Socio-economic Planning Sciences最新文献

{"title":"What is the difference between specialisation and diversity in hospitals? Investigating their relationship with efficiency","authors":"Ginevra Giuliani,&nbsp;Simone Gitto","doi":"10.1016/j.seps.2025.102251","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.seps.2025.102251","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>The relationship between hospital specialisation and efficiency is crucial for managing hospital services. We discuss hospital specialisation as a specific instance of the more general concept of diversity and the conceptual opposite of variety. Unlike prior studies that focus on specialisation measures without a theoretical background, we employ the Blau Index, based on the concept of variety, enabling us to assess diversification's impact on efficiency.</div><div>We apply the non-parametric meta-frontier approach to a sample of Italian hospitals from 2000 to 2019 in a two-stage analysis. In the first phase, we employ Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) to evaluate healthcare efficiency. In the second phase, we use bootstrap truncated regression to explore the impact of hospital specialisation and various organisational factors on efficiency.</div><div>Our findings challenge the prevailing assumption that specialisation leads to higher efficiency, showing instead that hospitals with greater diversification tend to perform better. Hospital managers and regional decision makers can leverage this insight to make informed strategic decisions regarding strategic planning for service delivery.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":22033,"journal":{"name":"Socio-economic Planning Sciences","volume":"100 ","pages":"Article 102251"},"PeriodicalIF":6.2,"publicationDate":"2025-05-22","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144147962","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"经济学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"The Compliance Officer in Nonprofit Cooperative Societies: Validation of the figure through the Best–Worst Method","authors":"Cristina Ortega-Rodríguez ,&nbsp;Álvaro Labella ,&nbsp;Ma del Consuelo Ruiz-Rodríguez","doi":"10.1016/j.seps.2025.102241","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.seps.2025.102241","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>The objective of this research is to validate the responsibilities attributable to the figure of the Compliance Officer based on the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) 37301 Standard on Compliance Management Systems. The lack of previous studies and the need of the Compliance Officer as an important figure within Nonprofit Cooperative Societies justify our interest and the timeliness of this research. Besides, Nonprofit Cooperative Societies can play a significant role in advancing the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals through their unique structure and community-focused mission. Based on ISO 37301, a total of 27 indicators have been defined and grouped into 6 blocks. In order to empirically validate the proposed indicators, a questionnaire was designed and anonymously answered by a series of expert managers in the mentioned sector in Spain. Afterward, a multi-criteria decision approach, the so-called Best-Worst Method, is applied to obtain the optimal weights of such indicators from the questionnaire answers. In the event of differences of opinions regarding the resulting weights, a consensus process based on minimum cost consensus is applied to obtain agreed weights that satisfy all the experts.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":22033,"journal":{"name":"Socio-economic Planning Sciences","volume":"100 ","pages":"Article 102241"},"PeriodicalIF":6.2,"publicationDate":"2025-05-21","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144147964","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"经济学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Assessing regional economic Performance: Fuzzy multi-criteria decision making and panel regression approach","authors":"Constantin Marius Profiroiu ,&nbsp;Alina Georgiana Profiroiu ,&nbsp;Daniela-Luminția Constantin ,&nbsp;Ionuț Nica ,&nbsp;Camelia Delcea ,&nbsp;Maria Roxana Brişcariu","doi":"10.1016/j.seps.2025.102245","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.seps.2025.102245","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>This study presents a novel methodological framework that integrates Fuzzy Multi-Criteria Decision-Making (MCDM) techniques with panel regression analysis to assess regional economic performance in Romania. The primary objective of this research is to evaluate and prioritize key economic policies aimed at addressing regional disparities. By applying Fuzzy TOPSIS and Fuzzy Electre methods, the study approaches a more flexible and detailed evaluation of policy effectiveness, accounting for the uncertainty and variability inherent in regional economic data. Additionally, panel regression analysis is used to explore the relationships between socioeconomic factors and regional GDP growth, while Granger causality tests identify significant interdependencies among key variables. The case study, covering the period from 2003 to 2022, shows significant regional disparities, with Bucharest-Ilfov emerging as the most economically advanced region, while South-West Oltenia and West regions face considerable challenges. The results highlight the importance of regional factors, such as the number of postgraduate students and IT infrastructure, as key drivers of economic growth. This research contributes to the literature by proposing a hybrid approach that integrates fuzzy logic with econometric analysis, providing a robust tool for formulating evidence-based, region-specific policies aimed at fostering balanced economic development across Romania.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":22033,"journal":{"name":"Socio-economic Planning Sciences","volume":"100 ","pages":"Article 102245"},"PeriodicalIF":6.2,"publicationDate":"2025-05-16","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144099518","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"经济学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"The impact of tap water on household vulnerability to poverty: Evidence from rural China","authors":"Mingcong Chen,&nbsp;Qiqi Sun,&nbsp;Lizhi Tang","doi":"10.1016/j.seps.2025.102246","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.seps.2025.102246","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>The improvement of clean water supply is crucial for the development of rural areas. This study examines the impact of tap water use on the vulnerability of rural households to poverty based on the China Health and Retirement Longitudinal Study (CHARLS) four-period household data. The findings reveal that, from an ex-ante perspective, the utilization of tap water significantly reduces poverty vulnerability. The channel through which the usage of tap water mitigates poverty vulnerability lies in enhancing residents' health and increasing the labor supply. Further analysis indicates that the use of tap water exerts a more pronounced impact on elderly families, those with higher levels of education, families living without their children, and individuals residing in areas deeply influenced by Confucian culture. Overall, this study contributes to a more nuanced understanding of the welfare effects associated with clean water utilization among rural communities, thereby providing important implications for developing countries or regions undertaking water improvement initiatives as a means to stimulate sustainable economic growth.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":22033,"journal":{"name":"Socio-economic Planning Sciences","volume":"100 ","pages":"Article 102246"},"PeriodicalIF":6.2,"publicationDate":"2025-05-16","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144147963","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"经济学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"The impact of public health policies on online food delivery services in China","authors":"Hongying Zhao,&nbsp;Luning Liu","doi":"10.1016/j.seps.2025.102243","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.seps.2025.102243","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>This paper explores the impact of global COVID-19 lockdown policies on online food delivery services. Sales data from 195 Chinese cities, the impact of lockdown policies on food delivery was evaluated using a time-varying difference-in-differences approach, focusing on the effects at the start and end of the lockdown. The results indicate that lockdown policies significantly reduced the demand for online food delivery services, with sales decreasing by approximately 20.8 %. After the lockdowns were lifted, demand began to recover, but it did not return to pre-lockdown levels. The study found significant variations in the impact of lockdown policies across cities, likely due to cultural factors, pandemic severity, economic conditions and city hierarchy. This study provides an in-depth analysis of the interaction between public health policies and the online food delivery service industry, offering empirical insights for policy-making and corporate strategies during health crises.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":22033,"journal":{"name":"Socio-economic Planning Sciences","volume":"100 ","pages":"Article 102243"},"PeriodicalIF":6.2,"publicationDate":"2025-05-15","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144089694","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"经济学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Optimizing air-HSR intermodal service considering trade-offs in duration at airport: A game analysis in a vertically structured transport market","authors":"Yingzhi Wang,&nbsp;Xiushan Jiang,&nbsp;Jihui Ma","doi":"10.1016/j.seps.2025.102244","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.seps.2025.102244","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Empirical experience of air-HSR intermodal service (AHIS) indicates that transfer processes significantly influence passengers' travel experience and are key to the optimization of AHIS. Airports serve as key nodes for AHIS services, and passengers' waiting costs and service experience at airports are the primary measurements of transfer processes. This paper investigates the optimization of AHIS by considering the trade-offs related to the duration at airports within the airport-transport operator-passenger system. Using an economic game model, we explore the interactions of AHIS connection adjustments, service quality enhancements, and stakeholder incentives across different airline market structures. Key analytical findings suggest that with moderate baseline AHIS connection times, optimization increases passenger traffic and overall transport volume, especially under public airport ownership and duopoly airline markets. We conduct numerical studies based on the Beijing-Shijiazhuang-Shanghai market, finding that AHIS optimization always reduces overall transfer negative utility and improves consumer surplus and social welfare, mainly where passenger sensitivity to service quality is not low. However, the effects on concession revenue and airport profit are not stable. The effects are more pronounced in duopoly markets than in monopoly markets. The sensitivity analysis highlights that while increased concession revenue per passenger benefits the entire transport market system, excessive revenue per unit can paradoxically harm individual transfer experience. Model extensions incorporating variable AHIS coordination costs and endogenous maximum tolerable waiting time demonstrate stable traffic and welfare gains while boosting concession revenue compared to the base model. Finally, several policy and operation insights are discussed.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":22033,"journal":{"name":"Socio-economic Planning Sciences","volume":"100 ","pages":"Article 102244"},"PeriodicalIF":6.2,"publicationDate":"2025-05-14","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144089693","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"经济学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Assessing bargaining and cooperation through longitudinal clustering analysis: Evidence from a lab-in-the-field experiment","authors":"Edgardo Bucciarelli ,&nbsp;Aurora Ascatigno","doi":"10.1016/j.seps.2025.102239","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.seps.2025.102239","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>This study investigates human economic behaviour through longitudinal clustering methods applied to lab-in-the-field experimental data. The experimental design combines the ultimatum game and the public goods game, which are widely used to examine behaviours in both the private and public sectors. To reproduce a more realistic scenario involving bargaining, resource inequality, and cooperation, the final payoffs from 30 rounds of the ultimatum game were used as initial endowments in the subsequent public goods game. The Gini coefficient illustrates how the ultimatum game generates imbalances, thereby providing an experimental foundation for studying resource inequality. Participants endowed with greater resources contributed proportionately larger amounts. Over time, contributions declined across all groups, reaching similar levels despite persistent resource inequalities at the start of the public goods game. The behavioural trajectories were analysed using k-means longitudinal clustering (KML) and growth mixture modelling (GMM). In the ultimatum game, proposers were classified into two categories: Those who consistently tended to make fair offers and those offering smaller amounts. The responders exhibited considerable heterogeneity, with unexpectedly high acceptance rates for relatively unfair offers. Two distinct contribution trajectories were identified in the public goods game. One group contributed a more significant proportion of their endowment than the mean, while the other contributed less. A joint trajectory analysis revealed consistent behavioural pathways observed in the two games. Proposers who made more equitable offers in the ultimatum game were likelier to contribute a greater proportion of their endowment in the subsequent public goods game. Ultimatum game data showed significant behavioural heterogeneity, while public goods game contributions averaged around 40 per cent with notable uniformity. Cooperative behaviour persisted regardless of initial endowment size or ultimatum game decisions, with notable differences across academic backgrounds.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":22033,"journal":{"name":"Socio-economic Planning Sciences","volume":"100 ","pages":"Article 102239"},"PeriodicalIF":6.2,"publicationDate":"2025-05-13","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144071894","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"经济学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Effective strategies for the prediction of aircraft passenger seat (dis-)comfort based on Time Series Classification","authors":"Amalia Vanacore,&nbsp;Armando Ciardiello","doi":"10.1016/j.seps.2025.102240","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.seps.2025.102240","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Aircraft seat is one of the factors which mostly impact on passenger's flight experience and her/his willingness to choose the same airline in future occasions. The focus of this paper is on the prediction of passenger seat (dis-)comfort via objective methods based on the analysis of pressure distribution at seat interface. The aim is identifying the best strategy for predicting seat (dis-)comfort via the combination of well-known pressure indexes and Time Series Classification (TSC) algorithms applied in a univariate as well as a multivariate setting. To leverage the full potential of TSC algorithms, a comparison across different Data Augmentation (DA) techniques has been conducted. The comparison of seat (dis-)comfort prediction strategies provides useful insights on the informativeness of pressure features to accurately predict seat (dis-)comfort. Adopting a multivariate setting and expanding dataset size artificially have not enhanced predictive performance of TSC algorithms. The only exception results ResNet algorithm which in multivariate TSC benefits from DA, showing satisfactory predictive performance.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":22033,"journal":{"name":"Socio-economic Planning Sciences","volume":"100 ","pages":"Article 102240"},"PeriodicalIF":6.2,"publicationDate":"2025-05-08","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144069205","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"经济学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Research on the collaborative mechanism of a data trading market based on a four-party evolutionary game in the context of digital intelligence","authors":"Yue Li ,&nbsp;Guofu Li ,&nbsp;Anfeng Xu ,&nbsp;Fengmin Yao","doi":"10.1016/j.seps.2025.102238","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.seps.2025.102238","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>This paper aims to investigate how the strategic choices of regulatory agencies,transformation enterprises, data suppliers, and data trading platforms influence the vitality of the data trading market in the digital intelligence era, addressing existing challenges such as insufficient compliance and supply-demand mismatches. By integrating evolutionary game theory with system dynamics, this study constructs a four-party evolutionary game model for regulatory agencies, enterprises, data suppliers and trading platforms, and a simulation analysis was performed on the evolution path of the market equilibrium state caused by changes in key factors. The results indicate that: (1) a significant positive feedback mechanism exists between stringent regulation and active compliance by data suppliers, effectively alleviating compliance inadequacies; likewise, enterprise digital transformation and platform intelligent services also demonstrate significant positive feedback, contributing to resolving supply-demand mismatches. (2) Measures including enhanced regulatory benefits, reduced regulatory costs, increased benefits and reduced costs of enterprise digital transformation, and lowered platform intelligent upgrading costs collectively drive the market toward an ideal equilibrium (characterized by stringent regulation, active compliance, digital transformation, and intelligent services). Conversely, unfavorable conditions lead to a non-ideal equilibrium state, characterized by decreased compliance, reduced market participation, and lower efficiency.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":22033,"journal":{"name":"Socio-economic Planning Sciences","volume":"100 ","pages":"Article 102238"},"PeriodicalIF":6.2,"publicationDate":"2025-05-07","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144099517","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"经济学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"An efficient algorithm for multi-modal skyport location problem with choice-based demand","authors":"Gwang Kim ,&nbsp;Yoonjea Jeong ,&nbsp;Youngchul Shin","doi":"10.1016/j.seps.2025.102227","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.seps.2025.102227","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>This study presents the operation of urban air mobility (UAM), an innovative transportation technology aimed at alleviating traffic congestion in cities. A key consideration for the successful introduction and efficient operation of the transportation is to decide on locations of skyports, which are stations for vertical take-off and landing of air mobility. In this study, we cover a skyport location problem incorporating choice probabilities of transportation modes for each user by applying a binary logit model. The choice probabilities are predicted by considering factors such as fare, travel time, and social acceptance. We propose two mathematical formulations associated with the skyport location problem; one is to maximize the proportion of users who choose the UAM service and the other is to minimize the total sum of the travel time. The two models are NP-hard problems, necessitating an effective and efficient solution methodology for the problem. This study presents a methodology based on a cross-entropy algorithm, which is known for efficiently solving combinatorial optimization problems. We also validate the good performances of the solution methodology through numerical experiments.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":22033,"journal":{"name":"Socio-economic Planning Sciences","volume":"100 ","pages":"Article 102227"},"PeriodicalIF":6.2,"publicationDate":"2025-05-05","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143918254","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"经济学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}