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In this paper, we discuss several aspects related to innovation and entrepreneurship in Latin America (LATAM). First, we document how LATAM lags behing high-income economies using various innovation indicators and how heterogeneity is a relevant issue for the region. Then, we review the main research topics related to innovation and entrepreneurship covered by economic academic research focused on the region. Within this context, we summarize the main results and contribution of the selected papers for this special issue. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

What kind of impact does the government's housing support expenditure have on residents' consumption? This is a topic that deserves in-depth study and is of practical significance. This study constructs provincial equilibrium panel data based on China's guaranteed housing construction and financial expenditures on housing support data from 1999–2009 and 2000–2021. It applies the systematic GMM method to estimate the impact of government housing support expenditures on residents' consumption. The study found that whatever form of expenditure on housing support contributed to the total consumption of urban residents, while the impact on the consumption structure had different results. Based on the divisions of consumption structure, the results of the increase in government housing support expenditure on the consumption structure of urban residents are different. An examination of different forms of housing support reveals that the predominantly secure form of housing construction has a positive effect on all consumption structure divisions. Whereas the predominantly monetary subsidy form has a significant positive relationship with housing, necessity, and durability consumption expenditures, it has a weak or even negative relationship with non-housing, non-necessity, and non-durability consumption expenditures. The research in this paper makes up for the lack of current literature examining the economic effects of housing support from the perspective of consumption structure and provides a theoretical basis and policy reference for constructing a multi-level gradient housing support system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With the rapid development of the global economy, industrial enterprises have become increasingly dependent on energy to drive economic growth. However, the relationship between efficient energy utilization and economic growth remains insufficiently explored. Existing research primarily focuses on either economic or engineering perspectives, often overlooking the thermodynamic nature of energy conversion processes. This limitation leads to an incomplete understanding of the relationship between energy efficiency and economic growth. This paper constructs a model of energy conversion efficiency in industrial enterprises through thermodynamic analysis and further explores the relationship between energy conversion efficiency and economic growth. The findings reveal that analyzing energy efficiency from a thermodynamic perspective provides a more scientific and comprehensive insight into the actual energy utilization in enterprises, offering theoretical support for achieving the dual goals of economic growth and efficient energy use. This study not only offers new perspectives for research in energy economics but also serves as a valuable reference for policymakers and corporate managers in strategic decision-making. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The majority of studies of agricultural productivity support the view that there is a relationship between productivity and farm size. How the size of a farm is related to its efficiency is a constant problem in agricultural economics research. It also has important implications for agricultural development policy. For developed countries, including the countries of the European Union, numerous studies show that, with the increase in the size of farms, their efficiency usually increases. Moreover, there is a constant decrease in the number of farms and the concentration of land and labor. For this reason, the problem of the influence of the economic size of a farm is included in the scope of the research related to the analysis of the relationship between the farm size and its efficiency. The purpose of the paper was to investigate the relative technical efficiency of the agricultural sector in the European Union (EU-27) using the Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA). It was found that with the increase in economic size, the technical efficiency of the researched farms improved. Attention was paid to the possibility of reducing labor inputs, mainly in farms of economic size classes ES1-ES4. No need to reduce the level of capital expenditure has been demonstrated. This emphasizes the growing importance of the substitution of labor with capital. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Throughout history, schools of economic thought have defined political economy—or economics—and its object of study in multiple ways. This paper reflects on the definitions of economics by schools of economic thought and also proposes the concepts of value and scarcity as key concepts to explain the differences between them. The most important findings of the paper are: (a) the ontological and epistemological characteristics of the concept of value and scarcity have shaped the definitions of economics; (b) the boundaries of the study object of economics have been expanded since today's mainstream economics deals with multiple topics as diverse as crime, education, development, health, etc. However, the methodological tools used in mainstream economics have been narrowed since approaches such as the philosophical, ethical, historical, and institutional approaches have been left behind; (c) the part of reality that mainstream economics can grasp have left behind important issues of the contemporary world, such as gender, social, and environmental issues. A clear understanding of the scope and boundaries of economics could help to define more realistic research questions for economic science, and it would help to define new economic paradigms that address the contemporary issues. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the current knowledge-based economy, the abilities of the national research system are a key driver of the country's competitiveness and socio-economic development. This paper compares the scientific standing of the OECD countries and eight other relevant economies. We use a bibliometric indicator of research performance, applied first at the individual level. This approach avoids the distortions of the aggregate-level analyses extant in literature and practice, which overlook the different publication intensities across research fields. We find a strong correlation between research performance and the economic competitiveness of nations and a moderate but significant correlation between research performance and the propensity to spend on research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The promises and risks of Artificial Intelligence permeate current policy statements and have attracted much attention by AI governance research. However, most analyses focus exclusively on AI policy on the national and international level, overlooking existing federal governance structures. This is surprising because AI is connected to many policy areas, where the competences are already distributed between the national and subnational level, such as research or economic policy. Addressing this gap, this paper argues that more attention should be dedicated to subnational efforts to shape AI and asks which themes are discussed in subnational AI policy documents with a case study of Germany's 16 states. Our qualitative analysis of 34 AI policy documents issued on the subnational level demonstrates that subnational efforts focus on knowledge transfer between research and industry actors, the commercialization of AI, different economic identities of the German states, and the incorporation of ethical principles. Because federal states play an active role in AI policy, analysing AI as a policy issue on different levels of government is necessary and will contribute to a better understanding of the developments and implementations of AI strategies in different national contexts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents an improved pelican optimization algorithm (IPOA) to solve the economic load dispatch problem. The vertical crossover operator in the crisscross optimization algorithm is integrated to expand the diversity of the population in the local search phase. The optimal individual is also introduced to enhance its ability to guide the whole population and add disturbance factors to enhance its ability to jump out of the local optimal. The dimensional variation strategy is adopted to improve the optimal individual and speed up the algorithm's convergence. The results of the IPOA showed that coal consumption was reduced by 0.0292%, 2.7273%, and 3.6739%, respectively, when tested on 10, 40, and 80-dimensional thermal power plant units compared to POA. The IPOA can significantly reduce the fuel cost of power plants. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article presents a list of English group work research related to social and communication study. The research group on media and global culture was chaired by Hilde Arntsen. The research on media structure and economics was chaired by Karl Erik Gustafsson , and the group assigned for the study on medialization of religion and culture was chaired by Knut Lundby .

Evidence-based policy ensures that the best interventions are effectively implemented. Integrating rigorous, relevant science into policy is therefore essential. Barriers include the evidence not being there; lack of demand by policymakers; academics not producing rigorous, relevant papers within the timeframe of the policy cycle. This piece addresses the last problem. Academics underestimate the speed of the policy process, and publish excellent papers after a policy decision rather than good ones before it. To be useful in policy, papers must be at least as rigorous about reporting their methods as for other academic uses. Papers which are as simple as possible (but no simpler) are most likely to be taken up in policy. Most policy questions have many scientific questions, from different disciplines, within them. The accurate synthesis of existing information is the most important single offering by academics to the policy process. Since policymakers are making economic decisions, economic analysis is central, as are the qualitative social sciences. Models should, wherever possible, allow policymakers to vary assumptions. Objective, rigorous, original studies from multiple disciplines relevant to a policy question need to be synthesized before being incorporated into policy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper aims to review one of the least used, but no less important, approaches in the assessment of the environmental implications of electricity generation: the Economic Input-Output Life Cycle Assessment (EIO-LCA). This methodology is a top-down approach intertwined with the environmental satellite accounts provided by the national statistical office. Through the use of economic input-output (IO) tables and industrial sector-level environmental and energy data, the EIO-LCA analysis allows for broad impact coverage of all sectors directly and indirectly involved with electricity generation. In this study, a brief overview of this methodology and the corresponding assumptions is presented, as well as an updated review of the different applications of the EIO-LCA approach in electricity generation, suggesting a possible classification of the many studies developed in this context. The different ways of overcoming the problem of disaggregation in the electricity sector are also addressed, namely by considering different IO table formats (i.e., symmetric or rectangular tables). This is a particularly relevant feature of our review, as the way in which electricity generation is modeled can result in different calculations of the costs and benefits of environmental policies. In this context, this paper further contributes to the literature by explaining and providing examples of distinct approaches to modeling the electricity sector in IO models on a detailed level. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Ecological efficiency (EE) provides much reference for formulating appropriate regional economic, social and environmental policies to promote sustainable development. Interactive subsystems of economy, society and environment within EE system have been considered in this paper. By innovatively integrating the merits of two advanced economic research methods (global super efficiency network data envelopment analysis (GSE-NDEA) and panel vector autoregression (PVAR) and updating the EE evaluation indicator system by following the new features of sustainable development in the recent China, this paper comprehensively evaluates EE by drawing evidence from 3 regions in China during the period of 2011–2020, and further reveals how the three subsystems within EE system interact to achieve EE enhancement. The findings show EE and its three subsystems’ trend, the major constrains of EE development, the regional discrepancies in EE progress, and the interactions among the subsystems of economy-society-environment within the EE system in different regions of China. The policy implications are proposed accordingly. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Historically, the focus of cost-effectiveness analyses has been on the costs to operate and deliver interventions after their initial design and launch. The costs related to design and implementation of interventions have often been omitted. Ignoring these costs leads to an underestimation of the true price of interventions and biases economic analyses toward favoring new interventions. This is especially true in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs), where implementation may require substantial up-front investment. This scoping review was conducted to explore the topics, depth, and availability of scientific literature on integrating implementation science into economic evaluations of health interventions in LMICs.Methods: We searched Web of Science and PubMed for papers published between January 1, 2010, and December 31, 2021, that included components of both implementation science and economic evaluation. Studies from LMICs were prioritized for review, but papers from high-income countries were included if their methodology/findings were relevant to LMIC settings.Results: Six thousand nine hundred eighty-six studies were screened, of which 55 were included in full-text review and 23 selected for inclusion and data extraction. Most papers were theoretical, though some focused on a single disease or disease subset, including: mental health (n = 5), HIV (n = 3), tuberculosis (n = 3), and diabetes (n = 2). Manuscripts included a mix of methodology papers, empirical studies, and other (e.g., narrative) reviews. Authorship of the included literature was skewed toward high-income settings, with 22 of the 23 papers featuring first and senior authors from high-income countries. Of nine empirical studies included, no consistent implementation cost outcomes were measured, and only four could be mapped to an existing costing or implementation framework. There was also substantial heterogeneity across studies in how implementation costs were defined, and the methods used to collect them.Conclusion: A sparse but growing literature explores the intersection of implementation science and economic evaluation. Key needs include more research in LMICs, greater consensus on the definition of implementation costs, standardized methods to collect such costs, and identifying outcomes of greatest relevance. Addressing these gaps will result in stronger links between implementation science and economic evaluation and will create more robust and accurate estimates of intervention costs.Trial Registration: The protocol for this manuscript was published on the Open Science Framework. It is available at: https://osf.io/ms5fa/ (DOI: 10.17605/OSF.IO/32EPJ). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The development of information technology such as the continuous improvement of mobile Internet infrastructure and the performance of computers has made it easy to process and share information. The huge market demand for location-based information services provides huge impetus to the generation and development of mobile terminal positioning technology. Generally speaking, the main causes of climate change can be summarized into two categories: natural climate fluctuations and the impact of human activities which is a major measure taken by China to actively respond to climate change. This is a successful approach to actively explore the rapid development of China's industrialization and urbanization, which not only develops the economy and improves people's livelihood but also responds to climate change and reduces carbon intensity. Firstly, this paper mainly is aimed at the connotation of regional low-carbon economic development mode, studying the basic mode of regional low-carbon economic development, and analyzing the characteristics and applicable conditions of each mode. Secondly, based on the machine learning algorithm of data mining, the main mode selection of regional low-carbon economic development is discussed. Thirdly and finally, when choosing the regional low-carbon economic development mode, comprehensive consideration should be given to the economic development basis, energy structure, resource characteristics, industrial status, development mode, geographic location, and other factors. This paper studies the basic conditions and applicable conditions of regional economic development models. The conclusion shows that from the perspective of regional economic evolution, low-carbon economy can be regarded as the decarbonization process of economic development. It is an economic form combining its own characteristics and an inevitable requirement for the transformation of regional economy from other economic models to low-carbon economic models. And other factors of Selection of regional economic development foundation, energy structure, resource characteristics, industrial status, development mode, geographical location, were also discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstracts are presented for multiple papers presented at the 2011 annual meeting of the Economic History Association including "Why Didn't Canada Have a Banking Crisis in 2008?" by Michael Bordo, Angela Redish and Hugh Rockoff, "When, Where, and Why? Early Industrialization in the Poor Periphery, 1870-1940," by Jeffrey G. Williamson, and "God and Risk: The Role of Religiosity in Rural Banking in Early-Twentieth-Century Netherlands," by Christopher L. Colvin.

Building a new development pattern based on the "double-cycle" is a major strategic plan of China. Under the background of the new development pattern of the "double-cycle" and the context of environmental constraints, this paper tries to explore the impact of marine economic development on marine cultural industry and marine innovation development, the extent of the impact of marine cultural industry on marine economic growth, and the internal relationship between them under the new development pattern of double circulation. In this paper, Fujian Province is taken as the research object to construct an indicator system of the marine culture development to reflect the living standard, employment level, and spiritual and cultural levels of people in the marine area, and the external influence of the marine economy and marine culture industry is taken as the indicator variable to measure the integrated development. The internal changes are regarded as the index to assess the integration level of the two, and the evaluation theoretical model of the dynamic evolution level of the marine economy and marine cultural industry is constructed. The vector autoregression model and impulse response function are used to study the interactive correlation between the growth of the marine economy and the development of the cultural industry. The results show the following: In the long run, there is a cointegration relationship between the marine culture industry and the gross ocean product (GOP), which is a long-term balanced and stable relationship. The development level of the marine economy and the development of marine culture industry are mutually influencing and promoting. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In recent years, China has been paying more and more attention to the development of the sports industry, and many sports are no longer seen as a mere sport, but can be developed into an industry and play an important role in the development of the economy. This paper examines the application of multi-source big data mining techniques in the analysis of basketball economic management. Firstly, through multi-source big data mining technology, we collect various factors that influence the development of basketball economic industrialization, use Hash Tree-based Apriori algorithm to mine various influencing factors for basketball economic industrialization, and analyze the correlation between each influencing factor. The association rule mining results are then used to analyze the relationship between the key influencing factors and the industrialization of the basketball economy. This paper examines various aspects of the Chinese basketball league market, including the management system, market operations, and talent flow, and compares them with the foreign basketball industry models, in order to analyze the operation of China's basketball industrialization and develop corresponding countermeasures to improve basketball economic management based on the results of the study. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The global trade and transportation sectors heavily rely on the maritime industry. Still, its dependence on fossil energy sources poses significant environmental challenges and leads to unstable fuel prices that affect the cost of goods transported by sea. This paper aims to evaluate the viability of seaports as energy-intensive entities and explore the feasibility of implementing a Nuclear-Renewable Hybrid Energy System (NRHES). The study presents a case study of the Tanjung Priok Port in Indonesia, focusing on estimating energy consumption, emissions, and the potential impact of carbon taxation on seaport operations. By quantifying these factors, the research provides insights into the energy requirements, environmental effects, and potential costs associated with seaport carbon taxation. A comprehensive analysis of the technical and economic feasibility of implementing an NRHES in the seaport case study is conducted, determining the optimal sizing and composition of components, considering the proportion of nuclear and renewable energy sources. Furthermore, the economic analysis takes into account energy expenses, net present value, cash flow, return on investment, and internal rate of return. The objective of these findings is to provide decision-makers with insights into the advantages and obstacles associated with implementing an NRHES, ultimately contributing to a cleaner and more sustainable future for the maritime sector. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Economic and Regional Development refers to the process of developing regions to improve their economic, political and social prosperity. This document analyses the unemployment rate of the NUTS 2 regions for 2008-2021. A model is proposed, which applies Social Network Analysis (SNA) within the framework of Economic and Regional Analysis. SNA is a process that allows the exploration of social structures using networks and graph theory. It presents the visualization of several networks, created based on the degree of correlation of the total unemployment rate data, and calculates measures and centrality metrics to conclude about the interaction and clustering of regions. The paper shows that by using SNA the interaction between regions and hence their clustering based on the change in the unemployment rate was detected, and it offers their visualization. Therefore, the application of SNA in economic and regional analysis could be a reliable methodology for future research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

It is of great significance to accurately predict the operation of the system economy, analyze the gains and losses of macrocontrol policies, evaluate the operation quality of the economic system, and correctly formulate the future development plan and strategy. This paper introduces the deep belief network, which has attracted much attention in the field of deep learning in recent years, into the research of system economic operation and management. This method solves the problems of slow training and learning speed, easy to fall into local minima and insufficient generalization of BP artificial neural network in the research of system economic operation and management. Taking the consumer price index and total import and export volume of F Province as the research object, the experiment proves that DBN has better application in system economic operation and management than BP neural network and vector autoregressive analysis. This paper analyzes and compares the modeling performance of DBN, BP neural network, and VaR method from many aspects, such as prediction accuracy, training convergence speed, and pretraining with or without samples. Relevant empirical results show that DBN has better economic prediction performance than BP neural network and ver. On the other hand, DBN can effectively use nonstandard samples to pretrain network weight parameters. Therefore, DBN is a better operation and management modeling means of economic system, with excellent practicability and application, and is expected to be popularized and applied in the field of economic forecasting. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Based on the close relationship between real estate and capital financing, this paper specifically discusses the impact of interest rate changes in China on real estate market transactions. Housing price regulation has been a hot and focused topic of economics research. It is important to explore the effect of interest rate on real estate market transactions, for the interest rate is an important tool for the government to carry out macrocontrol of the real estate market and affects residents' consumption choices of goods. Currently, most scholars believe that interest rate changes have a significant impact on house prices, but their studies are often based on empirical analysis of macro data, making it difficult to exclude the effects of economic differences, geographic characteristics, and other factors. Also, some scholars believe that it is difficult for interest rates to have a long-term impact on real estate prices. This paper applies the experimental economics method to simulate real estate transactions in the real market and control the irrelevant variables to study the movements of housing prices, transaction volumes, consumer transaction intentions and bubble indices under different deposit and lending rates. The results show that: (1) The level of deposit interest rate has a significant inhibitory effect on housing price and a significant promoting effect on real estate market transaction volume and traders' house-buying behavior. The higher the level of deposit interest rate is, the better the degree of regulating house prices deviating from the theoretical price is and the better the effect of inhibiting market bubbles. (2) The level of lending rate has a significant inhibiting effect on the volume of real estate transactions and a significant promoting effect on the house-buying behavior of traders, but its effect on housing prices and market bubbles is not significant. The higher the level of lending rate is, the better the degree of regulating housing prices deviating from the theoretical price is. (3) The effect of deposit interest rate and lending rate policies on the house selling behavior of market traders is not significant. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A thermodynamic, economic and environmental analysis of a regasification system including a simple Organic Rankine Cycle (ORC) and an Open Organic Rankine Cycle (OC) to utilise the liquefied natural gas (LNG) cold energy is carried out in the present paper. The proposed system, called ORC-OC, uses ambient seawater as heat source (open loop) and is implemented on board a Floating Storage Regasification Unit (FSRU) in order to reduce the greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions associated with the electricity generation plant, i.e., dual fuel (DF) engines. Regarding the ORC working fluids analysed, an ethane/propane zeotropic mixture is applied. The ORC-OC is compared with the simple ORC architecture, giving the first one better energy (lower specific energy consumption), exergy (higher exergy efficiency) and environmental (lower CO2e emissions) results. When compared to the regasification systems installed on board, the ORC-OC system reduces the specific energy consumption by 86.99 % and increases the exergy efficiency by 17.82 % with respect to the most efficient conventional system installed on FSRUs (direct seawater regasification system), leading to a reduction of CO2e emissions of more than 80 %. In addition, the ORC-OC system is more costeffective than conventional regasification systems when the LNG price is above 6,508 USD/MMBtu. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A novel economic impact model is proposed by this paper to analyze the impact of economic downturn on the air quality in Wuhan during the epidemic period, and to explore the effective solutions to improve the urban air pollution. The Space Optimal Aggregation Model (SOAM) is used to evaluate the air quality of Wuhan from January to April in 2019 and 2020. The analysis results show that the air quality of Wuhan from January to April 2020 is better than that of the same period in 2019, and it shows a gradually better trend. This shows that although the measures of household isolation, shutdown and production stoppage adopted during the epidemic period in Wuhan caused economic downturn, it objectively improved the air quality of the city. In addition, the impact of economic factors on PM2.5, SO2 and NO2 is 19%, 12% and 49% respectively calculated by the SOMA. This shows that industrial adjustment and technology upgrading for enterprises that emit a large amount of NO2 can greatly improve the air pollution situation in Wuhan. The SOMA can be extended to any city to analyze the impact of the economy on the composition of air pollutants, and it has extremely important application value at the level of industrial adjustment and transformation policy formulation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Option pricing is one of the most active Financial Economics research fields. Black-Scholes-Merton option pricing theory states that risk-neutral density is lognormal. However, markets' pieces of evidence do not support that assumption. More realistic assumptions impose substantial computational burdens to calculate option pricing functions. Risk-neutral density is a pivotal element to price derivative assets, which can be estimated through nonparametric kernel methods. A significant computational challenge exists for determining optimal kernel bandwidths, addressed in this study through a parallel computing algorithm performed using Graphical Processing Units. The paper proposes a tailor-made Cross-Validation criterion function used to define optimal bandwidths. The selection of optimal bandwidths is crucial for nonparametric estimation and is also the most computationally intensive. We tested the developed algorithms through two data sets related to intraday data for VIX and S&P500 indexes. • An example of such big data environments is information associated with financial options contracts. • Second, we developed methods to estimate the risk-neutral density as a pivotal element for options pricing. • Third, we found that nonparametric methods should be adapted for estimating the second derivatives, which relate to the risk-neutral densities. • Fourth, the proposed adaptations imply significant computational burdens defining bandwidths for nonparametric estimators. • Fifth, we found that parallel computing procedures can reduce computational times, compatible with needed dynamic updating. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents a predictive analysis of the Chinese economy in the post-epidemic era. Five major public health emergencies historically similar to the COVID-19 epidemic are used as the control group, and a fuzzy mathematical model is applied to forecast and analyze China's economy after the COVID-19 epidemic. The forecast results show that China's overall economy will have recovered to the pre-epidemic level in about 1 year, with the fastest recovery in individual economic indicators, followed by government final consumption and imports, then CPI, fiscal revenue, exports and money supply, and the slowest recovery in employment. Finally, a combination of all the parties makes policies and recommendations for China's economic and social development in the post-epidemic era. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, we want to draw the attention to the development of mathematical theory motivated by Management Science. Operations Research and Economics have been for long a source of sophisticated mathematical problems. This does not mean that there is a trend for abstraction disconnected with reality. On the contrary, it is the complexity of reality, together with the abundance of data, which requires more advanced mathematics. We hope that this very promising situation will motivate young talented mathematicians to devote their energy in this direction, and that this paper will provide some encouragement. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In order to explore the economic development trend in the postepidemic era, this paper improves the traditional clustering algorithm and constructs a postepidemic economic development trend analysis model based on intelligent algorithms. In order to solve the clustering problem of large-scale nonuniform density data sets, this paper proposes an adaptive nonuniform density clustering algorithm based on balanced iterative reduction and uses the algorithm to further cluster the compressed data sets. For large-scale data sets, the clustering results can accurately reflect the class characteristics of the data set as a whole. Moreover, the algorithm greatly improves the time efficiency of clustering. From the research results, we can see that the improved clustering algorithm has a certain effect on the analysis of economic development trends in the postepidemic era and can continue to play a role in subsequent economic analysis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In order to improve the environmental protection effect of agricultural body, this paper analyses the development of rural economy based on the concept of sustainable development. Moreover, in order to prevent the development and utilisation of agricultural resources from continuing to fall into the vicious circle of the past, this paper begins to explore new alternative agricultural models. In addition, this paper expounds the concepts of ecological compensation, agricultural versatility, ecological service function and value involved in this paper. From a long-term perspective, the necessary route for the development of modern agriculture is sustainable and emphasises the development of multiple functions of agriculture. Ultimately, this technique applies sustainable development with agricultural ecological protecting the environment research, uses the region as an example to analyses agricultural economic and environmentally sustainable development, analyses the problems of farm ecological environmental protection using real-life case studies, and recommends corresponding defensive measures to serve as a model for future research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aging asset management requires careful consideration of end-of-life of any asset. This is particularly serious with aging infrastructure which may require complete replacement of a large asset which has a long lead time. In many current End-of-Life analysis approaches to calculate unavailability, the period of interest is sub-divided into yearly cycles with the assumption that the asset is available at the start of the year. Although this assumption is adequate if the replacement time for the asset occurs within the year, with longer lead times this can create excessively optimistic availabilities. This paper presents an improved probabilistic tool for risk assessment due to End-of-Life failure unavailability which overcomes this deficiency. The End-of-Life methodology proposed in this paper is required when aging assets have long lead times to replacement and so the capital investment decision must be made several years ahead. The method is applied to evaluate the End-of-Life unavailability of Manitoba Hydro Bipole II HVdc converters. The results are corroborated using Monte Carlo simulation. Finally, the risk of End-of-Life is incorporated into an economic cost-benefit analysis corresponding to the presented unavailability evaluation method. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The automobile industry serves as the primary industry for national development and also enhances manufacturing development strategies. Its source of power comes from the maturity and operational efficiency of the technology innovation network within the industry. Firstly, this paper takes the automobile industry of the Yangtze River Economic Belt as the research object and depicts the topological structure of the 1985–2015 Industry-University-Research Cooperation Innovation Network (IURCIN) from the perspective of space-time evolution. Then, based on the 2015 industrial network characteristic data, the paper analyses the impact of individual network characteristics such as intermediate centrality, structural hole limitation, and cooperation intensity on the innovation performance of the respective network. At the same time, it adds innovation activity, per capita gross regional product (GRP), and research and development (R&D) fund input intensity as control variables in the quantitative analysis. The results show that the centrality and structural hole limitation significantly and positively affect the subject innovation performance. The cooperation intensity and the subject innovation performance have an inverted U-shaped relationship. The innovation activity has a positive effect on the subject's innovation performance. Furthermore, per capita GRP and R&D expenditure intensity on the main innovation performance is not significant. Finally, the countermeasures and suggestions are put forward to promote the innovation performance of each subject in the IURCIN. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of social basic medical insurance is to solve the problem that "medical treatment is difficult and expensive." With the implementation of new technologies and new diagnosis and treatment methods, the price of medicine has risen sharply. Under this background, can basic medical insurance still relieve the economic pressure of patients? Based on the tracking data of China Health and Nutrition Survey (CHNS) from 2006 to 2015, by constructing Heckman sample selection model, the paper finds that the basic medical insurance for urban employees (UEBMI) leads to an increase in medical expenses, among which only 0.61% can be attributed to the release of normal medical demand and 114.47% can be attributed to moral hazard; for flexible employees, 249.52% increase can be attributed to adverse selection. Based on this, the paper puts forward two suggestions: first, promoting Hierarchical Treatment Model to control the growth of medical expenses and second, guiding flexible employees to participate in the UEBMI. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The measurement of scientific performance is usually done giving the full credit of each paper to all its authors. Aiming to analyze the impact of the number of authors on the performance, we propose an adjustment to the h-index that is flexible enough to allow the consideration of distinct co-authorship weighting schemes. We then evaluate the publication performance of the members of the departments of economics of the top 10 world universities. Our results show that the number of authors per paper is rapidly increasing and that this dimension measurably affects the final ranking of authors even in a subject area where the average number of authors is lower than in physical and life sciences. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The automobile industry serves as the primary industry for national development and also enhances manufacturing development strategies. Its source of power comes from the maturity and operational efficiency of the technology innovation network within the industry. Firstly, this paper takes the automobile industry of the Yangtze River Economic Belt as the research object and depicts the topological structure of the 1985–2015 Industry-University-Research Cooperation Innovation Network (IURCIN) from the perspective of space-time evolution. Then, based on the 2015 industrial network characteristic data, the paper analyses the impact of individual network characteristics such as intermediate centrality, structural hole limitation, and cooperation intensity on the innovation performance of the respective network. At the same time, it adds innovation activity, per capita gross regional product (GRP), and research and development (R&D) fund input intensity as control variables in the quantitative analysis. The results show that the centrality and structural hole limitation significantly and positively affect the subject innovation performance. The cooperation intensity and the subject innovation performance have an inverted U-shaped relationship. The innovation activity has a positive effect on the subject's innovation performance. Furthermore, per capita GRP and R&D expenditure intensity on the main innovation performance is not significant. Finally, the countermeasures and suggestions are put forward to promote the innovation performance of each subject in the IURCIN. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The study of the two-way information flow between cities is of great significance to promote regional coordinated development, but the current mainstream non-directional network analysis method cannot analyze it effectively. In this paper, the quantities of relevant media articles in WeChat and Weibo between cities are taken as the traffic indices to construct a directional and weighted urban network of the Chengdu-Chongqing Economic Circle in China. Based on this network construction method, which adds direction thinking, we analyze the characteristics of information interconnection between cities. According to the analysis, we find that the provincial boundary hinders information interconnection, and the imbalance of external information interconnection is more serious in Chongqing's central urban area, Liangping, Ya'an and Mianyang. In addition, we analyze the centrality status of different cities in the outward and inward perspective and further explore the factors that cause these differences in centrality. The results show that the centrality of the information network is not sensitive to the basic strength of the city, and it is the accessibility, including high-speed rail transportation access and telecommunication access, which controls the centrality of the city network. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper assesses economics research and teaching frameworks in the United States by examining how knowledge is produced; the strengths and flaws of heterodox economic theory; and how students are trained, especially for careers in economic policy. We challenge the meaning of established terminology such as ‘heterodoxy’ and ‘mainstream.’ Three major reasons are suggested for the disappointing reality that pluralist economics among academic institutions, the broader public, and a new generation of economists has not happened: 1) neoclassical hegemony; 2) weakness in heterodox theory, and 3) rigidity of pedagogy and training in economics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: The introduction of elements of the circular economy requires major structural changes in economies, the involvement of a wide range of actors, including primarily businesses. However, it is worth noting the importance of other organizations, including the so-called third sector. Research objectives: The purpose of this article is to introduce the issue of cooperation of business and the third sector entities for the development of the circular economy. Research design and methods: For the purpose of the research paper, the following research method was used: a classic literature review and case study. Results: Collaboration between business and third sector providers has enormous potential for development and innovation. Conclusions: In Polish conditions the benefits and possibilities of cooperation between business and the third sector are not properly appreciated, and they are connected with a huge potential for the entities themselves and the possibilities of implementing the circular economy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Psoriatic arthritis (PsA) is a chronic, immune-mediated, spondyloarthropathy characterised by musculoskeletal signs and symptoms with associated joint pain and tenderness. The average worldwide PsA prevalence is 133/100,000, while in the Italian population is 90–420/100,000. Traditionally, nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs, glucocorticoid, and disease-modifying antirheumatic drugs have been used in the treatment of PsA. However, for those patients who are not adequately controlled with conventional therapies, the new biologics compounds represent a valid option. Biologic therapies have been shown to be more effective but also more expensive than conventional systemic treatments. Based on the CHRONOS study, the economic analyses presented in this paper aim to assess the annualised direct costs and the cost-per-responder of biologics in a real-world context assuming the Italian National Health System perspective. Methods: The economic assessments were carried out on the overall cohort of patients, and on the tumour necrosis factor alpha inhibitors (TNFi) and the secukinumab subgroup, the most prescribed biologic therapies within the CHRONOS study. Results: The annual economic impact of PsA in the overall group was €12,622, €11,725 in the secukinumab subgroup, and €12,791 in the TNFi subgroup. Biologics absorbed the main expenditure costs in the treatment of PsA accounting for about the 93% of total costs. At 6 months, secukinumab performed better in all the considered outcomes: cost-per-responder according to EULAR DAS28 and ACR50 response criteria were €12,661- €28,975, respectively, while they were €13,356 - €33,368 in the overall cohort and €13,138 - €35,166 in the TNFi subgroup. At 12 months secukinumab remained the subgroup with the lowest cost-per-responder ratio in EULAR DAS28 and ACR50 response criteria, while TNFi subgroup was the lowest one considered the ACR20. Conclusion: Despite some potential methodological limitations, our cost-per-response analysis provides physicians and payers additional insights which can complement the traditional risk-benefit profile assessment and drive treatment decisions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The structure of multilateral financial partnerships has many relationship challenges, which need to be solved to positively impact sustainable human development. There is a lack of understanding in the development relationship between the so-called developed and developing countries, and development economics theories and research, which guide policies, knowledge, and funding to nations in need. Amid widespread pleas for change to the structure, Belize is a country, which remains in an economic development crisis 41 years after joining the World Bank Group. This original paper, uniquely positions "World Bank" as a brand, and adds to missing empirical research on Belize and development economics with a mixed-methods, brand relationship approach. The researchers perform a survey of 20 years of Belize government personnel dialogues about the Bank, and apply Fournier's (1998) brand relationship theories as tools to measure their perceptions of the Bank as well as get a deeper understanding of the relationship. This investigative research finds that Belize perceives it has an "arranged marriage" type brand relationship with the Bank: it is not a sustainable development partner. This brand relationship also negatively affects the way government personnel see themselves and their abilities. The World Bank Group must innovate its development economics methods and practices, assert its social mission, and meet the development needs of its members by first building genuine brand bonds with them. Debtor member countries must re-define their worth, join together, and design their own paths to sustainable development. All countries are developing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The economic power-dispatching model of a multi-microgrid is comprehensively established in this paper, considering many factors, such as generation cost, discharge cost, power-purchase cost, power sales revenue, and environmental cost. To construct this model, power interactions between the two microgrids and those between the micro- and main grids are considered. Furthermore, the particle swarm optimization (PSO) algorithm is utilized to solve the economic power-dispatching model. To validate the effectiveness of the proposed model as well as the solution algorithm, a practical project case is studied and discussed. In the case study, the impact of multiple scenarios is first analyzed. Then, the system operation economic costs under different scenarios are described in detail. Moreover, according to the optimization power-dispatching results of the multi-microgrid, power interactions between the two microgrids and those between the micro- and main grids are fully discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The extraction of natural resources, such as minerals, oil, and gas, can have profound economic effects. The application of economic analysis methods in impact studies of resource extraction projects holds potential to inform decision-making in order to optimise gains and minimise negative externalities. This paper aims to identify and characterise peer-reviewed publications that report on economic studies implemented as part of impact assessments of resource extraction projects. We conducted a systematic scoping review in PubMed and Scopus of articles published between 1998 and 2020. Out of 1,579 raw hits, we identified 13 articles describing 15 economic analyses of resource extraction projects. Half of the identified papers presented economic analyses conducted in the context of mining and oil/gas projects. The majority of the identified studies dealt with the cost and/or benefits of environmental and/or social impacts. Only one study investigated economic aspects associated with potential health impacts. Given the small number of papers identified, economic analysis of impacts associated with natural resource extraction projects seems to be a small field of published research. Yet the inclusion of economic analysis in impact assessment of resource extraction projects holds promise to better harness benefits for local communities and governments while minimising negative externalities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Farms need to invest in order to earn incomes and maintain their competitive edge. However, the scale and extent of investments must be aligned with resources of other productive inputs, primarily including land, because otherwise there is risk of overinvestment. Since 2004, Central and Eastern European countries have been provided with access to investment support programs; these are non-repayable aid funds which can potentially lead to overinvestment issues. Therefore, this paper attempts to answer the question on the scale of overinvestment in the countries covered. This is all the more important since that problem has rarely been addressed in economic and agricultural research. The study presented in this paper is unique in that the research tasks are based on unpublished Farm Accountancy Data Network (FADN) microdata for 5839 selected Central and Eastern European farms provided by the European Commission's Directorate-General for Agriculture and Rural Development (DG AGRI). Based on variables relating to the amount of productive inputs and production volumes, the authors developed their own typology of farms which includes the following categories: optimum investment levels (the growth rate of labor productivity is greater than growth in the assets-to-land ratio); relative overinvestment (while labor productivity grows, it does so at a slower rate than the assets-to-land ratio); absolute overinvestment (labor productivity declines while the assets-to-land ratio grows); underinvestment (decline in both labor productivity and the assets-to-land ratio). The authors demonstrated that members of the 'absolute overinvestment' group made flagrant mistakes in investment planning and implementation, whereas members of the 'relative overinvestment' group did record an improvement in labor productivity which ultimately can be considered a positive outcome. Underinvested farms were a very small minority in each country. In addition to filling a gap in the methodology for determining agricultural overinvestment, this paper also indicates the scale of that issue in Central and Eastern European countries. This study may be of importance both to farms (as guidelines for investment planning) and to agricultural policymakers who develop investment support programs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of the paper is to emphasize the need for enhancing participation of the Adriatic maritime universities and researchers in modern innovation processes in maritime industry. The paper primarily analyses human capital in regard to two constituent components - academic (academic rank and the length of research experience) and collaborative (expertise in innovation projects, the frequency of participation, the constraints related to partnerships and funds). The research is based on quantitative and qualitative analysis. The dependence between the components associated with human capital is quantitatively determined by means of the Pearson’s chi-square test and the R programme. The qualitative analysis relies on coding of the attitudes of the maritime researchers about collaborative innovations in maritime industry. The coding was performed by means of the Atlas.ti 8.4.24. programme. Results confirm the significance of human capital for maritime research, identify constraints on the realization of innovations and specific innovations the maritime researchers are working on. Additionally, the paper detected the lack of strategic transformation of the universities that would strengthen collaborative innovations in maritime industry. The paper proposes formation of collaborative network/platform for an efficient use of human capital in scientific research and maritime and economic integrations in the Adriatic region. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The depletion of traditional fossil energy and the air pollution caused by the burning of fossil fuels have forced science authors from all over the world to gradually turn their attention to the development and utilization of renewable energy. However, limited by the defects of less exposed active surface and slow diffusion of traditional materials, nanomaterials have advantages that traditional materials cannot match and can significantly improve the performance of energy conversion and storage devices. Based on this, this paper studies the application and economic benefits of nanomaterials in the field of new energy and environment and provides a new idea for the development direction of nanomaterials in the field of new energy and environment. This article selects three different survey objects to correctly measure the energy consumed by the three groups of experimental vehicles traveling 1 km, 5 km, 10 km, and 20 km and the content of substances that pollute the environment. At the same time, the three traditional electrodes are connected. The electrochemical workstation of the system measures the electrochemical performance of nanomaterials to analyze the application of nanomaterials in the field of new energy and environment and the economic benefits brought by them. The experiment proves that AgPdMo/MoS2 NWs has the smallest charge transfer resistance of 259.3 Ω, the smallest impedance, and the fastest electron transfer rate. The charge transfer resistances of MoS2 NSs, AgPd NWs, and AgPdMo NWs are 37079 Ω, 398.4 Ω, and 916.6 Ω. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Southern African Development Community (SADC) and its member countries are potentially vulnerable to external disturbances, including environmental, economic, and social shocks. Regional policy emphasizes interventions to ensure long-term growth and development in the face of potential disturbance. Current emphasis is placed on mitigating the impact of climate change, including the creation of the SADC Climate Change Strategy and Action Plan. However, the need for long-term adaptation and associated policy is evident to reduce regional vulnerabilities. Research is an important source of evidence to support policymaking, with specific importance to institutions in developing regions such as the SADC and during times of global change and disruption. SADC development policy related to resilience outcomes ought to be informed by research. This paper investigates the extent to which existing research supports regional resilience policymaking. Objectives include investigating available research on resilience in the SADC, identifying potential limitations, and delineating areas of future research to be considered by researchers that contribute to knowledge and evidence creation. A bibliometric review and selective content review of existing research were utilized. Relevant publications for the aforesaid analysis were delineated using the source concepts "resilience", "adaptation", "adaptability", and "Southern African Development Community" (or "SADC"). Using the SCOPUS database, bibliometric data of 65 publications were imported into the VOSviewer application (v.1.6.17). Keyword occurrences and network and overlay visualizations were applied to identify the research themes underlying current research. The findings, which were supported by the selective content review, indicate that existing research focuses primarily on environmental and social disturbances, while the applicable regional planning scale and development policy are considered to a limited extent. Areas of future research ought to create evidence that is thematically relevant to policy areas and applicable to policy interventions, which necessitates increased research on economic disturbances, a broadening of existing themes to the appropriate regional planning scale, and consideration of explicit regional development objectives and policy. Transdisciplinarity ought to be central to future research on the diverse disturbances facing the region, while researchers ought to leverage knowledge-creation opportunities catalyzed by SDG implementation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With the rise of deep learning technology, due to the superior performance of the deep neural network, its application in the digital economy has attracted extensive attention of scholars. Since the beginning of the 21st century, my country's digital economy has developed rapidly, and its universalization and other characteristics have created favorable conditions for the optimal allocation of resources in underdeveloped regions and the exertion of comparative advantages. The digital economy will play a key role in poverty alleviation, promoting coordinated regional development, narrowing regional gaps, and improving the spatial layout of my country's reform and opening up. This paper studies the factors that the digital economy based on deep neural networks has on regional economic growth. Simulation experiment conclusions are as follows: (1) the digital economy of Guizhou, Beijing, Chongqing, Anhui, and Tibet is growing rapidly. The central and western regions are in a period of rapid growth. For the gap between major industrial provinces, the coefficient of variation reached about 1 before 2013, then it declined rapidly, and slowed down, and steadily declined after 2019, indicating that the gap in the digital economy in various regions is narrowing in general. (2) From the national level, the digital economy index coefficient is 1.24, that is, for every 1% increase in digital economy investment, GDP will increase by about 0.24%. The labor force increased by 1% and the GDP increased by about 0.22%. This promotion effect is also very obvious. (3) Judging from the above data, the western region urgently needs to promote the construction of the digital economy and introduce high-tech digital economy talents. The talent effect in the Midwest has a significant effect on GDP. (4) From the perspective of the whole country and other regions, the parameter coefficients and signs have not changed significantly, so the original model is robust, and so the conclusion is desirable. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Renewable energy communities are catalysts of social innovation, the citizens' engagement in energy actions, and the exploitation of local resources. Thus, this paper defines a model for analyzing and optimally sizing energy systems serving renewable energy communities. Then, the proposed and replicable model was tailored to the economic feasibility analysis of a renewable energy community in the municipality of Tirano (Northern Italy). An energy audit was carried out to identify the electricity production and consumption within the perimeter of the primary substation and the thermal energy demand of the existing district heating network. The technical features of the energy conversion systems serving the renewable energy community were determined: an organic Rankine cycle biomass-based cogeneration plant, a mini-hydro plant, and a distributed photovoltaic system. Moreover, several different scenarios have been identified, in terms of cogeneration operating mode, photovoltaic penetration, and thermal energy economic value. The results show that, moving from 4.22 MW to 5.22 MW of photovoltaic peak power, the annual renewable electricity production increases by 10.1%. In particular, the simple pay back ranges between 4.90 and 4.98 years and the net present value between EUR 12.4 and 13.3 M for CHP operating at full power mode, considering that thermal energy available from the cogeneration unit is sold at EUR 49.2/MWh. These outcomes demonstrate the economic feasibility of wood-biomass-based renewable energy communities, which may help to enlarge the contribution of renewable technologies other than photovoltaic. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objectives: Current guidelines mandate organ donation to be financially neutral such that it neither rewards nor exploits donors. This systematic review was conducted to assess the magnitude and type of costs incurred by adult living kidney donors and to identify those at risk of financial hardship.Methods: We searched English-language journal articles and working papers assessing direct and indirect costs incurred by donors on PubMed, MEDLINE, Scopus, the National Institute for Health Research Economic Evaluation Database, Research Papers in Economics, and EconLit in 2005 and thereafter. Estimates of total costs, types of costs, and characteristics of donors who incurred the financial burden were extracted.Results: Sixteen studies were identified involving 6158 donors. Average donor-borne costs ranged from US$900 to US$19 900 (2019 values) over the period from predonation evaluation to the end of the first postoperative year. Less than half of donors sought financial assistance and 80% had financial loss. Out-of-pocket payments for travel and health services were the most reported items where lost income accounted for the largest proportion (23.2%-83.7%) of total costs. New indirect cost items were identified to be insurance difficulty, exercise impairment, and caregiver income loss. Donors from lower-income households and those who traveled long distances reported the greatest financial hardship.Conclusions: Most kidney donors are undercompensated. Our findings highlight gaps in donor compensation for predonation evaluation, long-distance donations, and lifetime insurance protection. Additional studies outside of North America are needed to gain a global prospective on how to provide for financial neutrality for kidney donors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: The main aim of this paper is to provide a united view on the issue of tax instruments supporting science and research in the Slovak republic and to evaluate their impact on state budget revenues. Research Design & Methods: The research question that this paper tries to answer is whether the support of research and development in the Slovak Republic through tax instruments is sustainable and suitable for the business sector. Qualitative and quantitative methods are used in the research. The paper analyzes legislation related to the issue of super deduction in order to identify the factors that affect this tax instrument. At the same time, the authors adopt the descriptive and normative economic approaches. Based on the deduction, procedures are subsequently chosen to quantify selected factors and their impact on state budget revenues in the Slovak Republic. Findings: Apart from the last seven years, the Slovak Republic has been characterized by almost no state support for research and development. However, since 2015, new forms of tax incentives have included the provision of tax relief in the form of a deduction of research and development costs, a patent box, as well as tax breaks for new investments. In 2015, 83 entities claimed a deduction of research and development costs amounting to more than EUR 9 million, while in 2019 the amount of this deduction increased to more than EUR 119 million. The statistics of the Financial Administration of the Slovak Republic also show that small companies with 10 to 49 employees apply the deduction to the highest degree, followed by medium-sized companies with 50 to 249 employees, micro-enterprises with up to 9 employees, and large companies with over 250 employees. The highest rate of deduction of research and development cost in terms of regional distribution was recorded in the Bratislava, Trenčín and Trnava regions. Implications / Recommendations: Tax incentives for research and development encourage investment and are therefore considered an appropriate form of support for the business environment. However, the biggest positive is the duplication of the possibility of claiming costs with respect to the reported corporate tax base. The question arises here: how often should the percentage rate for duplicate costs be changed? The analysis of applicants for a deduction of research and development costs in the Slovak Republic also showed that the number of new applicants for the tax benefit is constantly growing. This may encourage the re-use of such a tax credit in future years. The decrease in the volume of the deduction of research and development costs in 2019, with a 1.5-times increase in its rate, can be assessed negatively. It is clear that the success of this instrument of tax stimulation of private investment in research and development in Slovakia may encounter a barrier such as the inability to claim the costs incurred in the form of a deduction of research and development costs against a sufficient tax base. Contribution: The question arises here: how often should the percentage rate for duplicate costs be changed? The success of this instrument of tax stimulation of private investment in research and development in Slovakia may also run into the barrier of not being able to claim the costs incurred in the form of a deduction of research and development costs against a sufficiently high tax base, especially in the current period, when there has been a significant decline in Slovak companies' profits. What, then, is the perspective for deducting research and development costs in the pandemic period and in the post-pandemic period, respectively? [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The importance of knowing the financial indicators of companies in the field of meat processing, is to know their evolution and compare them with those of previous financial years, which gives the company management the opportunity to make economic and financial analysis that will have an impact on decision making. The purpose of this paper is to analyze these indicators from the annual financial statements from the period before accessing the non-reimbursable funds, but also from the monitoring period of these companies. At MATRA SRL the net asset had a constant increase in this analysis period, in 2015 it had the value of RON 9,453,864 and in 2019 it reaches the highest value of RON 11,810,270. At TELDOTRANS SRL the net asset had an increase throughout the analysis period, in 2015 it had the lowest value of 709,135 RON and had a constant increase until 2018, where it reached the value of 2,407,842 RON, after this year the value of this index increased considerably, reaching in 2019 the highest value of RON 6,303,358. At AVICARVIL SRL the net asset had a considerable increase in this analysis period, in 2015 it had the value of 58,319,684 RON, in 2016 it had the value of 61,953,476 RON, and in 2019 it reached the highest value of 86,630,011 RON, which highlights that the financial situation at the enterprise level is very good, being the consequence of reinvesting part of the net profit, but also due to accessing non-reimbursable funds in 2016 and 2019. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Maize, one of the most traded agricultural products in the world, was chosen for analysis from several cereals and oilseeds owned by a farm in Ilfov County. Economic analyses were performed on this crop in order to determine: expenses per 1,000 lei income, gross margin and their share in the gross product, rate of net income, rate of operating expenses and rate of depreciation. Following the analysis and evaluation of the mentioned indicators, the sensitivity analysis was applied, this being also the purpose of this paper. Sensitivity analysis highlighted the gross margin in relation to changes in price and average production, based on which the main sources of risk or opportunity in terms of crop profitability can be identified. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]