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The adoption of pro-environmental behaviors is essential to achieve the transition to a sustainable society. Previous evidence indicates that pro-environmental behaviors are positively associated with subjective well-being, lending support to the well-being dividend theory (namely that actions aimed at protecting the environment also improve well-being). In this study, we further examine the relationship between subjective well-being and pro-environmental behaviors, investigating whether the positive associations found extend to different types of behavior and different conceptions of well-being. We use three measures of well-being: life satisfaction (cognitive dimension), experienced emotions (affective dimension) and subjective vitality (eudaimonic dimension). We classify different pro-environmental behaviors on the basis of two criteria: the possible cost or benefit they entail for the individual who performs them, and the ease with which they can be observed by other people. Using regression analysis with data from a sample of students from the University of Granada, Spain, we found that the relationship between pro-environmental behaviors and subjective well-being differs according to the type of behavior and the dimension of well-being considered. Consistent with the well-being dividend theory, we found that actions that involve saving money are positively related to emotions, while actions that involve a cost, both in terms of money and time, are positively related to subjective vitality. However, we found no association between well-being and behaviors that do not entail any cost or benefit, and nonsignificant relations of certain behaviors with particular happiness measures. The nonsignificant relationships found between well-being and some categories of pro-environmental actions call for more research and political action to link sustainable behavior with well-being, in order to simultaneously boost happiness and pro-environmental behavior.

In the late 1990s, entrepreneur and author Peter Barnes began writing about the commons. He proposed that formalizing universal rights to common assets via trusts could help solve both economic inequality and environmental degradation. As applied to the atmosphere as a carbon sink, this produced the idea of the carbon dividend. Barnes’s idea was taken up by others, including climate scientist James Hansen, and carbon dividends are now in the mainstream of climate change mitigation policy debates in the U.S. Many nations and subnational jurisdictions already recycle some carbon pricing revenue back to citizens. This chapter walks through the elements of a viable carbon tax or cap-and-permit system. It argues that dividends will be an essential element of any successful carbon pricing policy design. Meeting climate change mitigation benchmarks will require carbon prices to rise much more rapidly than they have to date, and many households will require a financial boost from carbon dividends (or similar) to weather the transition.

Interest earnings and dividends earned are comparable for tax purposes in that the taxation of interest and dividends is usually viewed as taxing nothing other than ordinary income. Dividends and interest on selected types of savings may be taxed less than individual income to encourage capital investment and savings. However, such incentives cause inefficiencies by encouraging taxpayers to invest and save in lower-taxed segments that could effectively favour higher-income taxpayers since they tend to have higher capital income. On the payments side, interest payments may be fully or partially deductible, while dividends paid out may be partly deductible or may not be recognized in the calculation of taxable profits. Tax treatment of earnings that are retained by businesses and do not comprise dividend payments are usually treated differently for tax purposes. Selected country experiences are illustrative. Taxing capital gains is subject to greater debate and discussion. It is a complex area of income tax design; hence some countries choose to tax it in a scheduler manner, that is independently of the regular income tax schedule. Its rationale, concept and design structure deserve particular attention. These perspectives on the taxation of interest, dividends and capital gains are examined in this chapter.

The main purpose of this chapter is to investigate the causality-in-variance (risk spillovers) between oil prices and BIST (Borsa Istanbul) dividend indexes returns. To this end, Brent crude oil futures prices, BIST Dividend, and BIST Dividend 25 indexes are used. The empirical investigation includes a causality-in-variance analysis introduced by Hafner and Herwartz (Econ Lett 93(1):137–141, 2006). The preliminary univariate GARCH model estimates show that oil prices and dividend indexes returns are considerably affected by long-run volatility. The causality-in-variance test results suggest a significant one-way volatility spillover effect from oil prices to BIST dividend and BIST Dividend 25 indexes returns. The statistical significance of this effect is more pronounced for the BIST Dividend 25 index than for the BIST Dividend index. According to these results, the more significant effect appears due to the higher sensitivity of the BIST Dividend 25 index returns to the variation in economic activity caused by oil price shocks.

Millions of children worldwide will not reach their potential in terms of education and development. However, it is widely known that investment in high-quality early childhood development (ECD) pays rich dividends throughout the lifespan of an individual, impacting their own lives, families, and communities in a positive way. Further evidence points to the importance of ECD in delivering the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The multi-sectoral, integrated provision of ECD services is ideally placed to facilitate holistic positive change and enhance social cohesion in some of the most inequitable and vulnerable contexts. The LINKS project brings together an international network of researchers, who work in strategic partnership with United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) and Early Years the Organisation for Young Children in Northern Ireland to support the development, implementation, and evaluation of ECD programs in low- and middle-income countries impacted by divisions and conflict. The project is designed to contribute to the international evidence base on ECD for social cohesion and sustaining peace to make a real difference in the lives of children, caregivers, and communities.

FDI instruments are used for income-shifting from firms located in countries with higher taxes to low-tax governments or tax heavens. Nowadays, the EU tries to eliminate such practices. We add to this discussion by studying whether withholding tax reduces income-shifting with the use of debt and equity FDI. Poland is the chosen setting. We use the Arellano-Bond dynamic panel-data estimator for an extended specification model derived from the knowledge-capital model with two types of capital: physical and human. We provide evidence that to reduce multinational enterprises’ income-shifting, the policymakers can increase WHT on interests. However, WHT on dividends seems inefficient, contrary to WHT on interests, as a rise in WHT on dividends motivates MNEs to provide debt FDI instruments instead of equity FDI. We identified that vertically integrated MNEs from countries with good quality governance and a better institutional environment are more likely to provide loans and other debt FDI to Polish firms. Horizontally integrated MNEs are more likely to withdraw debt FDI from Poland, while vertically integrated MNEs renew debt FDI in Polish firms.

In 1976, in the aftermath of the OPEC-induced oil boom, the Alaska Permanent Fund (APF) and the Alberta Heritage Savings Trust Fund (AHSTF) were created, with much promise. Yet, though the APF can be said to have fulfilled much of its promise, the AHSTF can be said to have failed. Why is this the case? This chapter discusses the impact of politics, constitutional structure, history, and political culture on how the AHSTF and APF were created, structured, and performed. Politics, for example, influenced almost everything about the AHSTF, including the present-day contest over the annual permanent fund dividend, resulting in a fund that never lived up to its promise. The APF was able to insulate itself, to a certain extent, from politics by creating, at arms’ length, the Alaska Permanent Fund Corporation. In addition, constitutional structures, whether presidential, parliamentary, or federal, have left their marks on each fund.

On the verge of the new decade, Jamaicans were greeted with the news that the country had successfully completed two consecutive borrowing relationships with the International Monetary Fund (IMF). What would this mean for the way in which the government would manage the economy especially given the fact that an election could be called in 2020? Would there be a return to fiscal profligacy or could the authorities truly hold to fiscal discipline and continue the reform efforts? Where would economic growth come from and what would it cost to achieve it? Were the dividends generated from the reform sufficient to enable Jamaica to withstand any shocks that will come? At the very essence, will Jamaica return to the IMF a third time, and, if yes, when? This chapter explores these issues and provides brief insights into the potential future.

Resilience has been mentioned frequently as an essential component of Sustainable Development and a solution to climate change. However, resilience does not impose an additional burden, but provide dividend on development. After an overview of definitions for resilient dividend, we proposed a dynamic framework to measure the resilient dividend under different levels of shocks and resilience. We did an empirical study in the context of COVID-19 to verify the correlations between resilience and dividend. A bunch of indicators and quantitative data at the subnational level of China were collected to represent the impact of the pandemic, the resilient levels and the dividend gained from resilience for 30 provinces in China. After descending the dataset with PCA (Principal Component Analysis) and maximum variance method, we experimented hierarchical regression which revealed that more dividends could be expected with a higher level of resilience, particularly under severe shocks. The conclusions could provide a better understanding of resilience and a theoretical basis for further discussion on resilient dividends.

India’s individual or personal income tax has become complex over the years. It comprises various elements and branches thereof including the taxation of payroll or salaries, interest, dividends and capital gains, estate and wealth tax, inheritance and gifts. Some have been repealed. Several of them are linked to other taxes. For example, the tax on dividends has been linked to a tax on securities transactions, the wealth tax was linked to a minimum tax, though at present the wealth tax stands abolished. There also were components of presumptive tax on agricultural holdings several of which have not survived. Thus, many income-oriented taxes have been experimented with over the decades since the Income-tax Act was introduced in 1961 and implemented from 1962. Several of those experiments did not last, for example, attempts to tax fringe benefits through a tax specifically on them, and a tax on bank transactions to control the black economy had to be repealed reflecting popular demand. In the 2000s, several attempts to reform the income tax into a consolidated direct tax code have not succeeded, more often than not due to the inaction of successive governments. The hope for reform survives, however, in the present day.

NHS Foundation Trusts overeaching groups of hospitals as a part of UK public sector organisations changed to IFRS since their 2009/10 financial statements. The intended purpose was “to bring benefits in consistency and comparability between financial reports in the global economy and to follow private sector best practice”. This comparative analysis deals with the effect of IFRS adoption among University and Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trusts sector on Public Dividend Capital dividends payable through items entering net assets. Implications of the original purpose of the new accounting regime to bring comparability and transparency to NHS organisations and its side effects on Public Dividend Capital dividend payable are discussed. The question is whether this IFRS adoption could have resulted in a significant change of financial resources repaid to the Department of Health.

Purpose: The purpose of this study is to analyze the dividend policy and practice of its implementation of the most popular Russian companies from the perspective of an investor in order to identify the optimal object for investment.

In this chapter, we are going to dive into the history of Equal Exchange, the worker co-op that we met in Chapter 3, to understand their unique offering of mission locked preferred stock, a type of redeemable equity. Investors who hold these shares earn a yearly dividend from Equal Exchange and they can sell back their shares to the company, at the purchase price, after holding the shares for five years.

In this next journey, we’ll join Emily Stone and Alex Whitmore as they search for the right type of early-stage capital to support their sustainable cacao sourcing venture in Belize. Just like Antonio, they were looking for capital to be able to expand their early-stage company and stay true to its social mission. Their journey features the use of a demand dividend, which is a convertible revenue-based finance (convertible RBF) agreement, and a lot of lessons about the complexities of cash flow-based convertible RBF investments.

The topic of financial markets and the Zakat rulings related to its products is among the topics that reoccur from time to time with the changes in product versions and features as there are new developments related to long term investment products ranging from the shares in the stock market to the various forms of sukuk. Is it therefore conceivable to develop a fiqh ruling for those who own such long term instruments for investment and are awaiting the returns – similar to Zakat on “mustaghallat” (rental and lease income generating assets), where the zakat is only paid on the rental income? This is in fact the opinion of some of the Zakat bodies and institutions in Malaysia, specifically for Zakat on long-term investment products such as shares and Sukuk, where zakat is due on the dividends only after the passing of a full year, which is in line with the tax system. The question that this research presents is: Can zakat on long-term investment sukuk be considered equal to zakat on mustaghallat which is compulsory on the yields/rental income only? This research aims to investigate the new data on sukuk and review the accuracy of the ruling that their zakat is the same as the zakat of mustaghallat.

To address the challenge of distributed data source, Federated Learning meets with great demand of algorithmic predictions and decisions without taking a risk of privacy leakage, leaving data valuation a consequent task. Establishing an effective profit distribution model enables multiple participants to get involved in a fair incentive. Shapley Value serves as an excellent measure for calculating the contribution of the model since it provides a fair dividend of payoffs. However, it fails under the existence of data replication or dataset partition. In this work, we design a function to recalculate Shapley Value overcoming the failure mentioned before. The testing experiments have proved that new calculation improves the SV performance for about 50% compared with the original index such as the model accuracy or total loss.

Globalisation has resulted in greater multinational enterprise (MNE) operations. Emerging economy MNEs are also establishing or acquiring subsidiaries abroad. MNEs carry out complex international transactions involving intangibles and multi-tiered services. They tend to structure transactions such that intra-group prices—transfer pricing—are determined reflecting tax considerations. This includes shifting of profits from one jurisdiction to another in a way that their global tax contributions are minimised. MNEs view such behaviour as ‘tax efficiency’. Tax administrations view it as comprising artificial means to avoid tax worldwide, that may be strictly legal but unintended in the law. Therefore, they have introduced anti-avoidance measures in their tax laws to minimise the shifting of the tax base abroad by MNEs to low-tax jurisdictions. Some rules against such ‘tax planning’ target specific identifiable means of tax avoidance and are, therefore, termed specific anti-avoidance rules (SAAR) for both domestic and international tax avoidance. Such rules attempt to contain tax avoidance through transfer pricing including excessive payments among related businesses for mutual international transactions, questionable sources of funds received as share capital or loans, transactions that strip out dividends or bonuses and artificial arrangements in transfers of movable property. Selected prevailing practices are examined in this chapter.

Given the international commitments concerning Climate Change, we evaluate the costs and the potential multiple dividends of applying a carbon tax and/or an environmentally oriented trade policy (EGA) as part of an Environmental Tax Reform (ETR) in Argentina. Reviewing the literature concerning the conditions under which multiple dividends of an ETR can emerge, and also comparing the dividends and costs of implementing alternative ETRs in Argentina using computable general equilibrium model simulations, we conclude that given the structural socio-economic characteristics of developing countries (i.e. persistent unemployment, uneven income distribution, recurrent external and fiscal imbalances, high capital volatility, among others), the implementation of an ETR could be more expensive than for countries without these constraints. For instance, an ETR that leads to an increase in the unemployment rate would easily become impracticable. Results highlight that multiple dividends could emerge when a carbon tax helps to reduce distortionary taxes on labour. Unemployment due to fixed real wages and low capital mobility across sectors and countries allow for this multiple-dividend result. Moreover, when this first best choice of ETR is not applicable, an EGA could also lead to multiple dividends under the same labour market conditions, but with greater capital mobility across sectors and the possibility to import a greener production technology. However, the latter could exert a high pressure on the external balance when implementing a foreign technology. Designing an ETR for developing countries requires this cost-dividend analysis since results seem to be highly sensitive to factors market conditions and the available technology.

The scope of this chapter is to examine the impact of CER related performance on firm dividend and cash holding decisions, by taking into consideration potential endogeneity between the examined factors, evidenced by previous literature on that issue. Empirical analysis suggested that CER performance is positively and significantly impacting on cash holdings, supporting evidence provided on the literature that CER performance lead firms to hold more cash, suggesting that managers of high CER performing firms focus more on maximizing stakeholder value leading to enhanced cash holdings to achieve such goals. Furthermore, we found firms with higher emission and resource use scores are significantly associated with higher cash holdings. Additionally, all environmental performance scores (except for the emission score) proved to have a positive and significant impact on dividends payments. Practically, 1 percentage point increase in CER performance score is associated with 0.2 per cent of dividend to asset ratio, ceteris paribus.

The goal is to analyse the dividend policy of a particular company (CEZ a. s.), determine a dividend payout ratio and evaluate how far it is impacted by chosen factors. As a basis for the analysis, data from the company’s final accounts were used. Furthermore, correlation tools, the proportional indicators of ROA, ROCE and liquidity, the Lintner Model and the Gordon Growth Model were employed. Based on the results of correlation, it can be stated that retained earnings increase the value for shareholders, the given company makes rational decisions and the payout ratio is reasonable from the viewpoint of its management. Results of the Lintner Model and Gordon Growth Model show that the company does not employ any of these two models. According to the result of the payout ratio, it was determined that retained earnings generated benefits for the shareholders. The impact of the proportional indicators of ROA and ROCE on the payout ratio is negative. It is to be recommended to make more dividend models a subject for further research, namely across different types and sizes of enterprises, and provide a comprehensive overview of recommendations for enterprises in the field of dividend policy.

The purpose of the research is to determine the possibility of forming a synergistic effect from the interaction of integration processes (including vertical integration) and cooperation (including horizontal cooperation) in Russia. During the study, the historical, logical, and causal approaches were used, as well as general scientific methods of economic analysis. The study of the structure and level of cooperatives development in different regions of Russia, of new forms of cooperation aimed at implementing environmental programs, made it possible to judge that the expansion of the cooperative movement, firstly, is necessary, and secondly, meets the Sustainable Development Goals. Also, this makes it possible to combine the economic, environmental, and social components of the development of Russian society. All this makes it necessary to expand the vertical integration of production cooperatives operating in the first stage of the technological process, and consumer cooperatives operating in the subsequent stages of the technological chain. The most significant effect of synergies in this direction is achievable in the agricultural sector. Since, nowadays, the number of cooperatives in agriculture is small, for example, in comparison with the countries of the European Union, the activation of the cooperative movement will bring diverse and relatively high dividends. These include an increase in the level of employment and the income of the population, the provision of several social guarantees, an increase in the quality of life, better health, and food security of the country.

In the current model of the economy global digitalization, the state is required to ensure the investment attractiveness of the country for foreign investors, since the involvement of foreign organizations in the economy directly depends on the current system of taxation of foreign organizations. The purpose of the contribution is to assess the current tax legislation determining the tax base and structure of accrued income tax for foreign organizations that receive income from sources in Russia. When receiving income from Russian companies, foreign organizations may form permanent establishments, or pay tax at the payment source of such income by a Russian firm that acts as a tax agent. The paper investigates tax accruals of permanent establishments and income received by foreign beneficiaries. The authors consider some specific features and actual taxation indicators of controlled foreign companies whose activities are controlled by Russian tax residents.

In most of the insurance models considered so far, strategies have been static: premiums, arrangements for premiums, reinsurance, dividends or investment, etc. have been fixed once and for all at t = 0.

The number of listed companies offering alternatives to cash dividends is increasing in Europe. Companies can reduce the cash outflows by giving shareholders the option to receive either shares or cash. Some investors favor scrip dividends due to the implicit-free call option attached to the scrip distributions, and recent studies confirm that the market does not react negatively, helping to reduce the agency problem. Additionally, companies can avoid dilution by repurchasing the shares offered in the scrip. Repurchase strategies using volatility and derivatives can guarantee a lower repurchase price, improving the capital ratios of the company and increasing BVPS.

The aim of the article is to discuss the impact of capital requirements set out in the Solvency II Directive on the amount of dividends paid by life insurance companies in Poland. The study was conducted with the use of an estimator of random effects of panel data of the entire market consists of 24 insurance companies. The data was taken from Solvency and Financial Condition Reports for the total period of Solvency II Directive obligatory use (2016–2018). Life insurance companies are required to apply a number of legal regulations that determine the amount of dividend paid. However, simultaneously they are exposed to numerous risks which are not covered by capital requirements. Our results indicate that the amount of dividend is strongly correlated with the capital requirements. Capital requirements determine the level of profits earned in life insurance companies. There is a negative correlation between the capital retention (outflow) and the financial position of the life insurance company.

The first set of controls for a planetary economy relate to currency and fees. This chapter describes how a sovereign money creation program could be established in the US, and how the model might apply to other jurisdictions. It then introduces common capacity fees as small fees paid by corporations to use commonly owned assets, be they natural—such as the atmosphere or ecosystems—or artificial, such as electric grids, the internet or the financial system. Today, corporations create value from this capacity mostly for free. A common capacity fee program would be administered or overseen by a planetary trust. Returns to capacity from the fees would be paid as dividends to every shareholder, thereby establishing a collective interest in maintaining and enhancing common capacity. These dividends, along with sovereign money, could form a basic living program, providing a concrete floor of prosperity to every individual.

This chapter suggests some wider implications of the new demographics for lifelong learning and its realization in higher education. Building on the analysis from 12 countries under consideration in the current book and previous work by the authors, we critically examine institutional barriers that lifelong learners continue to face in accessing higher education. In addressing the extent to which lifelong learning actually is for all, we focus on two groups which form two sides of the demographic coin. On one hand, people who move from their home country to another – whether forced by external circumstances, or by personal choice, or some combination of both – and, on the other, the beneficiaries of the ‘longevity dividend’ whereby, as people live longer, new personal, social and economic challenges are posed by such ageing populations. Despite competing pressures on higher education, we emphasize the importance of addressing the needs of such learners as central to underlying values of accessibility, inclusion and social responsibility.

Trade and trade-related policy making and implementation require deep analysis of interactions of technically distinct non-tariff measures. Fragmented understanding of policies little appreciation of their mutual exclusivity has denied countries and regions an opportunity to reap economic dividends therefrom. Therefore, chapter makes a case for a need for systems thinking regarding conceptualization of the interaction of SPS and trade facilitation measures at implementation level. While these measures are technically distinct and serve distinct purposes, to a greater degree their successful implementation requires recognition of their mutual dependability for their respective objectives to be fully discharged. However, this notion requires further consideration by African countries in respect of their current notifications at the WTO as well as in the context of their regional integration efforts. African countries with a view to improving their trade facilitation and SPS regimes at national and regional level must consider a number of key areas. To this end, a review by this chapter makes a case for African countries’ need to consider revisiting the following: potential implications heterogeneous TFA notifications of SPS-related trade facilitation measures; outdated REC level TF measures relative to WTO’s TF Agreement; correcting conditioning of implementation of AfCFTA TFA measures in individual country’s commitments notified under WTO’s TFA; consideration of functional diagnosis of areas in which TFA measures and SPS measures mutually enhance beneficial achievement of each other’s objectives. Last but not least, the policy measures whether it is TF or SPS must be adaptable to the market structure of the African continent. They must meet the needs of micro, small and medium enterprises, transnational companies as well as ICBTs.

This chapter examines the present life of ‘achievement migrants’ after migration, analysing issues of integration, adaptation and self-identification in the new recipient environment. Firstly, it sheds light on dividends the ‘achievement migrants’ gained from migration; second, it considers their new occupational trajectories by examining their anchor and bricolage careers, and third, it examines the tactics for their successful integration and Australian identification. Finally, it explores their achievement life strategy in terms of the future plans. Migrants’ adjustment to the new life in Australia was evaluated as successful and demonstrated plans for continued achievements in the future. The participants’ personalities and their preferences for quick integration were found to be important aspects that helped them to continue their achievement life strategy after migration. The majority of the participants improved their lives after migration in terms of positive labour market outcomes and shifts in identity towards a more open and empowered life.

Payment arrears resulting from the implementation of the Escudo Monetary Zone were unavoidable, as demand for transfers toward the Mainland increased. Loans from the Escudo Monetary Zone Fund increased colonial indebtedness toward the Metropolis and led to great entropy in the Escudo monetary Zone. Payment arrears became a problem, both for Portuguese exporters to the colonies and for colonial firms wanting to distribute dividends to residents in the Metropolis. Colonial guerrilla and international support to Decolonization continued to afflict the three largest colonial territories, and a legislation package was issued in 1967 to impose austerity in reducing imports from the Metropolis (with colonial claims from the Angolan general government).

With flow dividend of traditional e-commerce is diminishing gradually, the growth rate of e-commerce users is slowing down, the major e-commerce platforms are in great need of content innovation and new flow portals. E-commerce live streaming has become one of the breakthroughs for the platforms. Its growth prospects depend on whether the live streaming users can turn into orders. Based on the characteristics of China’s e-commerce live streaming platforms and users, this paper explores the impact of e-commerce live streaming on consumers’ purchase intentions under the mobile Internet environment. During e-commerce live streaming, consumers are likely to produce a herd effect, thus influencing their purchase intention. Results show that perceived ease of use, situational factors and follow others’ behavior significant impact on purchase intention, perceived usefulness of influence on purchase intention is lesser, incomplete information will not directly affect consumer’s purchase intention, but by following others it might affect their purchase attitude when watching live.

A key concept in ecological economics, environmental economics or green economics is the privatization of natural resources. The argument for privatization is based on the idea that only excludable goods can be efficiently allocated by the market. This chapter explains why assigning property rights does not solve the problem of the overexploitation of freely accessible natural resources and does not increase economic efficiency, but rather decreases it. In this context, it will be demonstrated that the concept of a natural dividend is really a monopolistic dividend. Lastly, the chapter demonstrates that environmental destruction originates from the obligation to grow the real economy. This obligation arises from interest as an opportunity cost of every productive investment and applies to private and public goods alike. Even though a natural resource may have a private owner, as in the case of Chile’s forests, this does not guarantee that the resource will not be overexploited.

India is poised to be the youngest country in the world by 2020. In order for India to reap the dividends of its demographic potential, it has to revamp its education sector and implement some bold reforms. In a country as large and culturally complex as India, it is understandable that the wheels take time to turn. This chapter attempts to give an idea of the existing school system in India, generational cultural differences between parents, teachers, and the youth, the collective mindset of the nation that is hardwired to marks, adolescent aspirations and contestations in today’s India, contradictions in the education system, and the way forward (innovations, strategies, reforms). It tries to explore the education system as cultural expression that can, in turn, change with societal changes.

This chapter presents a selection of additional research topics associated with corporate finance, corporate governance, and accounting. We begin with questions of how fundamental corporate information is translated into market returns and what is its relevance to company valuation. These are subjects of the “value relevance of companies’ financial statements,” “microeconometrics for equity valuation,” and “fundamental strategies.” The second part of this chapter presents several topics demonstrating other applications of microeconometric methodology: mergers and acquisitions, IPOs, and dividend payouts.

The African continent, as many other regions on the planet, is hamstrung by poverty and many developmental issues. It may seem counter-intuitive to investigate the space capabilities of the continent and other less developed regions as space activity is usually associated with developed states and regions. However, given the fact that the global space industry is set to grow in future and generate huge dividends due to various forms of New Space activities, it is a valid question to investigate how the African continent can insert itself into the existing and future unfolding space economy. This study endeavours to establish a generic system of enquiry whereby any area or entity—in this case the African continent and its societies—can identify the dominant industries that can be used as a point of leverage for insertion into existing space economic value-chains and to identify any low barriers of access for insertion into especially New Space economic value-chains. This system of enquiry may light the way to economic development through space where no poor state will be left behind.