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We study the economic impact of private equity (PE) investments on local governments, which are important corporate stakeholders. Examining over 11,000 deals and private firm data in Europe, we document that target firms' effective tax rates and total tax expenses decrease by 15% and 13% after PE deals. At the same time, target firms expand their capital expenditures and firm boundaries, but do not increase employment. Using administrative data on the public finances of German municipalities and exploiting the geographical and time-series variation in PE deals, we document that PE activity is negatively associated with local governments' tax revenues and spending. This result is likely driven by reduced tax payments of PE portfolio firms, accompanied by only modest positive spillovers of PE investments on regional economic growth. Collectively, our findings suggest that corporate tax efficiency serves as a cost-cutting channel in the PE sector and constrains the finances of local governments.

We propose target date funds modified to exploit stock return predictability driven by the variance risk premium. The portfolio rule of these tactical target date funds (TTDFs) is extremely simplified relative to the optimal one, making it easy to implement and to communicate to investors. We show that saving for retirement in TTDFs generates economically large welfare gains, even after we introduce turnover restrictions and transaction costs, and after taking into account parameter uncertainty. This predictability also appears to be uncorrelated with individual household risk, suggesting that households are in a prime position to exploit it. This paper was accepted by Tomasz Piskorski, finance.

A large body of work argues that the accumulation of organizational experience fosters learning because firms can correctly modify their understandings on the basis of past actions and their outcomes. But although performance information on past decisions can often be delayed, little research considered how firms respond to experience without complete performance information. In this study, we propose that experience is a double-edged sword: whereas experience with performance feedback can foster learning, experience without complete performance feedback impedes learning. Using a sample of 7,223 private equity buyout investments, we find that experience with (in)complete performance information increases (decreases) the performance of a subsequent investment. The positive impact of experience with complete performance information is amplified when firms engage in search, following a shortfall in their performance. Moreover, we find that experience with (in)complete performance information decreases (increases) excessive risk taking. Overall, we advance the experiential learning literature by unpacking the positive and negative impact of experiential learning.

In recent years, it has become easier than ever to launch entrepreneurial ventures due to digitization and the ensuing drop in the cost of computational power, distribution channels, and so on (Greenstein et al., 2013). The lower cost of entry has led to higher failure rates as more individuals pursue entrepreneurship (Klepper, 2015; Nanda & Rhodes-Korpf, 2014). Individuals now experiment with launching not one but multiple entrepreneurial ventures. Among those engaged in entrepreneurship, many have previously launched a venture and failed. This fact marks a qualitative change in entrepreneurship in general and has immediate implications for studying entrepreneurial resource acquisition in particular (Huang, 2018; Vissa, 2011). Hence, we ask: How do investors evaluate past entrepreneurial outcomes? Specifically, how do investors evaluate entrepreneurs who have previously experienced failure?

The article studies problems and prospects of managerial decisions dealing with the process of import-substitution of certain products and puts forward the method of raising its efficiency. This research is based on costs – output tables, as a result of which a special algorithm is designed to estimate the efficiency and accompanying effects for different lines of import-substitution. The authors analyze in what way the process of import-substitution can affect the output of certain industries (both inside the country and for other countries) and how it can change import and export by each industry of each country. By using this algorithm two tests were carried out based on computer modeling, where a proportion of import in a chosen industry of the country was replaced by home production, at first for one type of products and then for another. Results of these tests show a number of predicted values of macro-economic indices as a result of import-substitution of one or another product, whose analysis helps identify the best variant of importing such product, which should be substituted by home produce in order to reach the set criterion of efficiency. The designed algorithm can be used as a support system for decision-making in importsubstitution policy.

We examine international equity allocations at the fund level and show how excess foreign returns influence portfolio rebalancing, capital flows, and currencies. Our equilibrium model of incomplete foreign exchange (FX) risk trading where exchange rate risk partially segments international equity markets is consistent with the observed dynamics of equity returns, exchange rates, and fund-level capital flows. We document that rebalancing is more intense under higher FX volatility and find heterogeneous rebalancing behavior across different fund characteristics. A granular instrumental variable approach identifies a positive currency supply elasticity. Authors have furnished an Internet Appendix, which is available on the Oxford University Press Web site next to the link to the final published paper online.

The paper focuses on an innovative bank-intermediated trade finance contract, which we call dynamic trade finance (DTF, under which banks dynamically adjust loan interest rates as an order passes through different steps in the trade process). We examine the value of DTF, the impact of process uncertainties and the associated information frictions on this value, and the strategic interaction between DTF and FinTech. As more than 30% of global trade involves bankintermediated trade finance (Bank for International Settlements 2014), examining contract innovation in trade finance (DTF) and its strategic interaction with FinTech is of practical importance. Also, analyzing trade finance in the presence of process dynamics and information frictions complements the existing academic literature. We construct a parsimonious model of a supply chain process consisting of two steps. The duration of each step is uncertain, and the process may fail at either step. Information delay may also occur when verifying that the requisites for passing a step have been satisfied. The seller (borrower) borrows from a bank to finance this 2-step process either through uniform financing (the interest rate remains constant throughout the process) or DTF (the interest rates are adjusted according to a pre-committed schedule as the process passes each step). While lending, the bank faces regulatory capital requirement (the bank is required to hold capital reserve when issuing risky loans) or information asymmetry (the borrower possesses more accurate information about the trade process than the bank). The value of DTF lies in its ability of reducing transactional deadweight loss (under regulatory capital requirement) and screening (separate high-quality borrowers from the low-quality ones under information asymmetry). This value increases as the trade process becomes more reliable or lengthier, yet its ability of screening is stronger when the process is less reliable. The severity of information delay hurts the value of DTF convexly. Numerical results based on calibrated parameters suggest that DTF could lower the borrower’s financing cost substantially. Finally, FinTech that expedites information transmission and verification and enables automatic execution complements DTF, and those that segment customers more efficiently could substitute DTF. Our results shed light on how the underlying trade process dynamics and the type of information frictions involved affect the optimal deployment of contract innovations (DTF) and FinTech in trade finance.

Research background: An investment appraisal applies a single discount rate across all effects. However, this may be insufficient for heterogenous environmental impacts, mixing private and public goods as well as use and non-use values, where individuals may have multiple intertemporal preferences due to their duality to act as consumer or citizen. Purpose: The paper aims at identifying the scope of discrepancies in the level of discount rate for public and private as well as use-and non-use investment gains. Research methodology: The contingent valuation method is used to elicit stated discount rates for 2 hypothetical investments: environmental or financial gains to distinguish between public and private domain accompanied by two time-frames: short (use values) and long (non-use values). Results: The discount rate for the environment is lower than for money. It is also lower for the long-term horizon in comparison with the short-term perspective. The discrepancies are observed also for explanatory variables in respect to a socio-economic profile and attitude characteristics. Novelty: The paper adds to the discussion on valuation discrepancies between self-interested consumers and socially oriented citizens. The scarcity of previous research examining discount rates for public/private goods as well as the short/long-time horizon make the results relevant for public policy dealing with climate change and environmental protection, providing an insight into individual intertemporal preferences.

Quantifying uncertainty over technologies, costs, and prices that stem from site-specific conditions, technological particularities and future projections is an important element in the investment appraisal of desalination facilities. Yet, the majority of economic assessments in the field of desalination plants, so far, use deterministic estimation methods based on ‘best guess’ estimates and ceteris paribus sensitivity analyses. Aiming to fill this gap, this paper introduces a new approach towards comparing alternative technological options for desalination facilities under uncertainty based on the Levelized Cost of Water (LCOW). The proposed framework combines Monte Carlo simulations with scenario analysis and random-walk-based models to account for the cone of uncertainty of the LCOW. For purely illustrative purposes, five alternative combinations of desalination technologies and energy sources are examined in the State of Kuwait. The findings show that the proposed framework, although it cannot eliminate uncertainty, can assist decision-makers in managing it by framing the range of possible outcomes of the LCOW. In this way, it offers an insight into the accuracy of the estimates and allows the validation of the impact of risks and uncertainties against the acceptable tolerance level. Yet, several issues need to be addressed in future research.

We present a transit model that, based on automated fare collection and train tracking data, describes pedestrian movements in train stations and vehicle-specific train ridership distributions. Our approach differs from existing models in that we describe on-board passenger dynamics and pedestrian dynamics at stations in a joint framework. We assume that travelers first decide on the train(s) they will take, and then pursue their journey through the network by successively choosing pedestrian paths, waiting positions on platforms, and specific train cars. Travelers explicitly maximize their travel utility. We model how crowding influences their walking speeds, and how it affects travel utility both at stations and on-board. To illustrate the framework, we present a real case study of a major Dutch rail corridor, for which we collect a rich set of passenger, pedestrian and train operation data. We observe a good agreement of model estimates with empirical observations, and discuss the use of the model for various transit-related problems including level-of-service assessment, crowding estimation, transit optimization, and integrated investment appraisal.

Purpose The Stress-Prevention@Work implementation strategy has been demonstrated to be successful in reducing stress in employees. Now, we assess the economic return-on-investment to see if it would make for a favourable business case for employers. Methods Data were collected from 303 health-care workers assigned to either a waitlisted control condition (142 employees in 15 teams) or to Stress-Prevention@Work (161 employees in 15 teams). Main outcome was productivity losses measured using the Trimbos and iMTA Cost questionnaire in Psychiatry. Measurements were taken at baseline, 6, and 12 months post-baseline. Results The per-employee costs of the strategy were €50. Net monetary benefits were the benefits (i.e., improved productivity) minus the costs (i.e., intervention costs) and were the main outcome of this investment appraisal. Per-employee net benefits amounted to €2981 on average, which was an almost 60-fold payout of the initial investment of €50. There was a 96.7% likelihood for the modest investment of €50 to be offset by cost savings within 1 year. Moreover, a net benefit of at least €1000 still has a likelihood of 88.2%. Conclusions In general, there was a high likelihood that Stress-Prevention@Work offers an appealing business case from the perspective of employers, but the employer should factor in the additional per-employee costs of the stress-reducing interventions. Still, if these additional costs were as high as €2981, then costs and benefits would break even. This study was registered in the Netherlands National Trial Register, trial code: NTR5527.

We analyse the factors involved in the selection of a development site to secure the economic feasibility and profitability of a public development real estate project through a comparative analysis with private development projects. Logistic regression was used as the analysis method. In the case of public development projects, whether or not the investment screening passed was used as a dependent variable, and in the case of private development projects, the successful bid rate was used as a dependent variable. Independent variables were selected based on prior research on variables suitable for the purpose and situation of the project. The results show that the greater the total development costs of a public development project and the greater the size of a private development project, the greater the rate of approval and bidding success. For public projects, the rate of approval decreases when there are several subways, train stations, and supermarkets; however, this is not the case for private projects, owing to differences in development methods and project purposes. From a public standpoint, the balanced regional development, revitalisation of old city centres, and implementation of social overhead capital projects in neighbourhoods lacking infrastructure have a strong influence. From a private sector perspective, the mobile/resident population, modification in extra demand, and feasibility analysis have a strong influence. In sum, if the private sector avoids large-scale supermarket projects, they can be conducted as public development projects to enhance residents’ quality of life and revitalise the regional economy. Researchers should examine what could be benchmarked in the private sector in the operational stage and explore ways to maximise profitability and reduce financial burden.

Робота присвячена питанням розробки інвестиційної пропозиції для підприємства. Актуальність даної теми підтверджується тим фактом, що в умовах післявоєнного періоду для вітчизняного бізнесу ключовим джерелом його розвитку буде саме залучення інвестицій. Тому, пріоритетним для сучасного бізнесу, як для об'єкта інвестування, є створення умов, які б зацікавили інвестора вкласти гроші саме в це підприємство. Підґрунтям для такого бізнес-рішення буде рівень інвестиційної привабливості бізнесу. Тому, тематика, що пов’язана з цими аспектами наразі є актуальною. Метою даної роботи є дослідження теоретичних аспектів та розробка конкретної інвестиційної пропозиції на прикладі ПАТ «Ельворті». Дана тема розкрита у таких завданнях дослідження: - Дослідження майнового стану підприємства; - Оцінка інвестиційної привабливості бізнесу; - Розрахунок ефективності проекту.

Purpose: Despite major progress made in improving the health and well-being of millions of people, more efforts are needed for investment in 21st century health care. However, public hospital waiting lists continue to grow. At the same time, there has been increased investment in e-health and digital interventions to enhance population health and reduce hospital admissions. The purpose of this study is to highlight the accounting challenges associated with measuring, investing and accounting for value in this setting. The authors argue that this requires more nuanced performance metrics that effect a shift from a technical practice to one that embraces social and moral values. Design/methodology/approach: This research is based on field interviews held with clinicians, accountants and administrators in public hospitals throughout Australia and Europe. The field research and multidisciplinary narratives offer insights and issues relating to value and valuing and managing digital health investment decisions for the post-COVID-19 “value-based health-care” future of accounting in the hospital setting. Findings: The authors find that the complex activity-based hospital funding models operate as a black box, with limited clinician understanding and hybridised accounting expertise for informed social, moral and ethical decision-making. While there is malleability of the health economics-derived activity-based hospital funding models, value contestation and conflict are evident in the operationalisation of these models in practice. Activity-based funding (ABF) mechanisms reward patient throughput volumes in hospitals but at the same time stymie investment in digital health. Although classified as strategic investments, there is a limit to strategic planning. Research limitations/implications: Accounting in public hospitals has become increasingly visible and contested during the pandemic-driven health-care crisis. Further research is required to examine the hybridising accounting expertise as it is increasingly implicated in the incremental changes to ABF in the emergence of value-based health care and associated digital health investment strategies. Despite operationalising these health economic models in practice, accountants are currently being blamed for dysfunctional health-care decisions. Further education for practicing accountants is required to effect operational change. This includes education on the significant moral and ethical dilemmas that result from accounting for patient mix choices in public hospital service provision. Originality/value: This research involved a multidisciplinary team from accounting, digital health, information systems, value-based health care and clinical expertise. Unique insights on the move to digital health care are provided. This study contributes to policy development and the limited value-based health-care literature in accounting.

We argue that the pervasive practice of evaluating portfolio managers relative to a benchmark has real effects. Benchmarking generates additional, inelastic demand for assets inside the benchmark. This leads to a “benchmark inclusion subsidy:” a firm inside the benchmark values an investment project more than the one outside. The same wedge arises for valuing M&A, spinoffs, and IPOs. This overturns the proposition that an investment’s value is independent of the entity considering it. We describe the characteristics that determine the subsidy, quantify its size (which could be large), and identify empirical work supporting our model’s predictions.

We present a simple, linear asset pricing model of the cross section of Mortgage-Backed Security (MBS) returns. MBS earn risk premia as compensation for their exposure to prepayment risk. We measure prepayment risk and estimate security risk loadings using real data on prepayment forecasts vs. realizations. Estimated loadings on prepayment risk are monotonically decreasing in securities’ coupons relative to the par coupon, as predicted by the fundamental effect of prepayment on the value of bonds trading above and below par. Prepayment risks appear to be priced by specialized MBS investors. In particular, we find convincing evidence that prepayment risk prices change sign over time with the sign of a representative MBS investor’s exposure to prepayment risk.

The use of renewable energy sources, especially wind energy, has been widely developed, mostly during the last decade. The main objective of the present study is to conduct a literature review focused on the evaluation under uncertainty of wind energy investment using the real options approach to find out whether public opposition (NIMBY projects) has been contemplated, and if so, what have been the flexible strategies applied for its intervention. Overall, 97 publications were analyzed, identifying 20 different models or approaches, which were grouped into eight categories: 1. Real options, 2. Optimization, 3. Stochastics, 4. Financial evaluation, 5. Probabilistic, 6. Estimation, 7. Numerical prediction, and 8. Others. The real options approach, present in 32% of the studies, was the most popular. Twenty-eight types of uncertainties were identified, which were grouped, for better analysis, into nine categories. In total, 62.5% of the studies included the price of electricity as a source of uncertainty; 18.8%, the velocity of wind; and 15.6%, the feed-in rates-subsidy. Both random and non-random techniques were applied to assess the real options and to model the uncertainties. When evaluating real options, the Monte Carlo simulation technique was the most preferred, with 16 (51.6%) applications, followed by non-randomized techniques, decision tree, and dynamic programming, with eight (25.8%) applications each. There is a marked tendency to use stochastic processes to model uncertainty, particularly geometric Brownian motion, which was used in 61.3% (19) of the studies in the sample. When searching for “real options AND (nimby OR public opposition)”, no study was found, which shows the possibility of developing research on this aspect to determine its impact on investments in wind energy projects.

Podjetja za doseganje kratkoročnih in dolgoročnih ciljev pripravijo več investicijskih projektov. Pred implementacijo vsakega projekta je potrebno oceniti, ali bo skozi svojo ekonomsko dobo prinašal dobiček. Vodstvo podjetja med različnimi projekti preveri, kateri izmed njih bo najbolj dobičkonosen. V diplomski nalogi smo obravnavali primer ocenjevanja investicije, kjer smo uporabili statične in dinamične metode. Ugotovili smo, da ima na ekonomski izkupiček projekta največji vpliv obrestovanje vezanega denarja v investicijo. Pri določitvi tveganja investicije je priporočljivo upoštevati izračune obeh metod. To achieve short and long-term goals, companies prepare several investment projects. Before carrying out any project, it is necessary to assess whether it will generate profit during its economic life. The management of the company checks between various projects to find the most profitable one. In this thesis we discussed the case of investment appraisal, where we used static and dynamic methods. We found that the interest on time-bound investment has the greatest impact on the economic outcome of the project. When determining investment risks, it is recommended to use both calculation methods.

Household financial decisions are complex, interdependent, and heterogeneous, and central to the functioning of the financial system. We present an overview of the rapidly expanding literature on household finance (with some important exceptions) and suggest directions for future research. We begin with the theory and empirics of asset market participation and asset allocation over the life cycle. We then discuss household choices in insurance markets, trading behavior, decisions on retirement saving, and financial choices by retirees. We survey research on liabilities, including mortgage choice, refinancing, and default, and household behavior in unsecured credit markets, including credit cards and payday lending. We then connect the household to its social environment, including peer effects, cultural and hereditary factors, intra-household financial decision making, financial literacy, cognition and educational interventions. We also discuss literature on the provision and consumption of financial advice.

Regulatory support for transmission investment by private investors follows a complex process of dialogue, information sharing, commitments, and incentives. Whilst this process has attracted substantial research, the formulation of efficient solutions still remains an open question and this has become more complex with the emergence of new intermittent and battery-storage resources. We propose an optimal incentive solution in which the private transmission company earns congestion rents and an incentive fee, set by agreement with the regulator. This fee is set in the context of assessing the impact of current and future generation resources (conventional, intermittent, and batteries) on the congestion rents. The welfare-optimizing solution follows from a mixed integer, nonlinear, bilevel optimization problem, which is computationally challenging. We re-cast the problem for tractability and devise a disjunctive-based decomposition algorithm. Its performance has been successfully demonstrated on two standard IEEE case studies.

This thesis presents three essays. The first chapter examines the information content of aggregate mutual fund alpha. Recent evidence shows that mutual funds collectively buy overvalued stocks. I hypothesize that aggregate alpha arises in part from such stocks becoming even more overvalued, and thus is a measure of market overvaluation. A one-standard-deviation increase in aggregate alpha corresponds to a 0.83 percentage point decrease in the following month's excess market return, and aggregate alpha yields a monthly out-of-sample R2 of 3.64%. Moreover, higher aggregate alpha predicts higher anomaly returns and lower aggregate earnings surprises. The market-return predictability stems from funds with high investment in overvalued stocks, and from small-cap or growth investment styles. The evidence is difficult to reconcile with rational explanations based on benchmarking, flow, or catering. The second chapter, joint with Justin Birru, tests a straightforward time-series prediction of sentiment; sentiment should exhibit its strongest effects on asset prices at times when valuations are most subjective. Consistent with this, we show that a one-standard-deviation increase in aggregate uncertainty amplifies the predictive ability of sentiment for market returns by two to four times relative to when uncertainty is at its mean. For the cross-section of returns, the predictive ability of sentiment for test assets expected to be most sensitive to sentiment and for anomalies is substantially larger in times of higher uncertainty. The final chapter, joint with Justin Birru and Hannes Mohrschladt, provides a unifying explanation for a number of existing risk puzzles. Systematic mispricing primarily affects speculative stocks and tends to take the form of overpricing, predicting lower average returns. Because speculative stocks are typically deemed risky by rational models, failing to control for exposure to systematic mispricing can bias tests of risk-return tradeoffs. Controlling for the effects of systematic mispricing, we recover robust positive risk-return relations for a large number of cross-sectional risk proxies, including many low-risk, distress, and illiquidity anomalies.

This study investigates how companies adjusted their investments in key strategic resources—i.e., their workforce, capital expenditures, R&D, and CSR—in response to the sharp increase in the cost of credit (the “credit crunch”) during the financial crisis of 2007-2009. We compare companies whose long-term debt matured shortly before versus after the credit crunch to obtain (quasi-)random variation in the extent to which companies were hit by the higher borrowing costs. We find that companies that were adversely affected followed a “two-pronged” approach of curtailing their workforce and capital expenditures, while maintaining their investments in R&D and CSR. We further document that firms that followed this two-pronged approach performed better post-crisis.

Relying on gender-role congruity theory, this paper investigates the relationship between the gender of the top management teams of venture philanthropy firms and their business risk-taking orientation. The research also assesses if and how experience moderates this relationship. Using a combination of survey data to capture the venture philanthropy firm’s risk orientation and biographical data to identify managers’ gender and experience, it finds that only gender affects business risk-orientation in these firms. Surprisingly, this is the opposite direction than expected, whereby teams with a higher proportion of women have a higher risk-taking profile. This suggests the need to revise the applicability of gender role congruity theory, the existence of a gender-bind dilemma, and the relevance of context in venture philanthropy.

This study provides descriptive evidence on how firms respond to activist short seller reports and how these responses are associated with outcomes for the targeted firms. We show that the frequency of these reports has grown substantially in recent years. Although we find that firms respond only 31% of the time, this rate increases substantially when the report is accompanied by significantly negative abnormal returns and when the report contains new evidence. Not responding is associated with a less negative stock price response at report release and fewer adverse outcomes. Firms that launch internal investigations following the report release have significantly higher subsequent rates of stock exchange delisting and SEC enforcement actions, and lower rates of being acquired. Overall, our results highlight the impact of activist short sellers on target firms and that firm responses are associated with material outcomes.

The article is devoted to solving the scientific problem of developing theoretical provisions and providing methodological and applied recommendations for improving approaches to economic assessment and substantiation of engineering projects of construction enterprises. The relevance of scientific research is due to the need to implement a large-scale program for updating the technical and technological base of most domestic enterprises based on replacing outdated types of equipment, technologies and models of construction production management, as well as improving methodological approaches to organizing and managing an enterprise. A significant amount of work on the development and implementation of these measures can be carried out by specialized organizations - engineering firms. However, the feasibility of purchasing their services by construction companies requires a preliminary justification through the development of appropriate engineering projects. Cost engineering as a complex solution to the Customer's problems is indeed a topical product that will increasingly be in demand on the market. Especially in the current conditions, when the key task for any company is to reduce costs, both during the construction phase and during the operation of the facility. The cost engineering of investment and construction projects is closely related to the concepts: project risk management, complex project cost management (TCM - total cost management). Integrated project management can use all methods and tools of value engineering, such as technology audit, price audit, earned value methodology, etc., Статтю присвячено вирішенню наукового завдання розроблення теоретичних положень та надання методико-прикладних рекомендацій з удосконалення підходів до економічного оцінювання та обґрунтування інжинірингових проєктів будівельних підприємств. Актуальність наукового дослідження обумовлена необхідністю реалізації широкомасштабної програми оновлення техніко-технологічної бази більшості вітчизняних підприємств на засадах заміни застарілих видів обладнання, технологій та моделей управління будівельним виробництвом, а також вдосконалення методичних підходів організації та управління підприємством. Значний обсяг робіт з розроблення і впровадження цих заходів можуть здійснити спеціалізовані організації – інжинірингові фірми. Проте доцільність придбання будівельними підприємствами їх послуг потребує попереднього обґрунтування шляхом розроблення відповідних інжинірингових проєктів. Вартісний інжиніринг як комплексне рішення завдань Замовника дійсно є актуальним продуктом, який все більше буде затребуваний ринком, особливо в нинішніх умовах, коли для будь-якої компанії ключовим завданням є скорочення витрат як на етапі будівництва, так і при експлуатації об'єкта. Вартісний інжиніринг інвестиційно-будівельних проєктів тісно пов'язаний з поняттями: управління ризиками проєкту, комплексне управління вартістю проєктів (TCM – total cost management). При комплексному управлінні проєктом можуть використовуватися всі методики і інструменти вартісного інжинірингу, такі як технологічний аудит, ціновий аудит, методика освоєного обсягу та ін.

Securing resources, such as financing, is key to ensuring the growth and survival of all organizations, and especially that of new ventures, engines of innovation in today���s knowledgebased economy. And resource-acquisition success of entrepreneurial firms is driven by investors making decisions in the face of high uncertainty and relative lack of information prevalent in the entrepreneurship landscape. In order to march forward with investment decisions despite these challenges, investors are liable to use information or cues that are extraneous to entrepreneurial strategy, or subjectively construct investment opportunities in their minds. Advancing knowledge of performance variance among ventures therefore calls for advancing what we know about how investors process uncertainty along these lines. This dissertation ��� comprising three interlinked yet distinct studies - is a step towards that direction, with the eventual aim of contributing to the broader strategy & entrepreneurship field. In the first study, drawing on insights from information processing and judgement & decision-making, I examine how properties of entrepreneurial strategy gives rise to investor disagreement, and the performance implications. I study this in the context of investor disagreement on social media at the point of ventures going public, i.e., doing IPOs in the United States. In the second study, I look at the role transient, contextual shocks can play in determining ventures��� funding outcomes. Drawing on affect-as-information theory, I postulate that sunnier days improve investors mood, resulting in greater likelihood of investment. Support is found from an archival study of European accelerator demo day programmes, and an experimental study. The third and final study is based on a nuanced perspective on how entrepreneurial metaphors in pitches influence investors. Going beyond existing literature that mostly groups metaphors together (and finding unclear evidence of how they influence the investor), I contend that different metaphors will have differential effects in shaping investors response to a venture���s prospects. Empirical support is drawn from a qualitative study of online crowdfunding campaigns and an experimental study.

This paper assesses the economic benefits of 57 World Bank Group-sponsored hydropower dam plant investments. Hydropower dams are among the main sources for producing electricity and the largest renewable source for power generation throughout the world. Hydropower dams are often a lower-cost option for power generation in Clean Energy Transition for addressing global climate change. Despite its conspicuous aspects, constructing hydropower dams has been controversial. Considering the World Bank's long history as the largest hydropower development financier, this study investigates its performance in supporting hydropower dams. The outcomes of this study apply to the wider hydropower development community. Of the projects in this study, 70% experienced a cost overrun, and more than 80% of projects experienced time overruns, incurring potential additional costs as a result. Despite the high cost and time overruns, this hydropower portfolio of dams produced a present value of net economic benefits by 2016 of over half a trillion USD. Based on our findings, the evaluated hydropower portfolio helped avoid over a billion tonnes of CO2 for an estimated global environmental benefit valued at nearly USD 350 billion. The projects' additional environmental benefits raise the real rate of return from 15.4% to 17.3%. The implication for hydropower developers is that the projects' assessment should consider cost and time overrun and factor them into the project-planning contingency scenarios. There is a considerable benefit for developing countries to exploit their hydropower resources if they can be developed according to industry practices and international standards. The case for developing hydropower may be stronger when considering its climate benefits. The net economic benefits of hydropower can be even higher if there is a greater effort to manage cost and time overruns.

Despite the importance of corporate disclosures on strategies to capital market participants, the existing academic literature provides limited insights into why and how firm managers disclose their companies��� strategies, what information is revealed specifically, and how market participants use or can potentially use such information. This thesis, which includes two studies, aims to fill the knowledge gap by exploring two types of strategy disclosures. In the first study, titled ���Strategy-Pay Linkage and Future Performance: Evidence from FTSE 350 Firms��� Annual Reports,��� I examine the economic implications of FTSE 350 firms��� strategy disclosures in the annual reports. I find that the level of strategy-pay linkage (i.e., the linkage between strategies and future CEO pay policies) disclosed in the reports is positively associated with the firms��� future operating performance. The association is stronger when firms have lower proprietary costs of disclosures, and when they have received more shareholder dissent on the directors��� remuneration reports previously. I also document that stronger strategy-pay linkage leads to greater investor consensus about firm value and lower information asymmetry between firm insiders and outsiders. The second study, titled ���Strategic Plan Disclosures of Newly Appointed CEOs,��� is co-authored with Tathagat Mukhopadhyay, James Ryans and Irem Tuna. We examine the determinants and market consequences of strategic plans disclosed by newly appointed CEOs at U.S. public firms. We find that new CEOs who are negatively perceived by investors when the appointment is announced are more likely to disclose a strategic plan within the first year of tenure, and tend to do so earlier than CEOs who are perceived positively. However, these disclosures do not seem to change investors��� negative perceptions, as we document a positive relation between market reactions to the CEO appointments and the reactions to the disclosures. In addition, we analyse the content of the strategic plans and find that the disclosures on growth strategies help improve the accuracy of future analyst forecasts.

Value investing involves buying securities that appear cheap relative to some fundamental anchor. For equity investors, that anchor is typically a measure of intrinsic value linked to financial statements. Recently, much has been written about the death of value investing. Although undoubtedly many approaches to value investing have suffered recently, the authors find the suggestion that value investing is dead to be premature. Both from a theoretical and empirical perspective, expectations of fundamental information have been and continue to be an important driver of security returns. The authors also address critiques leveled at value investing and find them generally lacking in substance. TOPICSAnalysis of individual factors/risk premia, factor-based models, fundamental equity analysis Key Findings ▪ The authors address a series of possible (ex post) rationalizations of the recent underperformance of value strategies. They find little empirical evidence or theoretical foundation to support the criticisms. ▪ Building on prior academic research, the authors find strong evidence that fundamental information is relevant for stock prices. ▪ However, the authors find that there are periods in which stock prices become less connected to fundamental information; when value underperforms significantly, it is primarily attributable to a widening gap between prices and fundamentals.

Using the first reported case of COVID-19 in a given U.S. county as the event day, we find that firms headquartered in an affected county experience, on average, a 27-bps lower return in the 10-day post-event window. This negative effect nearly doubles in magnitude for firms in counties with a higher infection rate (−50 bps). We test a number of transmission channels. Firms belonging to labor-intensive industries and those located in counties with a large mobility decline have worse stock performance. Firms sensitive to COVID-19-induced uncertainty also exhibit more negative returns. Finally, more negative stock returns are associated with downward revisions in earnings forecasts.

Are female founders penalized when raising funds for their ventures based on industry served? Across an observational study conducted on ventures seeking funding (*N*=392) and an experimental study conducted on investors allocating venture funding (*N*=130), we find significant evidence for a “lack of fit” effect: First, we document that female-led ventures receive significantly less funding at significantly lower valuations while retaining significantly smaller equity amounts than male-led ventures. Next, we demonstrate that female founders of ventures catering to male-dominated industries receive significantly less funding at significantly lower valuations with significantly reduced equity retention than female founders of ventures catering to female-dominated industries, while male founders attain similar funding outcomes regardless of the gender dominance of the industry to which they cater. Lastly, we confirm this is because investors perceive significantly lower degrees of fit between founding CEO and venture for female-led ventures catering to male- as opposed to female-dominated industries (with no fit differences for male-led ventures across industries). Degree of investor sophistication emerges as a potential attenuating factor, appearing to help reduce gender bias from perceived lack of fit.

We examine the economic determinants and consequences associated with the inclusion of covenants with similar levels of restrictiveness in bond contracts. Using a unique Moody’s bond covenant dataset, we develop measures that capture similarity in the restrictiveness of bond covenants relative to previously issued peer bonds. We document that the demand for similarity by issuers, their advisors and bond investors follows the predictions of sociological and economic theories. Further, consistent with similarity in covenants reducing bond investors’ information acquisition and processing costs, we show that bonds with more similar covenant restrictiveness receive lower yields at issuance. These bonds are also more likely to be held by long-term bond investors, such as insurance companies, and are characterized by greater liquidity in the secondary market, providing a partial explanation for the lower bond yields. Our results highlight the benefits of covenant similarity and suggest that the use of covenants with similar restrictiveness levels brings information acquisition and processing cost savings that may be larger than the monitoring benefits provided by covenants with more tailored features.

Using a novel pairwise measure of firms’ acquisition of rivals’ disclosures, we show that investment opportunities drive interfirm information flows. We find that these flows predict subsequent mergers and acquisitions as well as how and how much firms invest, relative to rivals. Moreover, firms’ use of rivals’ information often hinges on the similarities of their products. Our results suggest that rivals’ public information, far from being unusable, helps facilitate investment and product decisions, including acquisitions and product differentiation strategies. The findings also support a learning mechanism that could partly underlie the emerging literature on peer investment effects.

Investment appraisal methods based on real options are gaining popularity in academia, while the adoption by practitioners is still infrequent. Having in mind practitioners, the method is designed to be: conceptually easy to understand, based on realistic hypotheses and data available, able to provide quantitative indications and strategic guidelines. The method is based on a systematic simulation of several scenarios generated according to exercise thresholds of relevant investment parameters. An exercise threshold gives to the investors the exercise right of taking some decision, for instance building a power plant. An exercise threshold is therefore a rule to decide whether to exercise or not a certain option on the basis of the values of one or more state variables. Consequently, the probability distribution of the Net Present Value (or analogous indicator) of the investment is a function of the state variables and the exercise threshold. Systematically changing the exercise thresholds allow to (A) establishing the “real option value” and (B) calculate relevant indications about when and on which type of plant to invest. The method is presented in detail and applied to a case study assessing the investment appraisal of: coal plant, gas plant, large nuclear reactor and small modular reactor.

Extensive research has explored the style exposures of actively managed equity funds. We conducted an exhaustive set of return-based and holdings-based analyses to understand actively managed credit funds. We found that credit long–short managers tend to have high passive exposure to the credit risk premium. In contrast, we found that long-only managers that focus on high-yield credits provide less exposure to the credit risk premium than do their respective benchmarks. For both credit hedge funds and long-only credit mutual funds, we found that neither has economically meaningful exposures to well-compensated systematic factors.

Typically, the economic analysis of Renewable Energy Projects (REP) has been assessed considering Classical Methodologies of Investment Analysis (CMIA) in which only a few set of indicators are included, highlighting the Payback, Net Present Value and Internal Rate of Return. This excessive reliance on CMIA has been criticized because it neglects managerial flexibility, and it may end up leading to the project's undervaluation. This paper attempts firstly, to identify and describe the complementarity among economic evaluation methodologies for REP. Secondly, a novel framework is proposed for conducting the economic analysis to help decision-makers in identifying the most suitable methodology before proceeding with the investment. The findings of the study suggest that CMIA may be suitable for the cases of projects presenting low volatility. However, the analysis should be supplemented by a new set of indicators for projects with medium or high volatility. The Multi-Index Methodology (MIM), the Extended Multi-Index Methodology (EMIM) and the Real Options Analysis (ROA) are proposed to increase the investors' perception towards both the project's profitability and risk and to account for flexibility. The application of the proposed framework is demonstrated for the case of a Small Hydropower Plant (SHP) investment project. The outcomes of this paper also include the opportunities for decision-makers to flexibly respond to changes in the business and economic market using the proposed conceptual framework., This work is supported by the National Council for Scientific and Technological Development (CNPq), Brazil. This work has been supported by FCT-Fundacao para a Ciencia e Tecnologia within the R&D Units Project Scope: UIDB/00319/2020.

Una investigación descriptiva fue conducida para determinar las prácticas de presupuesto de capital de las empresas de hospedaje asociadas a la Cámara Departamental de Hotelería de Santa Cruz, en Bolivia. Los resultados mostraron que el 42,42% de las empresas nunca había utilizado alguna técnica de presupuesto de capital, y que el 63,64% nunca había determinado un costo de capital para los flujos de efectivo. Las empresas con frecuencia soslayaban a la etapa estratégica de control en el presupuesto de capital. También, las consideraciones a la flexibilidad gerencial fueron notadas en las empresas, a pesar de la poca utilización del enfoque de las opciones reales. Teniendo en cuenta los avances recientes en la teoría sobre el presupuesto de capital, se evidenció una importante brecha entre la teoría y la práctica en el sector hotelero boliviano. A descriptive investigation was conducted to determine the capital budgeting practices of the lodging firms affiliated with the Cámara Departamental de Hotelería de Santa Cruz, in Bolivia. The results showed that the 42.42% of the firms had never used any of the capital budgeting techniques, and that the usage of a discount rate for the long-term cash flows was missing in 63.64% of the firms. Most of these companies ignored the control stage in capital budgeting. In addition, the considerations to the value of managerial flexibility were noted in the firms, although the minority adopted the real options approach to appraise their investment proposals. Considering the recent development of the scientific literature regarding capital budgeting, these findings suggest the existence of an important gap between the theory and practice in the Bolivia’s hospitality industry.

This study presents a field experiment we conducted in which media articles for a random sample of firms with earnings announcements are promoted to a one percent subset of Yahoo Finance users. The promoted firms have similar fundamental and earnings-news characteristics as control firms, yet we find that promoted firms have higher abnormal returns on the day of the earnings announcement, and some evidence of lower bid-ask spreads. Moreover, these results are more pronounced for less visible firms, negative earnings news, and on days with fewer promoted firms. We do not find evidence of significant increases in trading volume, or of information acquisition by users subject to the promotion. These findings suggest that investor attention affects the pricing of earnings and that retail investors buy stocks that catch their attention, in a setting where attention is randomly assigned.

Over the last few years, a lot of press, pundit, and political attention has been paid to share repurchases, much of it critical. Most repurchase critics assert that share repurchases are at historical highs and that dollars spent repurchasing shares would otherwise be directed toward profitable investment. Some also credit recent stock market gains to the “sugar high” of share repurchases. The authors show that most of these criticisms are without merit (at least, merit that can be demonstrated), sometimes glaringly so. Aggregate share repurchase activity has not been at historical highs when measured properly, and when netted against debt issuance it is almost a non-event: It does not mechanically create earnings growth, does not stifle aggregate investment activity, and has not been the primary cause for recent stock market strength. These myths should be discarded.

Style investing has become part of the investing nomenclature for equity markets. To date, despite the massive size of fixed-income markets, little research has examined the efficacy of style-based investing in fixed income. In this article, the authors summarize a common style-based framework for capturing excess returns for both government and corporate bonds. Importantly, from an investor perspective, these style-based excess returns are highly diversifying with respect to the classic risk premiums in fixed-income markets (i.e., term premium and credit risk premium) and exhibit low macroeconomic sensitivities.

To reduce the Sulphur emission from shipping and ensure clean shipping, a number of Sulphur Emission Control Areas (SECA) were enforced in special areas around the globe. From 2015, in SECA, ship owners are not allowed to use fuel with more than 0.1% Sulphur content. One of the major concerns for the SECA regulation is that maritime stakeholders have had to take into consideration the costs as well as the tolerable risks of their compliance investment options. Besides that, low freight rates have increased the competition and had caused financial pressure on ship owners so that lower capital reserves and low credibility levels limit the manoeuvring space for investment activities. The indications from BSR after 2015 showed that the low fuel price has eased the economic effects of the SECA regulation and as a result, most ship owners have delayed their investment decisions. Even though the postponement of emission abatement techniques seems to have reduced the compliance expenses for SECA, they, however, did not improve the position of shipowners relative to their competitors. Consequently, new policy instruments to stimulate innovation, to raise competitiveness and to comply with the new environmental regulations are needed. It would have been easier to hedge fuel price volatility and offer maritime logistics services for a lower price, but to be able to ensure sustainable results in long-term, maritime stakeholders must be ready to device astute strategies that can propel them to unparalleled advantage. This research first appraised the investment risks and payback period associated with the scrubber using different capital budgeting methods. It further illustrated the Maritime Energy Contracting (MEC) model as a market mechanism for the delivery of a cost-effective emission reduction using the scrubber technology as well as an instrument to realise a competitive advantage for ship operators. The results are empirically validated by case studies from BSR.

In the article the analysis of international data collection systems for analysis of investment projects. Examples of the international statistical, financial and audit organizations publish articles and data which are necessary in the analysis of investment at the level of a single project, and at the level of the country. Analyzes the volume of investments in EU countries and Russian Federation, as well as comparative analysis. In Russia the analysis of dynamics of investments in fixed capital by kinds of economic activities are considered sources of financing. According to the results of the analysis of the findings and practical recommendations for improving the efficiency of the organization's funds.

Ever stricter emission regulations stimulate vessel owners to consider the adoption of alternative marine fuels, such as Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG). In deciding whether to invest in LNG-fueled vessels, initial investment and operating costs are decisive factors that have not yet been fully studied in the literature. In this paper, we present a new investment appraisal method to compare the costs of LNG-fueled vessels with conventional vessels. We analyze the fuel costs and overall exploitation costs by simulating bunker planning decisions under stochastic fuel prices, presence in emission controlled areas, and route lengths. Our analyses reveal that the fuel costs of LNG-fueled vessels are often lower than those of conventional vessels, even under unfavorable LNG prices. Due to the higher initial investment costs in LNG-fueled vessels, these fuel cost reductions do not always translate into lower overall exploitation costs. By conducting numerical experiments, we identified conditions under which the exploitation costs of LNG-fueled vessels are lower than conventional vessels.

Empirical evidence suggests that investor protection significantly affects ownership concentration and asset prices. We develop a dynamic asset pricing model to address the empirical regularities and uncover some of the underlying mechanisms at play. Our model features a controlling shareholder that endogenously accumulates control over a firm, and diverts a fraction of its output. Better investor protection decreases stock holdings of controlling shareholders, increases stock mean returns, and increases stock return volatilities when ownership concentration is sufficiently high, consistent with the related empirical evidence. The model also predicts that better protection increases interest rates and decreases the controlling shareholder’s leverage.Received August 14, 2017; editorial decision January 15, 2019 by Editor Stijn Van Nieuwerburgh. Authors have furnished an Internet Appendix, which is available on the Oxford University Press Web site next to the link to the final published paper online.

Prior studies on the relation between corporate taxes and future macroeconomic growth present contradictory evidence. We argue this mixed evidence is at least partly due to the use of statutory corporate tax rates which ignore the complexity of tax exemptions, tax deductions, tax enforcement and firms’ tax planning. We propose an alternative tax rate measure that aggregates cash effective tax rates of listed firms, which reflect not only statutory tax rates, but also other features of the tax code, enforcement, and firms' tax planning. We find a strong robust negative relation between country-level effective tax rates and future macroeconomic growth.

We examine whether there is a correlation between personal wealth interests of politicians and their decisions to intervene in the economy. We use the setting of the government’s support of financial institutions under the 2008 Emergency Economic Stabilization Act (ESSA). We find that the personal wealth interests of politicians are positively associated with voting in favour of the EESA.

Inledning: Studien har sin utgångspunkt i ett praktisk problem på Södra Skogsägarna angående en upplevd svårighet att bedöma hållbara investeringar. Att göra investeringar med hållbarhetshänsyn har blivit allt vanligare vilket kan bero på den ökade uppmärksamheten kring ämnet. Södras verksamhet präglas av en mängd investeringar vilka är betydelsefulla för företagets framtid och överlevnad. Syfte: Syftet med studien är att definiera och kartlägga vad hållbara investeringar är. Författarna ska även analysera Södras investeringsbedömning och hur de hanterar hållbarhetsaspekter i den. Studien ska bidra till att ge ett förslag på hur företag kan anpassa sin investeringsbedömning för att bättre ta hänsyn till hållbarhetsaspekter. Metod: Denna studien är en empiriskt driven fallstudie av kvalitativ karaktär. Det teoretiska materialet baseras på vetenskapliga artiklar och litteratur från Linnéunivesitets bibliotek. Det empiriska materialet grundar sig på semistrukturerade intervjuer och dokument. För att studien ska anses vara trovärdig har vi beaktat ett antal kvalitetskriterier och forskningsetiska överväganden. Slutsats: Slutligen ges rekommendationer på hur Södra Skogsägarna kan anpassa sin inventeringshandbok och investeringsrutin för att beakta hållbara investeringar. Huvudsakligen handlar det om hur företaget ska hantera klassindelning, kalkylmetoder, kalkylränta och kvalitativ information. Introduction: The study is based on a practical problem at Södra Skogsägarna regarding a perceived difficulty in consider sustainable investments. Making investments with sustainability considerations has become increasingly common, which may be due to the increased attention to the subject. Södra's operations are characterized by a large number of investments which are important for the company's future and survival. Purpose: The purpose of the study is to define and map what sustainable investments are. The authors will also analyze Södra's investment appraisal and how they handle sustainability aspects in it. The study will help to give a suggestion on how companies can adapt their investment assessment to better take into account sustainability aspects. Method: This study is an empirically driven case study of qualitative character. The theoretical material is based on scientific articles and literature from the library at Linnaeus University. The empirical material is based on semi-structured interviews and documents. For the study to be considered credible, we have considered a number of quality criteria and research ethical considerations. Conclusion: Finally recommendations are made on how Södra Skogsägarna can adapt their investment manual and investment routine to consider sustainable investments. It is mainly about how the company should handle class division, calculation methods, interest rate and qualitative information.

Dissertação de mestrado integrado em Engineering and Industrial Management, Research and Development (R&D) projects have limited budgets, depending on the company’s investment and funding capacities available to the company. That being said, the financial dimension should be included in R&D management at every stage to identify possible risks and evaluate the return on investment (ROI), as soon as possible. This research aims to develop a framework to evaluate R&D projects. The developed economic and financial model (FINECON Model) is a decision-making and evaluation tool for R&D projects and their financial scenarios, designed for entrepreneurs, companies with R&D teams, and, lastly, investors or business angels’ usage, allowing the economic and financial viability study of new products, businesses, and technological startups. The proposed methodology was applied to MobiBUS, an intelligent mobility R&D project developed in Bosch Car Multimedia, in collaboration with the University of Minho. The application of the developed model to the case study MobiBUS supported the whole evaluation, the formulation of good and bad hypothetical scenarios, and the delivery of information to the team and potential investors. In conclusion, the MobiBUS project was evaluated as viable, taking into consideration its resources, product, and used technology, as well as sustainable enough to create a start-up. The developed model can be applied to other case studies in mobility contexts or other technological R&D projects., Os projetos de Investigação e Desenvolvimento (I&D) possuem orçamento limitado, e estão dependentes das capacidades de investimento e de financiamento à disposição da empresa. Deste modo, a dimensão financeira deve estar presente na gestão de I&D para que possam ser identificados possíveis riscos e para que seja possível avaliar o retorno do investimento (ROI) o mais precocemente possível. Este projeto de investigação teve como objetivo o desenvolvimento de uma metodologia para avaliar projetos de I&D. O modelo de avaliação económico-financeira desenvolvido (modelo FINECON) é uma ferramenta para a tomada de decisão e avaliação de projetos de I&D e respetivos cenários financeiros, que se destina a empreendedores, empresas com projetos de I&D, ou, em último caso, investidores permitindo analisar as condições de viabilidade económico-financeira de novos produtos, negócios e startups de base tecnológica. A metodologia proposta foi aplicada no MobiBUS, um projeto de mobilidade inteligente de I&D desenvolvido na Bosch Car Multimedia, em colaboração com a Universidade do Minho. A aplicação do modelo ao projeto MobiBUS suportou a sua total avaliação, a formulação hipotética de cenários otimistas e pessimistas, e o fornecimento de informações à equipa e potenciais investidores.Em suma, o projeto MobiBUS avaliou-se viável, tendo em conta os recursos, produto e tecnologia utilizada, e ainda suficientemente sustentável para que se crie uma start-up. O modelo desenvolvido pode ser aplicado noutros casos no contexto particular da mobilidade e noutros projetos de I&D de base tecnológica.

Environmental investments, such as emission control measures hardly gain profit but are enforced by policy. Such investments can be expected to be delayed as much as legally feasible. Yet, if increasing expenditures for the same investment in the future are likely to occur, an advanced investment may be favorable. A cost calculation methodology for NOₓ control techniques and a real option based decision support model for investments not gaining economic profit is presented in the book.

This paper assesses the economic benefits of 57 World Bank Group-sponsored hydropower dam plant investments. Hydropower dams are among the main sources for producing electricity and the largest renewable source for power generation throughout the world. Hydropower dams are often a lower-cost option for power generation in Clean Energy Transition for addressing global climate change. Despite its conspicuous aspects, constructing hydropower dams has been controversial. Considering the World Bank’s long history as the largest hydropower development financier, this study investigates its performance in supporting hydropower dams. The outcomes of this study apply to the wider hydropower development community. Of the projects in this study, 70% experienced a cost overrun, and more than 80% of projects experienced time overruns, incurring potential additional costs as a result. Despite the high cost and time overruns, this hydropower portfolio of dams produced a present value of net economic benefits by 2016 of over half a trillion USD. Based on our findings, the evaluated hydropower portfolio helped avoid over a billion tonnes of CO2 for an estimated global environmental benefit valued at nearly USD 350 billion. The projects’ additional environmental benefits raise the real rate of return from 15.4% to 17.3%. The implication for hydropower developers is that the projects’ assessment should consider cost and time overrun and factor them into the project-planning contingency scenarios. There is a considerable benefit for developing countries to exploit their hydropower resources if they can be developed according to industry practices and international standards. The case for developing hydropower may be stronger when considering its climate benefits. The net economic benefits of hydropower can be even higher if there is a greater effort to manage cost and time overruns.