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The purpose of this study is to investigate the multi- product
cost structure of the postal service in Taiwan, using the
regional data north,middle and south postal regions from 1982
to 1992. From the estimation results we found that: 1.The
postal in Taiwan is not a natural monopoly. In the pre- output
combination, not all of postal regions have apparent ray scale
economies, but do exist scope economies. The ana- lysis of
product specific scale economies showed that the " ordinary"
and the "prompt & speedpost" services don''t have clear
economies sclae, but the "parcel and registerd" serv- ice has
more distinct economies of scale. 2.The production technology
of our postal services isn''t homothetic, that is , the output
and inputs are related. Therefore,a flexible cost function form
should be used instead of a Cobb-Douglas one. 3.The Allen
partial elasticity of substitution indicated that the labor for
"mail processing" is a substitute for "other labor" and
"business"sre complements.The factor of transpor- tation has
the higest price elasticity,labor has the second high,while
"business has the lowest. 4.Among all outputs,the "parcel and
registered" service has the lowest cost elasticity.For the
special favor of mailing the "registered"services in our
country, our postal office should improve the business of the
"registered"services qual- ity to catch this advantages. 5.The
cost elasticities of time indicated that the produvti- vities
of these three postal regions have all been decreasing in the
past years.
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