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Amidst diminishing federal investment in Adult Basic Education (ABE), there is growing interest in return on investment (ROI) as an economic rationale to support ABE funding. Against this backdrop, we provide an overview of the ROI concept and methods and the empirical evidence on ABE program impacts to broaden the discourse among practitioners and advocates. We point out that the most crucial building blocks necessary for ROI estimations are missing in the literature. We contextualize the current status of the literature by discussing challenges in ABE program evaluations and limitations in ROI methods. We then further our discussions by offering a recommendation for ROI estimation and alternative approaches to ROI. We conclude by calling for an expanded public discourse, beyond ROI, on the social benefits of funding ABE. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Enormous progress has been made in the field of rheumatology in the past several decades, historically led by publicly funded academic innovators but in more recent times with much greater involvement of the pharmaceutical industry. This shift in resources has created a complex new model for reinvestment in the medical community in which the vast majority of private funds are redirected towards influencing the prescription behaviour of practitioners through 'key opinion leaders', with the main purpose of enhancing and perpetuating profit rather than innovation and critical thinking, and often at the expense of partnerships with scientists (that is, basic and translational researchers) and academic collaborations. This new episteme brings multiple opportunities to rethink approaches to sustaining long-term critical research in the field, ultimately maximizing the return on investment: scientific knowledge for the benefit of patients and society. Central to such strategies should be the rebalancing of academia-industry partnerships towards academic research and the involvement of 'innovation and knowledge leaders', rather than mostly key opinion leaders. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Noncommunicable diseases (NCDs) are a broad challenge for decision-makers. NCDs account for seven out of every 10 deaths globally, with 42 percent occurring prematurely in individuals under age 70. Despite their heavy toll, NCDs are underfunded, with only around two percent of global funding dedicated to the disease set. Country governments are responsible for funding targeted actions to reduce the NCD burden, but among other priorities, many have yet to invest in the health-system interventions and policy measures that can reduce the burden. This article examines “investment cases” as a potential mechanism for catalyzing attention to—and funding for—NCDs. In Jamaica, using the UN inter-agency OneHealth Tool, we conducted an economic analysis to estimate the return-on-investment from scaling up strategic clinical interventions, and from implementing or intensifying policy measures that target NCD risk factors. In addition, we conducted an institutional and context (ICA) analysis, interviewing stakeholders across sectors to take stock of promising policy pathways (e.g., areas of general consensus, political appetite and opportunity) as well as challenges to implementation. The economic analysis found that scaling up clinical interventions that target CVD, diabetes, and mental health disorders, and policy measures that target tobacco and alcohol use, would save over 6,600 lives between 2017–2032, and avert JMD 81.3 billion (USD 640 million) in direct and indirect economic costs that result from mortality and morbidity linked to NCDs. The ICA uncovered government economic growth targets and social priorities that would be aided by increased attention to NCDs, and it linked these targets and priorities to the economic analysis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: The European-study on Quantifying Utility of Investment in Protection from Tobacco (EQUIPT) project aimed to study transferability of economic evidence by co-creating the Tobacco Return On Investment (ROI) tool, previously developed in the United Kingdom, for four sample countries (Germany, Hungary, Spain and the Netherlands). The EQUIPT tool provides policymakers and stakeholders with customized information about the economic and wider returns on the investment in evidence-based tobacco control, including smoking cessation interventions. A Stakeholder Interview Survey was developed to engage with the stakeholders in early phases of the development and country adaptation of the ROI tool. The survey assessed stakeholders' information needs, awareness about underlying principles used in economic analyses, opinion about the importance, effectiveness and cost-effectiveness of tobacco control interventions, and willingness to use a Health Technology Assessment (HTA) tool such as the ROI tool.Methods: A cross sectional study using a mixed method approach was conducted among participating stakeholders in the sample countries and the United Kingdom. The individual questionnaire contained open-ended questions as well as single choice and 7- or 3-point Likert-scale questions. The results corresponding to the priority and needs assessment and to the awareness of stakeholders about underlying principles used in economic analysis are analysed by country and stakeholder categories.Results: Stakeholders considered it important that the decisions on the investments in tobacco control interventions should be supported by scientific evidence, including prevalence of smoking, cost of smoking, quality of life, mortality due to smoking, and effectiveness, cost-effectiveness and budget impact of smoking cessation interventions. The proposed ROI tool was required to provide this granularity of information. The majority of the stakeholders were aware of the general principles of economic analyses used in decision making contexts but they did not appear to have in-depth knowledge about specific technical details. Generally, stakeholders' answers showed larger variability by country than by stakeholder category.Conclusions: Stakeholders across different European countries viewed the use of HTA evidence to be an important factor in their decision-making process. Further, they considered themselves to be capable of interpreting the results from a ROI tool and were highly motivated to use it. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Industrial investment in colonial India was segregated by the export industries, such as tea and jute that relied on British firms and the import substituting cotton textile industry that was dominated by Indian firms. Empirical evidence in this article does not suggest that barriers to entry faced by Indian entrepreneurs created this separation. Informational asymmetry played an important role. British entrepreneurs knew the export markets and the Indian entrepreneurs were familiar with local markets. Conditional on the initial advantage in entry, social network effects determined subsequent entry of firms by ethnicity and created separate spheres of industrial investment. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

We evaluate the return on investment (ROI) from public land conservation in the state of Minnesota, USA. We use a spatially-explicit modeling tool, the Integrated Valuation of Ecosystem Services and Tradeoffs (InVEST), to estimate how changes in land use and land cover (LULC), including public land acquisitions for conservation, influence the joint provision and value of multiple ecosystem services. We calculate the ROI of a public conservation acquisition as the ratio of the present value of ecosystem services generated by the conservation to the cost of the conservation. For the land scenarios analyzed, carbon sequestration services generated the greatest benefits followed by water quality improvements and recreation opportunities. We found ROI values ranged from 0.21 to 5.28 depending on assumptions about future land use change, service values, and discount rate. Our study suggests conservation is a good investment as long as investments are targeted to areas with low land costs and high service values. [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: Economical study of humidification–dehumidification desalination (HDD) pilot plant was made in order to estimate the economic benefits of the process in comparison with a small-scale reverse osmosis (RO) system. The energy recovery of the unit was investigated to be 75%. Some theoretical modifications were made to the HDD system in order to reduce the energy costs of the unit. Exact and clear economic analysis results were obtained using COMFAR ΙΙΙ software including fixed investment costs, production costs, internal rate of return on investment, operating costs, energy costs and some other economical parameters. Based on the energy prices in Iran, the total fresh water production cost was calculated to be $ 6.4/m3 that was nearly the same as produced by an imported RO plant. Finally some points were recommended whether to choose HDD or RO plant in different cases and capacities. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: Ecological and economic evaluation should be a key component of biodiversity conservation programmes since it underpins the efficient allocation of resources. However, most such programmes are not currently assessed in terms of the rate of return on investment that they provide. The UK Government launched the UK Biodiversity Action Plan in 1994. We collected data from those responsible for monitoring this programme, then used a form of cost-effectiveness analysis to evaluate its effectiveness and efficiency at meeting the targets of individual Species Action Plans. In this context, effectiveness refers to the goal of maximising total conservation gains, whereas efficiency refers to maximising conservation gain per unit cost. We define the latter as a basic economic objective for conservation resource allocation. We find that the distribution of spending across plans was highly biased towards vertebrates and there was no correlation between cost and effectiveness. Non-vertebrate plans tended to be more efficient than vertebrate plans. However, following a species utility-based weighting, this tendency was less pronounced and a significant positive correlation between cost and effectiveness emerged. Nevertheless, this evidence suggests that the efficiency of the UK Biodiversity Action Plan could be improved by correcting the imbalance in spending between vertebrate and non-vertebrate plans. This study highlights the importance of effective monitoring and reporting in determining the utility of biodiversity conservation programmes. It demonstrates how explicit cost-effectiveness analysis can be used to evaluate such programmes, and shows that it could also be adapted to accommodate other forms of ecological and social value. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Explores alternative approaches to an economic analysis of logistics investment opportunities. Definition of economic analysis; Time-value-of-money principle; Dimensions to an economic analysis using present value; Payback; Naive rate of return; Average return on investment; Internal rate of return; Net present value; Benefit and cost ratio.

The author evaluates the points made in the article by Damian Kulash on the economic importance of investments for the transportation sector published in the Summer 1997 issue of the periodical "Transportation Quarterly,". There are indications that Kulash is spinning an ex post story to rationalize the numbers that related economic studies on the topic are producing. In spite of the plausibility of the story that Kulash tells, there are many plausible stories to explain a single set of numbers, many of which are contradictory. In the end, policy decisions can only be enriched with a more multidimensional, inter-disciplinary and contextual approaches.

Public investments in transportation have always been seen as a spur to growth in the immediate localities where the new transportation facilities are located. What has not always been recognized is that these investments, taken as a whole produce a network that benefits all other parts of the system, including economic activities far removed from the location of the investment. Analysis of the past patterns can help target future transportation investments to achieve the greatest economic impact. Future investments can produce the greatest economic return if they are targeted to programs that will preserve or expand network capacity.

The author critiques an article by Damian Kulash on the economic importance of investments for the transportation sector published in the Summer 1997 issue of the periodical "Transportation Quarterly." The work relies heavily on the work of economists in claiming that certain transportation investments outperform private investments by a large margin in the 1950s and the 1960s. There is a strong inference in Kulash's article that major public investment in the transportation systems will produce substantial returns in the future only if the investment is focused. To conclude, the work contends that investment in a transportation network rather than isolated projects will contribute to growing economy is sound.

The author gave commendation to the points raised in the article by Damian Kulash on the economic importance of investments for the transportation sector published in the Summer 1997 issue of the periodical "Transportation Quarterly,". The study accurately pointed out the network effects of investments in the American highway system in the 1950s and 1960s which produced returns several times greater than other public and private investments by providing access to new markets and paving the way for enormous productivity gains. However, questions are raised about the availability of such returns in the 1990s. Consequently, the truths about the information-based and global nature of the national economy in the 21st century will significantly affect the direction of transportation investments.