The Allocation Of Urban-rural Logistics Resources On Efficiency And Equity Trade-off

The reasonable allocation of urban-rural logistics resources is important for the equalization of urban-rural public service and poverty alleviation.It's an effective way to promote the integrated development of urban and rural areas in China since it could narrow the gap between them.Besides,the logistics demands in rural areas are increasing explosively with the development of rural E-commerce and the enhancement of residents' consumption capacity.Therefore,the allocation of urban-rural logistics resources should be concerned at the requirements of society fairness and urban-rural development.On the one hand,the input of logistics resources in rural areas should be attached importance which assures rural residents obtaining equal logistics service and provides the equal chance for the rural economic and social development.On the other hand,we should face up to the urban-rural dual structure,which implies differences in input-output ratios.To decide the appropriate allocation of urban-rural logistics resources,three critical problems should be solved considering the efficiency and equity goals.Firstly,how to balance those two goals when they are conflicting? There should be a method for the decision makers to choose the optimal solution based on their preferences.Secondly,how to achieve the trade-off between the efficiency and equity in practical problems? It requires the const ructions of models fully considering the properties of logistics demand and supply.Thirdly,how to make incentive or compensation policies to solve the disaccord between the businesses and governments? The core issue is to decide the subsidy mode and amou nt.This paper mainly research the following three aspects.Firstly,the method of balancing the efficiency and equity is explored.By analyzing the objectives and implementations of the efficiency and equity under multiple allocation situations,we can ge t the answer about the conditions where those two goals are coherent or inconsistent.Then,an equity parameter is introduced into the society welfare function which leads to multiple feasible solutions with varying degrees of efficiency and equity perform ances.By calculating the efficiency and equity loss of all the feasible solutions,the decision makers could choose the optimal one based on their own preferences quantized by their toleration about the loss.Secondly,the modes and algorithms about the resources amount distribution and facility location problems are studied.An allocation model with fairness and efficiency considerations is established under multi-stage demands and insufficient resources.An improved water-filling algorithm is proposed t o find the maximal allocation under lexicographical order in the single stage.Afterwards an efficient algorithm is designed to solve the multi-stage problem.This method allows decision makers to choose among Pareto solutions according to their preference s.After setting the amounts,the facility location problem is discussed under the random demand condition.The time satisfaction functions as the measure of service level reflects the differences between urban and rural demands.The system of customers and distribution centers is considered to be an M/M/k queuing system.The queuing discipline allows demands transfer when the distribution site is busy.The hypercube model is provided to calculate the probability of centers being available.The p-envy,Gini,Lexmax,p-median models are built and compared which gives the suggestions about location decisions.Finally,the subsidy policies for the companies and regions are discussed.To depict the decision behaviors of the business and governments,a multi-objective model of the company is constructed considering the loss of unfairness measured through the envy,while the decision model of the government is built based on the variable weight method.It turns out that those two agents have a quite different behaviors in resources allocation which calls for the government regulation.A three-stage game model between the government and two competitive companies is constructed to solve the company's pricing and government's subsidy problems.In terms of the shortage public logistics resources,a compensation method based on the individual preference is proposed.This research systematically discusses the logistics resources allocation from the perspectives of the efficiency and equity with fully consideration of the urbanrural logistics demand and supply properties.It solves crucial problems including the trade-off between the efficiency and equity,the resources amount distribution,the facility location and the subsidy policies.The research is important in both theory and practice.It not only enriches the theories in the urban-rural logistics field,but also extends the study of resources allocation.Practically,it provides the decision-making references for both the companies and government.It's beneficial for releasing logistics demands in rural areas and promoting the service levels of urban-rural logistics.