• Journal of The Korean Society of Agricultural Engineers
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• v.57 no.5
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• pp.29-35
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• 2015

The optimal greenhouse scales for controlled tomato should be studied because the increase of oil price and labor costs following the shortage of workforce makes greenhouse cultivation hard to gain profits. The purpose of this study is to estimate optimal production scales by greenhouse types for controlled tomato. The translog cost function is estimated based on the production cost survey data. The results can be summarized as follows: First, the average production cost of controlled tomato per kg decreases as the production scale increases. Second, according to the tomatoes farm of standard farming income data of RDA, the minimum production scale is 23 ton. Third, the estimated output of single-span greenhouse considering production scale with minimum average cost is 345 ton and production cost per kg is 1,476 won. The corresponding figures of multi-span greenhouse are 415 ton and 936 won, respectively. The study results can be used as basic materials for efficient decision making of tomato farmhouses and novice farmers. Also, the study shows that multi-span greenhouse should be encouraged to be built, since it requires lower marginal cost than single greenhouse. The results of this paper will help increase the income of farmhouses and cut expenses for the coming years.

• Journal of Korean Society of Water and Wastewater
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• v.27 no.1
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• pp.11-20
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• 2013

This Study includes the information of integrated discussion and economies of scale on local governments' sewerage treatment plant through translog function based on the reality reports of sewerage treatment plant operation published by Ministry of Environment and sewerage statistics data from 2005 to 2010. Based on analysis results from the data of 35 local governments in Jeollanamdo and Jeollabukdo, which are selected as pilot project areas of sewerage facility integration by Ministry of Environment and have low percent of sewered population, it shows the existence of economies of scale. The economies of scale on sewerage treatment show the loss of approximately 22,211 thousand ton/day in sewage treatment, it is 1.7 times compared to the average treatment amount of 35 local governments as of 2010. It means the economies of scale can be achieved by lowering operation cost along with large scale integration in installation, operation and maintenance due to the features of sewerage industry as one of network industry.

• Environmental and Resource Economics Review
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• v.27 no.3
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• pp.399-420
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• 2018

This study has attempted environmental economic analysis on the cost structure of offshore fisheries based on fishery management data published by the Fisheries Research Institute to examine the effect of the environmental policy on the fisheries for the effective implementation of the Paris Convention. Under the assumption that both fisheries and carbon dioxide are simultaneously produced, the cost structure of offshore fisheries were analyzed. Cost function in a translog form was estimated and SUR (Seemingly Unrelated Regression) model was used for the analysis. Here, $CO_2$ emission of offshore fishery was calculated by using National Federation of Fisheries Cooperatives' data on supply of tax exemption oil (2003~2016). The cost function estimation showed that there is a weak disposition between catches and $CO_2$ emissions during the sample period, and the marginal abatement cost (MAC) is estimated at 1,457 won per year. In addition, for the same period, when 1% of $CO_2$ per horsepower is to be reduced MAC increases by 2.2%, and when 1% of $CO_2$ per 1 ton of catch is to be reduced, MAC increases by 1.4%.

• Journal of the Korea Academia-Industrial cooperation Society
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• v.16 no.9
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• pp.5843-5849
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• 2015

This study analyzes the factor demand structure of sweet persimmon as a part of finding out cost cutting measures. Income and cost data from 2001~2013 Agricultural Income Survey are used for placing the translog cost function and estimating price elasticies and cross elasticities of labor, capital and intermediate input. The result shows that own price elasticities of all factors are small in absolute terms. Additionally the result indicates capital and intermediate input cannot be a substitution for labor, which is a top-line cost-share. It means that the demand for labor cconstitutionally can't be reduced in a short time. This implies that cost reduction should be done focusing on intermediate input, particularly on fertilizer and materials which have higher price elasticity of demand.

• 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.

• The Journal of the Korea Contents Association
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• v.13 no.11
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• pp.176-186
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• 2013

The purpose of this study is to investigate the economies of scale and scope in the medical service industry of Korea using the multiple output translog cost function. The results show that the single-product scale economy (SSE) estimated is highly significant and less than one, implying that Korean medical service institutes are on average enjoying the product-specific scale economy in providing their services. In addition, the ray scale economies (RSE) reflects the overall economy of the scale in individual firm, showing less than one. Thus, the medical service industry in Korea is generally operating in the region of increasing returns to scale. The findings provide evidence of the economy of scope, in particular, with the joint production of inpatient and outpatient services as well as inpatient and administrative services.

• Journal of Korea Trade
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• v.26 no.3
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• pp.23-44
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• 2022

Purpose - Recent issues such as vessel enlargement, strengthening of environmental regulations, and port smartization are expected to increase costs and intensify competition in the port industry. In the new normal era, when external growth has reached its limit, the efficient operation of ports is becoming indispensable for achieving sustainable growth. This study aims to identify the determinants of inefficiency by examining the cost structure and efficiency of container terminals in Korea and furthermore propose the political implications to derive the maximization of efficiency. Design/methodology - This study estimates the cost function of container terminal operators and identifies the efficiency of container terminals using stochastic cost frontier (SCF) in the first stage. In the second step, the SCF results are compared with the data envelopment analysis (DEA). Last, this paper proposes efficiency determinants on container terminal operation to establish appropriate strategies. Out of the 29 container terminal operators in South Korea, 13 operators participated in the survey. The translog cost function was estimated utilizing a total of 116 observations collected over the 2007-2017 period. Findings - Empirical analysis shows that economies of scale exist in Korea's container ports, which provides a rationale for the government's policy to establish the global terminal operator by integrating small terminal operators to enhance competitiveness. In addition, as a result of the determinants analysis, container throughput, weight of direct employment costs, and labour cost share have positive effects on improving cost efficiency, while inefficiency increases as the length of quay increases. More specifically, cost efficiency improves as the proportion of direct employment costs to outsourcing service costs increases. Originality/value - This study contributes to analyzing the inefficiency factors of container terminals through efficiency analysis with respect to a cost function. In addition, this study proposes the practical and political implications, such as establishing a long-term manpower pool, the application of the hybrid liner terminal system, and the construction of a statistical data system, to improve the cost inefficiency of terminal operators.

• Korean Management Science Review
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• v.14 no.1
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• pp.1-10
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• 1997

We consider a problem of estimating the economics of scale for the natural gas industries. The goal programming/constrained regression is employed for estimating the economics of scale for the natural gas industry, and the problem is formulated as a linear programing problem. Also the translog cost function is used to represent the cost structure for the natural gas industry. The Korean Gas Corporation was selected as a case study, and we demonstrate that the suggested goal programming/constrained regression approach is appropriate for estimating the economies of scale for the Korean nature gas industry.

• Journal of Korea Technology Innovation Society
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• v.9 no.1
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• pp.175-198
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• 2006

Analyzing the effects of information technology(IT) in the life insurance Industry is important in establishing the direction for future information technology investment. In this research, the cost-elasticity of IT capital stock was measured by the SUR technique, using the second-order translog cost function, which was drawn out by a Taylor expansion of the multi-product joint cost function. Analysis was made based on data from 1991 to 2003 collected from 33 life insurance firms. The results show that although the effects of information technology investment vary according to individual life insurance firms, half of the life insurance firms surveyed reduced their costs by investing in information technology. The research also revealed that although large life insurance firms reduced their costs by investing in information technology medium & small life insurance firms and foreign ,life insurance firms increase their costs. Additionally, although both information capital and information labor increase as the information budget increases, the increase in information capital is larger than one in information labor. Because the price of information capital is decreased rapidly more than one of information-related labor.

• 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.