Third, average technical efficiency of Korean container terminals are 73.49% in Cobb-Douglas model, and 79.04% in translog model. Fourth, to enhance the technical efficiency, Korean container terminals should increase the handling amount of TEUs. Fifth, both SFA and DEA models have the high Spearman ranking of correlation coefficients(84.45%). The main policy implication based on the findings of this study is that the manager of port investment and management of Ministry of Land, Transport and Maritime Affairs in Korea should introduce the SFA with DEA models for measuring the efficiency of Korean ports and terminals.

• KDI Journal of Economic Policy
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• v.12 no.2
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• pp.51-79
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• 1990

Research on technical efficiency, an important dimension of market performance, had received little attention until recently by most industrial organization empiricists, the reason being that traditional microeconomic theory simply assumed away any form of inefficiency in production. Recently, however, an increasing number of research efforts have been conducted to answer questions such as: To what extent do technical ineffciencies exist in the production activities of firms and plants? What are the factors accounting for the level of inefficiency found and those explaining the interindustry difference in technical inefficiency? Are there any significant international differences in the levels of technical efficiency and, if so, how can we reconcile these results with the observed pattern of international trade, etc? As the first in a series of studies on the technical efficiency of Korea's manufacturing industries, this paper attempts to answer some of these questions. Since the estimation of technical efficiency requires the use of plant-level data for each of the five-digit KSIC industries available from the Census of Manufactures, one may consture the findings of this paper as empirical evidence of technical efficiency in Korea's manufacturing industries at the most disaggregated level. We start by clarifying the relationship among the various concepts of efficiency-allocative effciency, factor-price efficiency, technical efficiency, Leibenstein's X-efficiency, and scale efficiency. It then becomes clear that unless certain ceteris paribus assumptions are satisfied, our estimates of technical inefficiency are in fact related to factor price inefficiency as well. The empirical model employed is, what is called, a stochastic frontier production function which divides the stochastic term into two different components-one with a symmetric distribution for pure white noise and the other for technical inefficiency with an asymmetric distribution. A translog production function is assumed for the functional relationship between inputs and output, and was estimated by the corrected ordinary least squares method. The second and third sample moments of the regression residuals are then used to yield estimates of four different types of measures for technical (in) efficiency. The entire range of manufacturing industries can be divided into two groups, depending on whether or not the distribution of estimated regression residuals allows a successful estimation of technical efficiency. The regression equation employing value added as the dependent variable gives a greater number of "successful" industries than the one using gross output. The correlation among estimates of the different measures of efficiency appears to be high, while the estimates of efficiency based on different regression equations seem almost uncorrelated. Thus, in the subsequent analysis of the determinants of interindustry variations in technical efficiency, the choice of the regression equation in the previous stage will affect the outcome significantly.

• KDI Journal of Economic Policy
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• v.14 no.2
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• pp.109-153
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• 1992

This paper estimates a translog cost function for the Korea's banking industry and derives various implications on the prospect for the Korean banking structure in the future based on the estimated efficiency indicators for the banking sector. The Korean banking industry is permitted to operate trust business to the full extent and the security business to a limited extent, while it is formally subjected to the strict, specialized banking system. Security underwriting and investment businesses are allowed in a very limited extent only for stocks and bonds of maturity longer than three year and only up to 100 percent of the bank paid-in capital. Until the end of 1991, the ceiling was only up to 25 percent of the total balance of the demand deposits. However, they are prohibited from the security brokerage business. While the in-house integration of security businesses with the traditional business of deposit and commercial lending is restrictively regulated as such, Korean banks can enter the security business by establishing subsidiaries in the industry. This paper, therefore, estimates the efficiency indicators as well as the cost functions, identifying the in-house integrated trust business and security investment business as important banking activities, for various cases where both the production and the intermediation function approaches in modelling the financial intermediaries are separately applied, and the banking businesses of deposit, lending and security investment as one group and the trust businesses as another group are separately and integrally analyzed. The estimation results of the efficiency indicators for various cases are summarized in Table 1 and Table 2. First, security businesses exhibit economies of scale but also economies of scope with traditional banking activities, which implies that in-house integration of the banking and security businesses may not be a nonoptimal banking structure. Therefore, this result further implies that the transformation of Korea's banking system from the current, specialized system to the universal banking system will not impede the improvement of the banking industry's efficiency. Second, the lending businesses turn out to be subjected to diseconomies of scale, while exhibiting unclear evidence for economies of scope. In sum, it implies potential efficiency gain of the continued in-house integration of the lending activity. Third, the continued integration of the trust businesses seems to contribute to improving the efficiency of the banking businesses, since the trust businesses exhibit economies of scope. Fourth, deposit services and fee-based activities, such as foreign exchange and credit card businesses, exhibit economies of scale but constant returns to scope, which implies, the possibility of separating those businesses from other banking and trust activities. The recent trend of the credit card business being operated separately from other banking activities by an independent identity in Korea as well as in the global banking market seems to be consistent with this finding. Then, how can the possibility of separating deposit services from the remaining activities be interpreted? If one insists a strict definition of commercial banking that is confined to deposit and commercial lending activities, separating the deposit service will suggest a resolution or a disappearance of banking, itself. Recently, however, there has been a suggestion that separating banks' deposit and lending activities by allowing a depository institution which specialize in deposit taking and investing deposit fund only in the safest securities such as government securities to administer the deposit activity will alleviate the risk of a bank run. This method, in turn, will help improve the safety of the payment system (Robert E. Litan, What should Banks Do? Washington, D.C., The Brookings Institution, 1987). In this context, the possibility of separating the deposit activity will imply that a new type of depository institution will arise naturally without contradicting the efficiency of the banking businesses, as the size of the banking market grows in the future. Moreover, it is also interesting to see additional evidences confirming this statement that deposit taking and security business are cost complementarity but deposit taking and lending businesses are cost substitute (see Table 2 for cost complementarity relationship in Korea's banking industry). Finally, it has been observed that the Korea's banking industry is lacking in the characteristics of natural monopoly. Therefore, it may not be optimal to encourage the merger and acquisition in the banking industry only for the purpose of improving the efficiency.