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This chapter discusses the use of a return on investment models for higher education institutions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper relates consumption economics more closely to an aggregate financial variable than in any previous research. We compile the net real rate of return on a synthetic mutual fund (SMF) encompassing all major classes of financial assets and residential real estate. Return on the SMF better represents the market return of financial portfolio theory than any measure in use today and we demonstrate its merit in an expected utility model to estimate consumption parameters, the coefficient of relative risk aversion (CRRA), and intertemporal elasticity of substitution (IES). The estimates are stable across varying time periods and alternative measures of consumption. ( JEL E21, D91, G11, C13) [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper measures the returns to investing in violins, using two different datasets. One dataset includes 337 observations on repeat sales of the same violins at auction and at dealer sales starting in the mid-nineteenth century, and another dataset includes over 2,500 observations on sales of individual violins at auction since 1980. Overall, real returns for the dataset on repeat sales for the period 1850-2008 have been approximately 3.5%. Real returns to the overall portfolio of individual sales since 1980 have been about 3.3%. The price path has been stable with a slight negative correlation to stocks and bonds. ( JEL D44, G11, L82) [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Agricultural research and development (R&D) investment has become an increasingly important policy issue as food prices increased and food security problems emerged over the last decade. An important source of agricultural R&D funding is the producer check‐off, which is increasingly being used to fund applied agricultural research. Existing studies of producer‐funded agricultural R&D indicate there are high private rates of return to agricultural R&D investment by farmers, and thus farmers are underinvesting in R&D. Since a farmer's time horizon is typically less than the period of time over which the benefits of agricultural R&D take place, the horizon problem has been identified as a possible factor in this underinvestment. This paper shows that the horizon problem is unlikely to be the only cause of the underinvestment when the internal rate of return is large. Instead, shortened producer horizons only emerge as the main source of underinvestment when the internal rate of return is low. As a result, other factors, including behavioral determinants, need to be looked at as contributors to the underfunding of agricultural R&D. Les investissements en recherche et développement agricoles sont devenus un important enjeu politique étant donné l'augmentation des prix des aliments et les problèmes de sécurité alimentaire de la dernière décennie. Une importante source de financement pour la recherche et le développement dans le domaine agricole sont les programmes de contribution des producteurs, ces derniers étant de plus en plus sollicités pour financer la recherche agricole appliquée. Certaines études portant sur la recherche et le développement agricoles financés par les producteurs indiquent un haut taux de rendement privé des investissements en recherche et développement agricoles par les producteurs. Ces derniers y investissent donc moins. Puisque l'échéancier de l'agriculteur est typiquement moins long que celui pendant lequel les avantages liés à la recherche et au développement dans le domaine agricole s'échelonnent, le problème de l'horizon a été identifié comme facteur potentiel au sous‐investissement. Il est probable, selon cet article, que le problème de l'horizon ne soit pas la seule cause du sous‐investissement lorsque le taux interne de rendement s'avère grand. Plutôt, les échéanciers réduits des agriculteurs apparaissent seulement comme les sources principales de sous‐investissement lorsque le taux de rendement interne est bas. Il en résulte que d'autres facteurs, incluant les déterminants comportementaux, doivent être examinés à titre de contributeurs au sous‐investissement de la recherche et du développement en agriculture. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

BACKGROUND: The Community Clinical Oncology Program (CCOP) plays an essential role in the efforts of the National Cancer Institute (NCI) to increase enrollment in clinical trials. Currently, there is little practical guidance in the literature to assist provider organizations in analyzing the return on investment (ROI), or business case, for establishing and operating a provider-based research network (PBRN) such as the CCOP. In this article, the authors present a conceptual model of the business case for PBRN participation, a spreadsheet-based tool and advice for evaluating the business case for provider participation in a CCOP organization. METHODS: A comparative, case-study approach was used to identify key components of the business case for hospitals attempting to support a CCOP research infrastructure. Semistructured interviews were conducted with providers and administrators. Key themes were identified and used to develop the financial analysis tool. RESULTS: Key components of the business case included CCOP start-up costs, direct revenue from the NCI CCOP grant, direct expenses required to maintain the CCOP research infrastructure, and incidental benefits, most notably downstream revenues from CCOP patients. The authors recognized the value of incidental benefits as an important contributor to the business case for CCOP participation; however, currently, this component is not calculated. CONCLUSIONS: The current results indicated that providing a method for documenting the business case for CCOP or other PBRN involvement will contribute to the long-term sustainability and expansion of these programs by improving providers' understanding of the financial implications of participation. Cancer 2012. © 2011 American Cancer Society. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Quality departments often experience difficulties selling the idea that first priority should be given to quality improvement. Most approaches to project budgeting favour traditional investments such as new product development, which are perceived as potential profit boosters. To compete with such investments, a clear economic logic is needed, which stresses the long-term benefits of better quality. The aim of this paper, therefore, is to provide a concise framework of how to think about quality investments in economic terms. By focusing on the principles of an economic evaluation, it highlights the major aspects of an improvement assessment and derives a simple measure for helping practitioners to determine the advantageousness of a quality initiative. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Focuses on the estimation of consumer adoption of technology-based service innovations. Maximization of return on investments; Theory of diffusion of innovations.

For analytical and for policy purposes, it would be helpful to know whether the economy-wide rate of return to reproducible capital is in general relatively high or relatively low in developing countries. This paper surveys the available theoretical and empirical materials on both sides of this question. The paper concludes that because of various conditions leading to a low elasticity of the marginal-efficiency-of-investment schedule, both in the 'backward' and in the 'advanced' sectors of many developing countries, a relatively low rate of return to capital is likely to prevail. The paper also discusses the implications for Government project selection and for domestic savings and investment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: In recent years, interest has increased in biorefineries that use a variety of biomass residues and non‐food crops. Triticale (X Triticosecale Wittmack) is a human‐developed crop that has the potential to become a preferred industrial energy crop for the biorefinery because of its capacity to grow on marginal land, its higher yields compared to existing cereal crops such as wheat, and its non‐competition with food‐based crops. However, implementation of the triticale‐based biorefinery will require the identification of sustainable strategies and as its sustainability pillar, the identification of economically promising strategies. In this study, the economic performance of several triticale‐based product‐process scenarios, including the production of ethanol, polylactic acid (PLA), and thermoplastic starch polymer, has been assessed through the evaluation of six economic criteria. These conflicting criteria have been evaluated in a multi‐criteria decision‐making (MCDM) panel, demonstrated for PLA platform, which has made it possible (i) to rank the alternatives by their economic performance, and (ii) to identify a set of the most important criteria to be used in a sustainability study. The MCDM results show that the alternatives with the best performance on profitability‐oriented criteria do not necessarily achieve the highest overall economic score. This suggests the need to consider both business‐strategy‐oriented criteria and profitability‐oriented criteria in strategic decision‐making. The MCDM results show that the internal rate of return, the downside internal rate of return, and the resistance to supply market uncertainty with relative weights of 24.8%, 23.6%, and 18.1% respectively, are the most important of the criteria assessed. © 2018 Society of Chemical Industry and John Wiley & Sons, Ltd [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study examines the economic impact of sustainable agricultural production systems in Central America. In particular, we investigate the impact of investments promoted by the MARENA Programme in Honduras on the total value of agricultural production (TVAP) of its beneficiaries. Propensity Score Matching techniques along with the Difference-in-Differences framework are used to mitigate biases stemming from differences in observed as well as unobserved (time-invariant) characteristics between beneficiaries and a control group. The econometric estimates suggest that MARENA has had a positive and significant effect on the TVAP of beneficiaries. In addition, the analysis shows that, under alternative scenarios, MARENA yielded higher than expected internal rates of return. The results of this study shed light on the response of small-scale hillside farmers to economic incentives and lend support to the role of natural resource management projects in Central America as a tool to increase household income while also promoting the conservation of natural resources. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the weak form of market efficiency of five major stock markets; four African equity markets and one developed market. The weekly market index returns of the EGX 30, NSE 20, NSE All Share Index, FTSE-JSE All Share Index and the S&P 500 Index were analysed for the period 1998-2008. To determine if the stylized fact of stock returns in African markets violate the random walk hypothesis, numerous econometric and statistical techniques are employed. These methods include the autocorrelation test, the unit test, linear and non-linear models. The results indicate that the African markets do not behave in a manner consistent with the weak form of market efficiency. These results provide a contrast between the emerging African markets and the developed markets. It suggests that African emerging markets have higher average returns and volatility than developed markets. We argue that if the market could be made less volatile, it has the potential to attract more investment because of its attractive returns. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper uses two nationally representative datasets collected in 1992 and 2003 in Gambia to analyse small, non-farm enterprises. The results reveal evidence of significant credit constraint among these non-farm enterprises. Specifically, household wealth is a significant determinant not only of entry into the enterprise sector but also determines investment levels conditional upon entry. Furthermore, the marginal returns to investments in enterprises are very high and significantly exceed the prevailing lending rates of banks in the country. Besides being credit constrained, these enterprises are also affected by farm-related variables. Agricultural risk adversely affects enterprise investment. This latter result underscores the importance of livelihood diversification. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the Swedish Premium Pension Scheme (PPS) all citizens in paid employment allocate part of their public pension savings to mutual funds. In so doing they tend to distribute their choices maximally across different stock fund categories. It is hypothesised that this reflects the naïve application of a variety-inducing diversification heuristic. The results of two experiments simulating choices of fund categories in the PPS support this hypothesis by showing that participating undergraduates chose stock funds investing in overlapping and non-overlapping markets or industries in a way demonstrating failure to take into account covariation among fund returns. Administrators of the PPS and similar defined-contribution pension plans should provide participants with comprehensive advice on how to diversify their investment. Dans le régime de retraite suédois (PPS), tous les citoyens ayant un emploi salarié allouent une part de l'épargne de leur retraite publique à des fonds d'investissements. Ce faisant, ils tendent majoritairement à répartir leurs choix dans différentes catégories de fonds. On a fait l'hypothèse que cela reflète l'application naïve d'une heuristique de la diversification. Les résultats de deux expérimentations simulant des choix entre différentes catégories de fonds pour le PPS confirment cette hypothèse : les sujets (étudiants) ont choisi des fonds en actions et devaient investir sur des marchés ou dans des branches industrielles relevant ou non du même secteur économique et cela d'une façon qui mettait en évidence leur incapacitéà prendre en considération le fait que le retour sur investissement de différents fonds pouvait être lié. Les administrateurs du PPS et de plans de pensions avec versements programmés devraient fournir aux participants des conseils avisés sur la façon de diversifier leur investissement. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As globalization weakens the rote of the nation state, increased theoretical and practical attention is being focused on community level action, especially on the role of social capital. Proponents of social capital have placed primary emphasis on voluntary associations. This paper looks at the role the state can play in building social capital. The historical nature of social capital in the community, the organizational structure of governmental intermediaries, and the design of specific program interventions condition social capital building. Hierarchical governmental intermediaries are contrasted with participatory community based initiatives. Three key factors: autonomy, linkage and returns on investment for both intermediaries and participating residents, are shown to affect social capital construction. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]