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The importance of education on all aspect of human endeavor is incontestable as education plays a significant role in human and economic development of a nation. Many studies around the globe have proved that education is the most potent tool in poverty reduction effort. This is because as the level of education increases the probability of becoming poor also reduces. The purpose of this study is to examine the moderating effect of NGO on the relationship between education and agricultural productivity in Katsina State Nigeria. The study adopted a quantitative method by using questionnaire as the instrument for data collection. A total of 430 questionnaires was distributed to the respondents from the six-local government of the state and 410 were returned accounting for 95 percent rate of return and 400 screened questionnaires was used for further analysis. Partial Least Square-Structural Equation Modelling PLS-SEM was used as data analysis tools. The major finding of the study indicated that, there exists positive relationship between education and agricultural productivity and NGO also moderate the relationship between education and agricultural productivity. Conclusively this study revealed that education is a viable mechanism for improving agricultural productivity. This study suggested that, government at various level should partner with NGO in bringing about development, especially of the rural areas. This study has contributed to the literature in development studies as this study is the first to introduce NGO as a moderating variable in development study.

Studies show that increased access to education can contribute to economic growth and poverty eradication, accordingly, acquired basic skills such as reading, writing and numeracy have a positive effect on marginalized populations’ incomes and the rate of return on the economy. The wish to eliminate poverty in Kenya has been articulated since independence through a number of enactments and policy papers. However rampant poverty still abounds. Abject poverty threatens access to essential services by about 38% of Kenyans living below the poverty line. In its effort to combat poverty, the government introduced free primary and free day secondary education with poverty alleviation as one of its objectives. However, the free basic education has so far not eliminated poverty as envisaged due to a number of challenges. This paper thus presents the successes, failures and challenges of the free basic education in Kenya against the need for it to help eliminate poverty by thematically examining and analysing literature. From the analysis, the successes include: increased school enrolment, reduction in illiteracy levels, improved transition rates to secondary school, eradication of child labour, improved assessment and placement of learners with disabilities and abandonment of harmful traditional practices. The challenges include: understaffing, massive unplanned expansions of schools, inability of parents to provide subsistence, the quality issue and delayed funds disbursement amongst others, thereby rendering education unable to efficiently play its role in poverty alleviation. Recommendations are thereafter given

The quest for the attainment of economic development is sought after by all global economies, which by effect is expected to transcend to improving livelihoods and standard of living. However, several factors hinder the process of achieving sustained economic development, especially in developing countries. In this regard, assessing the extent of economic expansion orchestrated by foreign direct investment (FDI) inflows in vulnerable economies such as Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA), particularly in the face of the significant fall in global FDI inflow, is worthwhile. In essence, this study ascertains the impact of FDI inflows and external debt on economic growth amidst decline in FDI inflows and excessive foreign borrowings. The mixed order of integration from the stationarity test underpins the adoption of autoregressive distributed lag (ARDL) approach for data covering the period 1990 to 2018. The empirical results found FDI inflows play a crucial role in achieving economic expansion in the region. On average, FDI inflows, external debt, and foreign aids are more useful in expanding the economy compared to trade openness and exchange rate. Thus, this study recommends the need for SSA to open its economic borders for external capital, viz. FDI. A peaceful economic and political environment is a pre-condition to attract and maintain potential foreign investors. Stability in exchange rates is critical in achieving growth in FDI and other foreign resources. However, caution is required, especially in administration of external resources. Particularly, contracting external debt must strictly be driven by economic reasons rather than political motivation. Borrowed funds could be injected mainly into productive streams with the highest investment returns to boost economic development.

Accessible and affordable early childhood care and education (ECE) is crucial to child, family, and community well-being. High quality ECE programs set the stage for lifelong learning, health, and overall well-being and yield a high rate of return on public investment. Equitable access to ECE remains an intractable challenge in the U.S. and elsewhere. We used spatial analysis to create a single micro-level indicator of ECE affordability for an urban county. This indicator combined information on supply (number of nearby sets), demand (number of children competing for these seats), and cost burden (cost as a percentage of median family income). We measured and mapped the affordability of programs within a 3-mile driving distance of a prototypical family home using a two-step floating catchment area method. Overall, affordability was low, with only 14% of young children having access to ECE that met the federal affordability threshold. Although affordability was inversely related to neighborhood income, not all low-income areas were under-resourced. The ECE affordability indicator can arm community advocates and help policymakers identify inequities and direct resources to the highest-need communities. The computational procedures and mapping techniques applied are flexible and can be scaled up to visualize inequities across large areas (e.g., a province or state), or used at a micro level to identify where in a community a new childcare center would have the most impact.

This essay aims to analyse the impact of the inequalities of girls’ basic education have in the development of South Sudan. By using qualitative data, this essay encourages for a more equal education, thus raising awareness for the benefit of women empowerment, which will as a consequence help in enabling development. Human Capital Theory as defined by Erik Hanushek (2013) and Jacob Mincer (1981) and the Capability Approach linked with the work of Martha Nussbaum and Amartya Sen both contemplate one another in this paper. The HCT discusses the rates of return on education by analyzing economic decisions either they be related to girls or the whole community of South Sudan. The Capability Approach on the other hand emphasizes the extent to which social transformation affects women empowerment. This essay suggests immediate intervention is needed in order to address the unequal levels of participation of girls’ basic education, thus encouraging fairness and enabling gender equality.

In Brazil, distributed grid-connected solar photovoltaic (PV) plays an increasingly role due to advances in PV technology, combined with decreasing capital costs and subsidies. Therefore, this paper aims conduct an economic analysis of two projects in “Minha Casa Minha Vida” (MCMV) governmental program, one in the state Sao Paulo and the other in the state of Piaui, using distributed photovoltaic power generation. The MCMV is the Brazilian government's housing program that gives access to home ownership to low-income Brazilians in urban and rural areas. Such analysis was undertaken by the evaluation of the net present value (NPV) and internal rate of return (IRR), considering a Minimum Attractive Rate of Return (MARR) and by varying the annual growth of energy tariffs over 25 years of operation, which represents the expected lifespan of solar panels. These two cities were chosen because their federal states have different actions with respect to tax matters. Such difference, in particular, will be examined and explored in this article. Results show that even though Piaui presents a higher average solar radiation than Sao Paulo, the impact of ICMS exemption guarantees an advantage of investing in Sao Paulo.

1. introductionRailroads played a major role in the development of the antebellum United States. The availability of an expanding railroad infrastructure revolutionized the dynamics of the US economy, shattering traditional time and space barriers. Transportation of people and goods became faster, more reliable, safer, and hence more economical. For some time economists and historians have tried to specify and carefully measure these impacts (for recent contributions see, for example, Rousseau and Sylla, 2005; Atack et al., 2008; Atack and Margo, 2011; Donaldson and Hornbeck, 2013; Atack et al., 2014a, 2014b).1 And yet, several important questions remain unanswered. First, what was the overall impact of railroad investment on economic development in this period? Second what was the impact of railroad investment in this period on public state budgets?At the most fundamental level, there is the question of causality. It is often implicitly assumed in measuring the effects of railroad investments that they led to economic development. Yet, the possibility of feedback effects from economic conditions to railroad investment is ignored. But there exists evidence for such effects. Fishlow (1965) tested Schumpeter's hypothesis of construction ahead of demand and finds that railroads tended to be built incrementally into areas that already had been settled (see Fogel, 1979). Atack et al. (2010) further reinforce this conclusion in their analysis of investment, population density, and urbanization patterns between 1850 and 1860.It is indeed likely, given the high internal rates of return reported for railroad investment and the participation of the public sector in this endeavor, that patterns of railroad investment may have been responsive to economic conditions. Expansionary economic conditions increase the availability of private capital and, by expanding tax bases, increase the capacity for the public sector to provide support for railroad construction. In addition, the expansion of the network may have been designed to serve the needs of regions where migration and subsequent growth in activity manifested sufficient demand for these transportation services to justify their construction. These concerns support the need to accommodate the possibility of reverse causality between economic development and railroad investment when measuring the effects of railroad construction on economic development.In a more general vein, the heart of the social savings approach traditionally used to measure the economic effects of railroad investment (see Fogel (1964) and Fishlow (1965) for the seminal contributions), rests on the idea that lower transportation costs are the central component of the effects of railroads on economic development. A key criticism of this approach is that it is equipped to measure only these direct gains and not any indirect benefits stemming from demand side effects (see, for example, Leunig, 2010).Indeed, railroad investment should be expected to have two fundamentally different types of contributions to economic development. First, the construction of the rail lines required the allocation of resources which may stimulate demand. This stems from the purchase of raw materials that supported the iron foundries, rolling mills and machine shops that prepared iron and other metals required to furnish the rails, spikes, sills, frogs, levers and switches needed to lay track. In addition, the employment of labor in the construction of the railroad and subsequent spending induced by payments to workers may contribute to greater levels of output. Over the long run, however, the importance of the railroad in accessing regions distant from waterways and the network spillover effects induced by their presence are an important driver in the positive impact of railroad investment on economic growth and in lowering transportation costs. There is scant evidence on how the effects of railroad investment may be decomposed between short-term - demand side effects - and long term - supply side effects (see, for example, Berger and Enflo, 2014). …

Human capital theory and rate of return methodology have long been a dominant framework in comparative and international education and other fields. While there have been criticisms since its inception, it has been ubiquitous and widely accepted as an important mechanism for educational planning, evaluation, and policy making. In this article, I raise fundamental questions about the internal logic of this framework. In particular, I examine the problems with its two strands of empirical work, dealing with the impact of education on income and economic growth, as well as with its conceptual base. In conclusion, I briefly examine some alternatives to using a human capital framework for educational planning, evaluation, and policy making.

peer-reviewed Quantifying the value of investment in medical research can inform decision-making on the prioritisation of research programmes. Existing methodologies to estimate the rate of return of medical research are inappropriate for early-phase translational research due to censoring of health benefits and time lags. A strategy to improve the process of translational research for patient benefit has been initiated as part of the UK National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) investment in Biomedical Research Centres (BRCs) in England. By providing a platform for partnership between universities, NHS trusts and industry, successful BRCs should reduce time lags within translational research whilst also providing an impetus for local economic growth through industry collaboration. We present a novel contribution in the assessment of early-phase biomedical research by estimating the impact of the Oxford Biomedical Research Centre (OxBRC) on income and job creation following the initial NIHR investment. We adopt a macroeconomic assessment approach using Input-Output Analysis to estimate the value of medical research in terms of income and job creation during the early pathway towards translational biomedical research. Inter-industry linkages are assessed by building a model economy for the South East England region to estimate the return on investment of the OxBRC. The results from the input-output model estimate that the return on investment in biomedical research within the OxBRC is 46%. Each £1 invested in the OxBRC generates an additional £0.46 through income and job creation alone. Multiplicative employment effects following a marginal investment in the OxBRC of £98m during the period 2007-2017 result in an estimated additional 196 full time equivalent positions being created within the local economy on top of direct employment within OxBRC. Results from input-output analyses can be used to inform the prioritisation of biomedical research programmes when compared against national minimum thresholds of investment

We estimate households’ willingness-to-pay for rural feeder roads in Ethiopia. Using purposefully collected data, we compare the economic behaviour of households by remoteness to estimate the benefits of access to feeder roads. Although we cannot definitively assert a causal relationship, we cautiously estimate that gravel roads have internal rates of return of 12–35 per cent. These results suggest that rural feeder roads may have relatively high rates of return even in unfavourable settings where (a) small-scale farmers have low levels of marketed agricultural surplus, (b) non-farm earning opportunities are negligible, and (c) motorised transport services are not guaranteed.

This study reviews the evaluation of capacity development, identifying capacity development (CD) modalities and the schools of evaluation currently in place. The research joins the results agenda debate, arguing that in dealing with CD interventions, pre-defined indicators fail to represent the process and the key elements that take CD recipients toward patterns of change. The study highlights the fact that CD deals with projects that, by their nature (consisting of change processes designed to initiate change in people, organizations, and/or their enabling environment), rely more on non-planned changes than on the pre-defined indicators and results to contribute to livelihood improvements and social transformation. The study recognizes the difficulty of evaluating CD under straight-forward mechanisms. It concludes that the existing approaches are not adequate to truly capture or measure impact, as CD projects, restricted by previously agreed budgets, resources, and time frames, are usually not designed to evaluate the sustainability of change and its impact over the medium or long term. As resources are scarce, donor agencies and policy-makers need to know the value of CD in order to best prioritize their investments. However, due to the nature of these projects, measuring the return rate between the project cost and its impact remains a difficult task. There is a need for new, multi-path approaches to capturing changes in capacity in order to serve as a basis for decision-making regarding CD investments. (C) 2015 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/).

This study estimates the rates of return of non-contributory social transfer programmes in Cambodia using household-level data and going beyond standard cost–efficiency analyses by developing a dynamic microsimulation model. It shows that social protection promotes equitable economic growth by enhancing human capital and fostering economic performance at the micro level. A positive rate of return is achieved after 12 periods and can reach between 12 per cent and 15 per cent after 20 periods. This study shows that microsimulation models can be extended in order to analyse the long-term economic returns on social protection. © 2015 Taylor & Francis.

Low income economies are characterized with high investment returns and therefore should attract foreign investment to primarily fill the existing gaps of productive factors which vividly reveals the basis for their underdeveloped status. The main objective of the study is to ascertain the impact of flow of FDI on the economic development of the host African countries characterized with low income per capita. Panel data were utilized for 39 African countries, 20 of which were low income countries. The results indicates that FDI had significant impact on the economic development of the host African countries, by enhancing the development of the host sector and reducing gradually dependence on foreign capital, which resulted in increased income per capita, better education, living standards and the wellbeing of the host economies. The study concludes by recommending that government of the host economies should guide the sector of FDI inflow, and ensure that policies are in place to enhance domestic investment development in such sectors. This will gradually bring about the closure of existing proactive factors and hence economic development.

As the current housing shortage in Hong Kong is a severe social issue, the government has put forward a plan to increase the supply of residential land in order to increase the housing supply. This paper examines the effectiveness of this policy and investigates the factors influencing developer's new completions. By analyzing time-series data, it is found that the new housing supply in Hong Kong is independent of the land supply by government, which means the policy of increasing land supply to increase housing supply may be ineffective. Unlike most of the previous studies on the housing supply from developers under the neoclassic economic framework, this study takes a micro approach by analyzing the factors influencing the internal rates of return on housing investments. The study finds that a decreasing internal rate of return on developers' housing investments, caused mainly by high land prices, has led to a reduction in housing supply. When the internal rate of return decreases, developers cut down on their projects and hold on to their land waiting for a better time to develop. Results from the study suggest that land in urban districts with high land prices, such as Hong Kong Island, are held approximately two and a half years longer than land in districts with low land prices, such as the New Territories. In view of this, it is advisable for the government to supply more land in districts with low land prices. However, simply increasing the land supply to developers will not solve the housing shortage in Hong Kong. Instead, the conditions surrounding the supplied land should be improved in order to increase the corresponding housing price to cover the reduction in the internal rate of return, which will motivate developers to supply new houses.

This research deals with the subject of the introducing of beekeeping within microfinance mechanisms to combat poverty through the Agricultural Bank of Sudan. The research problem is the absence of beekeeping finance within the microfinance and poverty alleviation programs funded by the bank as a result of the lack of adequate information on the economic feasibility of the project in terms of profitability, the capital, payback period, the policy and qualified staff. To achieve the objectives of the research, the most important of which is introducing of beekeeping within the microfinance and poverty alleviation programs through the bank which covered different parts of Sudan and widespread in rural areas where poverty rate increases. The beekeeping in some areas of Sudan where forests covered large areas (rich flora) is considered the most successful projects, that lead to an increase in household income and thus reduce the poverty. Researcher relied on primary data collected from field survey as well as personal interviews with the Agricultural Bank of Sudan Micro-finance Initiative manager. Of the most prominent findings of the research that beekeeping in Sudan is most promising industry of high economic feasibility with an average production of colony per year of 19.3 Kg and the rate of return on investment of 46.2%, which confirms the feasibility of the project and its suitability for microfinance and poverty alleviation programs, the importance of the project is increasing in remote and rural areas and forests where it is difficult to construct any other projects, in addition to beekeeping lead to increased income to the farmers by increasing the productivity of the crops (River Nile State Initiative). The arguments in the research are intended to provide farmers and poverty reduction stakeholders in Sudan (including policy- makers) with the necessary information and motivation to consider beekeeping as viable commercial and protective activity that should always be considered and integrated in microfinance and poverty reduction programmes through the Agricultural Bank of Sudan. The researcher stated important recommendations. To encourage the banks and other financial institutes to engage in this type of investment, to create associations of local producers to develop productions and marketing process locally and abroad, to encourage the training and scientific research and to encourage beekeeping in order to be one of the agricultural inputs.

This is a review paper on the impact of education on economic development. From the literature review undertaken, it is clear that the contribution of education to economic development may be positive, negative or nothing. There are three distinctive ways of determining contribution of education to economic development: (a) rate of return analysis: education is an investment which enhances productivity and yield monetary and non-monetary returns; (b) human resource approach: through education future needs workers might be met to attain economic development; and (c) education and economic growth analyses: education has got a major multiplier role in economic analysis growth. There is lack of research on the impact / contribution of education on the economic development of the country. Whatever small amount of research projects are available on it in India; they are unable to convince our policymakers to invest in the education sector. Therefore, there is a need for research on the contribution of education to the economic development of India and convince our policymakers to increase the public spending on education – elementary, secondary and higher education and education research.

The future path and pace of agricultural productivity growth areinextricably intertwined with investments in food and agricultural research and development (R&D). Looking back over half a century of evidence, we find that the lay of the global food and agricultural R&D land is changing, with indications that we are in the midst of an historic transition. The more notable trends are as follows: (1) for the first time in modern history (in purchasing power parity, PPP, terms), the middle-income countries now outspend the rich countries in terms of public-sector investments in food and agricultural R&D; (2) the shifting public shares reflect a continuing decline in the rate of growth of food and agricultural R&D spending by the rich countries, along with a generally sustained and substantial growth in spending by the middle-income countries (especially China, India, and Brazil); (3) in PPP terms, China now spends more than the United States on both public- and private-sector food and agricultural R&D; (4) the global share of food and agricultural R&D being conducted by the private sector has increased, especially in the high- and rapidly growing middle-income countries; and (5) the low-income countries are losing ground and account for an exceptionally small share of global spending. The mean and median values of the reported rates of return to food and agricultural R&D based on the IRR are high and remain so, with no signs of a diminution in the payoffs to more recent (compared with earlier) investments in R&D. But the available evidence on the returns to food and agricultural R&D is not fully representative of the institutional (i.e., public versus private), locational, or commodity orientation of the research and the agricultural sector itself. The Shifting Structure of Agricultural R&D: Worldwide.... Available from: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/321253196_The_Shifting_Structure_of_Agricultural_RD_Worldwide_Investment_Patterns_and_Payoffs [accessed May 15 2018].

As knowledge, skills and technology has become more critical for national economic development, policy interest in higher education has increased, because higher education plays a crucial role in equipping students with knowledge and skills of higher standards and creating innovative technology. Quality labor trained and new knowledge and technology generated by higher education decide productivity and competitiveness of a country’s economy. Despite its importance as a key policy measure for national economic development, higher education in developing countries did not get much attention in education investment strategies since investment focus of international donors like the World Bank was on primary education following the rate of return study results, and thus now faces serious challenges. Based on the analyses of the relationship between higher education and national economic growth and the problems of higher education in developing countries, this paper attempts to suggest strategic guidelines for designing and implementing higher education reform measures in developing countries with focus on collaboration among higher education institutions and industry and quality assurance of higher education.

The importance of early childhood education has now become the major focus of policy-making in national development agendas in many advanced and majority of poor economies. This push is based on overwhelming research evidence that quality early education builds strong foundation for further learning and reduces economic and social inequalities (Heckman JJ, Investing in disadvantaged young children is an economically efficient policy. Paper presented at the Committee for Economic Development, New York. Retrieved April 16, 2016, from http://jenni.uchicago.edu/Australia/invest-disadv_2005-12-22_247pm_awb.pdf, 2006; Heckman JJ, Moon SH, Pinto R, Savelyev P, Yavitz A, A new cost-benefit and rate of return analysis for the Perry preschool program: a summary, working paper. Retrieved from http://www.nber.org/papers/w16180.pdf, 2010). In Sierra Leone in West Africa, early childhood education is at an embryonic stage, and there are many issues that have impacted on its lack of advancement. This chapter explores the nature of early childhood development and education by focusing on the barriers and possibilities and to place it in center stage in the postwar reconstruction of Sierra Leone. This chapter argued that in a country influenced by a past, present, and future landscape; indigenous tradition; and postcolonial history, a post-conflict recovery can neither ignore early childhood education nor relegate it to the lower end of policy-making in the quest for economic development and national stability.

Building information modeling (BIM), the emerging digital technology, is undergoing increasing application in developing countries including China. Both the governmental policy and industry motivation have indicated that BIM is becoming the mainstream innovation in China’s construction industry. Nevertheless, one major concern lies in the uncertainty of BIM investment for architecture, engineering, and construction (AEC) firms. Specifically, AEC firms should have the knowledge of areas BIM investment could focus on (such as BIM software); the expected returns from BIM investment; methods to enhance the returns from BIM usage; and the risks in implementing BIM. This study adopted a questionnaire survey–based approach to address these concerns related to BIM application and risk in China. BIM practitioners from multiple AEC fields and different experience levels were recruited as the survey sample. It was found from the questionnaire survey that both internal and external collaborations should be the BIM investment priority, together with the interoperability among multiple BIM software tools. Improved multiparty communication and understanding was the highest recognized return from BIM investment. Survey participants had a high expectation of BIM application in green building projects. Subgroup analysis conveyed the information that gaining BIM practical experience would provide professionals with more confidence on returns from BIM adoption in enhancing communication and understanding. Compared to survey participants from other professions, architects tended to have more conservative views on BIM’s effect on marketing their work, project planning, and recruiting/retaining employees. The findings from this empirical study provide an overview of BIM investment, return, and implementation-related risks for AEC professionals at different stages or levels of BIM practice, as well as suggestions for relevant public authorities when developing BIM guidelines (e.g., BIM applications in prefabrication construction). As an extension of existing BIM implementation studies in developed countries, this study provides insights of BIM practical experience and associated risks in China by adopting a holistic approach and summarizing the perceptions from AEC professionals across disciplines and experience levels. The knowledge gained from this study could be further applied in other developing countries where the application of information technology is growing in AEC projects.

This paper addresses two main questions: (1) What are the binding constraints to Guinea's economic growth? and (2) What would it take to accelerate growth in the country? Using the growth diagnostic approach, the paper finds three binding constraints to growth: (i) lack of good infrastructure (roads and electricity), (ii) low access to finance, and (iii) poor governance. Simulation results highlight the need for total factor productivity growth for higher gross domestic product growth rates over the medium term. Specifically, Guinea needs 1 to 2 percent total factor productivity growth to maintain 5 to 7 percent gross domestic product growth, with a 16 to 21 percent investment rate by 2020. The lower bound of the range of the investment rate is similar to Guinea's experience in the past decade; the upper bound is slightly superior to the country's recent performance. The paper discusses some of the policy options to consider to address the key binding constraints to economic growth as well as to overcome the challenge of increasing total factor productivity growth in Guinea.

Engineering education comprises 1/3 of the higher education system in China. Currently, participation in engineering education among the educated classes is decreasing. According to the theory of human capital, the rate of return to education influences individual educational choices and student resources available at colleges and universities. Based on responses to the Chinese General Social Survey (CGSS 2003, 2008), descriptive statistics were used to explore the rate of return to higher engineering education in China, and models were developed to estimate the rates of return to education across different disciplines. Results revealed that the rate of return to higher engineering education in China in 2003 was 10.6%, whereas it was 14.7% in 2008. A ranking of the rates of return across higher education disciplines in China revealed that engineering was in an intermediate position, ranking 7th in 2003 and 6th in 2008. Gender differences were evident in the rates of return to engineering education in China, with high rates for males and low rates for females. Females’ return rates increased considerably from 2003 (9.7%) to 2008 (14.3), ranking 10th in 2003 and 3rd in 2008. Our results provide a better understanding of the effects of promoting China’s engineering education on human capital and the rationality of income distribution with regard to the labor market. These results have significant policy implications for educators and policy-makers.

Educational authorities in Taiwan have been expanding the higher education sector since the 1990s to meet the demands of economic transformation and to meet cultural expectations. Consequently, the higher education system of Taiwan has evolved from an elite system to a universal one. The rapid expansion of higher education is also characterized by salient features such as the increase of higher degrees, an enlarged private sector, and diminishing numbers of junior college institutions and students. This study explores whether these changes at the national level have brought challenges to the labour market. Our findings reveal that intensified competition for employment caused by the increased number of college graduates has incurred extra monetary cost and uncertain wage prospects at the individual level. Disadvantaged students might suffer the most from the massification in light of increased financial investments and low(er) rates of return to higher education.

Foreign housing investment is an outcome of increased mobility in the era of globalisation. The literature has acknowledged the impacts of global migration and capital flows on space. However, an understanding of foreign home ownership is scarce in spite of its growing volume and influence. This study explores who the foreign buyers of housing in Seoul are and where the houses owned by foreigners locate. By analysing housing transaction data and the location of ethnic communities, this paper shows that foreign housing investment in Seoul is closely associated with overseas Koreans rather than any average global talent or immigrant. The location of foreign owned houses is linked to the geography of ethnic clusters as well as areas where high potential investment returns are perceived. Foreign housing investment has the potential to strengthen long-term settlements of foreigners, and to encourage the emergence of "global villages".

The beginning of the 21st century has given rise to a new attitude to the development of science and technology. The main assumptions underlying the introduction of changes have their origin in the globalization of economy, scientific and technological revolution as well as rapid growth of competitiveness on regional and global markets. Under these circumstances entrepreneurship and innovativeness have become factors determining economic growth experienced both by enterprises and economies of particular states. This is reflected in the results of numerous studies. They indicate that economies, in which business entities are located and which show greater innovative potential, have reported the highest rates of return in recent years (8). The article is aimed at presenting the essence and role of innovation activity in contemporary organizations, as well as benefits accruing from innovation introduction in enterprises. An attempt has been made to identify factors contributing to effective implementation of innovation activities. Special attention was paid to external and internal determinants that provide conditions encouraging business entities to become involved in innovation activities.

This study enquired about the nature of co-movement of direct commercial and residential real estate investment returns because the two real estate sectors have not been taken together in a co-movement study in Nigeria. It also identified the implication of the co-movement in the construction of real estate portfolios by investors. The study is an empirical research with a survey research design. Primary data were collected by questionnaire and interview from firms of estate surveyors and valuers in eight cities in seven states of South Eastern Nigeria. A judgment sampling approach was adopted and a sample size of 100 buildings each of commercial and residential real estate investment was drawn for analysis in each city studied from 2000 to 2013. At city level, Calabar and Onitsha produced the maximum (22.15%) and minimum (12.5%) mean returns respectively on commercial real estate investment while Owerri and Awka produced the maximum (19.42%) and minimum (8.54%) mean returns on residential real estate investment. At the regional level, commercial sector produced higher (16.62%) mean returns than the residential sector (14.93%). The correlation structure at the city level revealed negative co-movement in opposite direction and positive co-movement in the same direction. All the negative and positive correlations are low implying that there is room for diversification by way of investors constructing portfolios of commercial or residential or both sectors of real estate investments. At the regional level, the correlation produced a low positive co-movement though significant. All the positive and negative correlations at city and regional levels can contribute effectively to the construction of portfolios that will increase returns and reduce risk because there is no strong or perfect positive co-movement.

This paper benchmarks the quality of project economic analysis in South Asia against other World Bank regions, using data on project exits between 1975 and 2015. The results show that the South Asia region performs on par with the other regions, in that the share of project documents that report estimated economic rates of return have declined from 70 to 36 percent for South Asia and the other regions. This finding suggests there is less attention to project economic analysis (especially for sectors where this has been a traditional practice, such as energy, transport, water, and agriculture). The finding also indicates that the incidence of reporting rates of return in project documents and the dispersion or difference between rates of return estimated at project appraisal and completion are significantly correlated with project performance (after correcting for country- and project-level variables). For the project-level variables, the task team effect is a key variable that explains project outcomes. The paper discusses the implications of the analyses for strengthening project performance and risk mitigation.

India has been observing December 24 each year since 1986 as “National Consumer Rights Day”, when the Consumer Protection Act [CPA], 1986 came into force on this day. Despite the implementation of the CPA has completed three decades in the country, the rural India has yet to understand the meaning of consumer’s rights & the procedure to protect the right enshrined in the CPA,1986. This has its significance because according to the National Council of Applied Economic Research survey report there are 720 million consumers across the villages and according to the National Sample Survey Organization report there are small & marginal farmers [S&MFs] accounting for 85% of total agricultural holdings in the country. It is against this background this development perspective article briefly but precisely deals with the need to create desired level of awareness among S&MFs as consumers and effectively implement the provisions of the CPA, 1986 for the benefits of farmers and women engaged in agriculture in the light of the importance of agriculture, significant number of farmers and women engaged in agriculture, poor quality of goods and services resulting into the serious issues of land degradation, inefficient use of farm resources, declining farm productivity and rate of return on farm investments.

An MFI is financially sustainable when it achieves desired rate of Operational Sustainability (OS) and desired rate of Return on Equity (ROE). The present study examines financial sustainability of NBFC-MFIs operating in Gujarat. It also examines association between dependent factor with independent determinants of financial sustainability i.e. DER, OER, WOR, YGP, and SE. The study’s finding leads to the conclusion that NBFC-MFIs in Gujarat are financially not sustainable though they are able to achieve desired OS but fail to achieve desired ROE. Further YGP, OER and WOR are the significant predictor variables in determining the financial sustainability of selected MFIs.