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This study investigates whether shareholders are willing to pay for higher levels of corporate financial, social, and environmental disclosure. We conduct a choice-based conjoint experiment wherein 65 shareholders are asked to make 12 choices, choosing each time between two predetermined randomized combinations of different levels of investment returns, financial disclosure, environmental disclosure, and social disclosure. Results indicate that whereas shareholders are willing to pay for financial disclosure and environmental disclosure, they are unwilling to pay for social disclosure. Hence, the latter finding does not provide conclusive evidence on the overall question. However, the result that investors are willing to pay for non-financial disclosures—such as environmental information—constitutes our main contribution as prior research has not been able to provide strong evidence that investors are willing to forfeit investment returns in order to gain access to more corporate disclosures. The use of a choice-based conjoint experiment to examine these matters is novel and potentially opens avenues for future research. We believe our theoretical and practical contributions to be of interest to various stakeholders, including firms in making decisions about disclosure levels and regulators in assessing the need for financial disclosure regulation.

The costs of gas transportation and its environmental/security impacts in Iran have led to evaluating geothermal/solar renewable sources instead. Regarding the high potential of geothermal/solar in Sistan/Baluchestan province, Iran, which have still no access to the global gas network, these resources create a desirable plan. This paper attempted to present/compare four possible solar-assisted ground source heat pumps to supply four purposes of electricity demand, heating/cooling, and domestic hot water. First, the energy needed in the region was designed with DesignBuilder. Then, each proposed system was modeled in Polysun software using a photovoltaic-thermal and a vertical geothermal heat exchanger. Afterward, all probable plans were evaluated and compared technically, economically, and environmentally. The results indicated that the maximum/minimum values of the coefficient of heat pump performance for direct heat exchanger and series systems were 4.39/3.87. Also, the optimal plan was introduced with 4957/10667 kWh electricity consumption/production. Besides, an economic analysis was estimated for the optimal strategy with an investment return of 7years. The designed system prevented 5089kgCO2 emissions annually. By means of this integrating hybrid system, Sistan/Baluchestan province would become a significant renewable power plant globally, and a considerable techno-economic and environmental challenge would be dissolved in Iran.

Background Multi-ligament knee injury (MLKI) is a rare but severe injury with potential devastating complications. The primary goal of this study was to investigate return to sports and work after MLKI. Secondary outcomes were patient reported outcome measures (PROMs), treatment, time between trauma, diagnosis and treatment, and neurovascular damage. Method A database search was performed to identify all patients with MLKI in our hospital (2010–2017). Pre-defined variables were collected from patient files and questionnaires. Multiple regression analysis was used to study the relationship between different variables and PROMs. Results 31 patients were included. The overall return to sports rate after a MLKI was 88.5%, but only 23.1% returned to their pre-injury level. 83.3% of the patients were able to return to work. Multiple regression analyses led to a significant prediction model for pain during rest (F(7,16) = 2.808, p = 0.041, R2 = 0.355). Within this model, a higher age was a significant predictor for higher pain scores (p = 0.002). Age was also a significant (negative) predictor within the non-significant models for IKDC (p = 0.004) and Lysholm (p = 0.024). A delay between trauma and diagnosis of more than three months was seen in 32.3% of the patients. Conclusions This study showed a relatively high overall return to sports and work after MLKI, but less than a quarter returned to their pre-injury level of sports. An important finding was the substantial number of patients with a delay between trauma and diagnosis. This study contributes to more awareness and knowledge about MLKI among physicians, which is essential to reduce these delays.

Portfolio theory mainly studies how to optimize the allocation of assets under the premise of maximizing expected returns and minimizing investment risks. In view of the instability of the financial market, a diversified investment portfolio can help control the loss of the investment portfolio. In addition to paying attention to the safety and return of asset allocation, we cannot ignore the liquidity of assets, that is, their liquidity. Adding high-liquidity products to asset allocation, such as equity investment, can better control the financial cash flow in response to emergencies. One of the ways to make assets flow is to securitize assets and sell them to the market. In order to revitalize the stock assets, good investment efficiency is a necessary choice for financial investment. Various financial products and their derivatives continue to enter people’s vision. There are many financial products in reality, and optimizing the investment portfolio can bring high economic benefits. The purpose of this paper is to study the application of optimization algorithms in financial portfolio problems. (1) Monetary policy remains prudent and neutral. It is not easy to expect flooding, but flexibility is required in complex situations. (2) Financial resources are tilted towards innovation and transformation and capital markets, which is beneficial to the development of capital markets in the medium and long term. (3) Unblocking the transmission mechanism is conducive to lenient credit and tapping the wrong killing opportunities in private enterprise debt. (4) Banks and other financial institutions have moderate pressure to give benefits to entities, but in the long run, the interests of the two are consistent. (5) Finance risk prevention will continue, orderly breaking the rigid exchange and reshaping the financial structure and ecology. (6) The pace of opening up of the financial industry has accelerated, and the bond market investor structure has improved. In this paper, we establish different optimization schemes to compare and study the portfolio problem and then use MATLAB to solve the modeling and programming problem, calculate the highest return rate and the lowest risk value before and after optimization, and then make a comparative analysis to get a better optimization scheme. The results show that the genetic algorithm model is superior to the quadratic programming method in terms of risk control. The minimum risk of portfolio optimization through genetic algorithm has been reduced by about 40%, and the maximum return has increased by about 25%. The comprehensive optimization effect is better than the quadratic planning method and ultimately can obtain higher economic benefits. It can be seen that the optimization algorithm is of great significance for the comparative study of financial portfolio problems.

Aceh Besar Regency has a relatively large freshwater fishery area. Based on the 2019 BPS, it was recorded that the area of aquaculture in the Jantho area at BBI was 32.10 Ha, while the People's Breeding Unit (UPR) had an area of 15.60 Ha. BBI Jantho produces freshwater fish, namely catfish, gourami, carp, and tilapia. However, every year there is a significant increase in production, namely tilapia with a percentage increase in production of 17%. This increase occurred due to the large demand for tilapia in the market but insufficient production. The problem is that the tilapia seed market is good but the production is lacking. The purpose of this study was to analyze the feasibility of Tilapia hatchery at BBI Jantho Aceh Besar. This research is a case study using primary and secondary data. The analytical tools used are market and marketing aspects, technical and technological aspects, income analysis, Cost Ratio (R/C), Break Event Point (BEP), Return On Investment (ROI). The results of this study indicate from all aspects that this business is profitable and feasible to work on. From the technical and technological aspects, all of them meet criteria such as the location of the tilapia hatchery, the scale of operation, production activities, pond layout and inputs. The market and marketing aspects have used 1 level distribution channels. From the economic aspect where the income is Rp.69,546.042, the R/C value is 2.81, the BEP Production value is 192,270 head 540,000, the BEP value Price is Rp.71/head Rp. 200/head. The ROI value is 181% which indicates that the rate of return on capital for Tilapia Hatchery is 81% greater.

Tangse District is one of the centers of Liberika coffee production in Pidie Regency. However, Liberika coffee production in Tangse District cannot supply market demand. Liberica coffee demand comes from the domestic market and foreign markets, for the domestic market Liberica coffee is used as a blending material and for foreign markets Liberica coffee is exported to Malaysia and also the Philippines which is the country with the highest Liberica coffee consumption. Therefore, efforts are needed to increase production by expanding land and increasing productivity. This study aims to determine the financial feasibility of Liberika coffee farming in Tangse District, Pidie Regency. The sampling technique used is themethod by stratified random samplingstratifying the sample based on the age of the coffee plant cultivated by the farmer. From a total of 665 families, the total population was taken as a sample of 10%, namely as many as 67 families. The analytical tools used are Net Present Value (NPV), Net Benefit Cost Ratio (Net B/C), Interest Rate of Return (IRR), Payback Period (PP) and Sensitivity Analysis. The results showed that Liberika coffee farming in Pidie District, Pidie Regency was feasible when viewed from the financial aspect. This is evidenced by the NPV value 0 which is Rp. 31,787,141, -. The value of Net B/C 1 is 3.289. The value of the IRR is 41.756%, which indicates that the rate of return on capital for Liberika coffee farming is greater than the interest rate of 18%. Based on the results of sensitivity analysis using three assumptions, namely revenue decreased by 10%, operational costs increased by 10% and operational costs increased by 10% accompanied by a decrease in revenue by 100%, it was found that Liberika coffee farming in Tangse District, Pidie Regency is feasible to continue and to be developed.

PURPOSE To identify predictors of return to work, duration of time off work, and claim closure for first responders experiencing injuries or illnesses, and summarize the claim data. METHODS First responder claims collected between January 2012 and July 2017 were obtained from a disability management company. Known predictors of return to work were extracted from the data including age, sex, diagnosis, years of service, claim lag, medical report lag, and the return-to-work duties. Survival analyses were performed to identify predictors of return to work and claim closure using the Cox proportional regression analysis. Log-rank tests were performed to identify predictors that affected the rate of return to work and claim closure. Summary statistics were performed for the injury and return-to-work data. RESULTS 60 of the 67 (89.6%) identified first responders returned to work within the data collection period. Musculoskeletal injuries predicted an increased likelihood of returning to work (hazard ratio = 2.0, 95%CI = 1.14-3.60) and a shorter duration of time off work (37 days on average) compared to mental health issues. Everyday of claim lag and medical report lag predicted a 2% decrease in likelihood of return to work. Returning to work was the only predictor of claim closure. 45 (67.2%) first responders returned to their pre-absence duties. 22 (32.8%) mental health claims and 45 (67.2%) injury claims were identified. CONCLUSIONS 89.6% of first responders returned to work, although only 67.2% returned to their pre-absence duties. Predictors of return to work included injury type, as first responders with musculoskeletal injuries returned to work sooner, and claim and medical lag delayed the return to work.

This article aims to analyse how sustainable construction creates an impact on minimizing environmental impacts and on reducing costs of conservation and operation of the buildings. It is based on a case study of a building over 100 years old which has been rehabilitated for the use of a students’ residence. In the article, we present parameters that improve the sustainability of a building, such as the materials chosen, the use of clean and renewable energies, the choice of efficient materials and equipment with minimal maintenance actions needed. Two virtual scenarios are presented in order to compare costs of energy consumptions of sustainable rehabilitation towards standard rehabilitation and also to traditional rehabilitation. It is concluded that the process of sustainable rehabilitation strongly decreases energy consumption, thus reducing CO2 emissions and decreasing the cost of building conservation. Moreover, extra costs introduced in construction to obtain extra savings in energy have got a low period of investment return, thus being advisable for general stakeholders.

The issue associated with the situation of brownfields around the world is a very current topic today. This article focuses on the situation of the existence of brownfields in the Czech Republic. The aim of this article is to assess the current situation of brownfields from the perspective of municipalities and cities in the Czech Republic. The data in the paper were collected by means of a questionnaire applied to towns and villages in the Czech Republic. The existence of brownfields in regions can have a negative impact on the development of the relevant area, such as villages, towns or higher-level administrative units. The research took place from 9 July 2018 to 31 January 2019. The rate of return on the primary research was 43.2% of the respondents. The results showed that brownfields mainly occur in former industrial regions. The predominant form of ownership of abandoned buildings and grounds was private ownership. It can be stated that agricultural, industrial activity and former civic amenities dominated in the previous use. Last but not least, the study points to regional differences that are noticeable between municipalities and cities in individual NUTS 3 regions in connection to the issue of brownfields.

E-commerce supply chain actually deals with the acquisition of the raw materials, their timely processing, and on-time delivery to the right place. It deals with a number of processes such as supply and demand, managing order entry, and inventory tracking. Now profit distribution models are actually stochastic models that are used to optimize the gains and profits in a particular business. They actually generate modern time solutions to the existing problems in a sustainable environment. However, in order to solve the problems existing in the traditional profit distribution algorithm of the e-commerce supply chain, such as low distribution accuracy and large time cost, a profit distribution algorithm of the e-commerce supply chain under the concept of sustainable development was designed. It was supported by the concept of sustainable development, and the coefficient of income distribution is calculated according to the equilibrium bidding strategy of supply chain alliance and its members, net present value of income distribution, total investment, minimum expected rate of return on investment, and other parameters. First, calculate the Shapley value of the profit distribution of the power supply chain, and obtain the correction coefficient through the correction matrix, dimensionless processing, and analytic hierarchy process. Use the correction coefficient to correct the Shapley value and the income distribution coefficient to realize the design of the profit distribution algorithm for the power supply chain. The experimental results show that the algorithm has low relative error rate, high precision, and short time cost of profit distribution coefficient calculation.

We study access to banking and how it is related to banks’ rate of return on investments and the distribution of income. We develop our empirical framework through a theoretical supply-side model of bank deposit services with a consumer population heterogeneous in income. We use this model to show how decreases in the interest rate margin and higher income disparities lead to an increase in the proportion of unbanked. Using localized US household data from 2009, 2011, 2013 and 2015 we find strong empirical evidence for the predictions of the model. We then structurally estimate our model to estimate the value of having a checking account relative to alternative financial services and to quantify the effects of actual changes in the interest rate margin and the distribution of income that occurred in the aftermath of the 2008 financial crisis.

The paper justifies the possibility of estimating wage premiums that higher study education graduates may receive based on the administrative data from the Polish Graduate Tracking System. The data on wages in the year preceding the admission to a given study cycle were used, along with the data from the year after graduation. For the first first-cycle full full-time study programme, the average growth in wages in relation to every each subsequent year of education ranged from 20% to 40% depending on the area of study under which a given field of study was classified. For full-time second second-cycle studies, the rate of return was 50%–60%. In the case of part-time studies, these growth rates were considerably lower.

The study investigated internal management integration policies and school-community relations in Tertiary Institutions in Rivers State. Two research questions and two hypotheses guided the study. The study adopted correlational design. The population of the study is 1,071 respondents. A sample of 535 respondents was drawn using simple random sampling technique. Two sets of instruments were used for data collection. The first was titled: ‘Internal Management Integration Policies Questionnaire and the second was School-Community Relations Questionnaire. The reliability of 0.83 was determined with Cronbach Statistics. Out of 535 copies of questionnaire administered, 508 were properly filled and retrieved which represented 95% return rate. The Research questions were answered using Pearson Product Moment Correlation (PPMC) while Hypotheses were tested using r-ratio at 0.05 level of significance. The finding among others are that high positive relationship exists between award of contracts to community members and school-community relations and the null hypothesis of no significant relationship between award of contracts to community members and school-community relations is rejected. It was concluded that internal management integration policies have high positive relationship to school-community relations in Tertiary Institutions in Rivers State. It was recommended among others that higher institutions’ administration should give full implementation to local content laws during the award of contracts in the school environment. Keywords: Internal, management, Integration, Policies, School-Community.

The purpose of the study is to investigate the pricing impact of positive and negative accrual-based earnings management on stock returns. The study considers the moderating role of different cross-sectional effects, namely market effect, size effect, value effect, and momentum effect while examining the association between earnings management and stock return. The pricing impact is examined through univariate, bivariate portfolio methodology, and Fama–MacBeth cross-sectional regression. Based on a sample of 3085 Bombay Stock Exchange-listed stocks, results exhibit that investors perceive positive and negative earnings management differently. It has been found that investors demand a higher premium for stocks with negative earnings management, whereas investors hold stocks with positive earnings management at a lower rate of return. These findings are robust after controlling for cross-sectional effects. The study is among the pioneering attempts to examine the pricing impact of accrual earnings management by taking into account the direction (positive and negative earnings management) as well as the endogeneity nature of earnings management.

Alternative data in finance is an umbrella term for diverse nontraditional datasets used by quantitative and fundamental institutional investors to enhance portfolio returns. Although the use of alternative data is a recent phenomenon, it was not until the last five years that it gained widespread acceptance and the sector started to evolve into a complex ecosystem of data originators, intermediaries, and investors. The alternative data industry faces several obstacles, including difficulty estimating a dataset’s value to investors and technical challenges in leveraging these datasets efficiently at a large scale. In this article, the authors provide an up-to-date description of the alternative data space as it relates to the institutional investment industry. The authors elaborate on what alternative data are and how they are used in investment management. The authors identify and discuss some of the key challenges that arise when working with alternative data. In particular, they address issues such as entity mapping, ticker-tagging, panel stabilization, and debiasing with modern statistical and machine learning approaches. The authors advance several methodologies for the valuation of alternative datasets, including an event study methodology they refer to as the golden triangle, the application of report cards, and the relationship between a dataset’s structure of information content and its potential to enhance investment returns. To illustrate the effectiveness of these methods, they apply them to a case study analysis of real-world healthcare data, delivering an improvement in revenue prediction accuracy from an 88% mean absolute error to a 2.6% mean absolute error. TOPICS:Big data/machine learning, quantitative methods, performance measurement Key Findings ▪ The authors describe the alternative data industry in an investment context. They discuss the commercial incentives for different categories of organizations within the industry and methodologies to valuate alternative datasets. ▪ They identify key technical challenges in working with alternative data, including entity mapping, ticker-tagging, panel stabilization, and debiasing. ▪ Through a case study, they demonstrate how to use alternative data combined with imputation and optimization techniques to predict revenues of publicly traded companies within the healthcare sector.

Financing is a necessary economic activity of the new energy automobile enterprises, and it has an important function to push the enterprise to expand reproduction and promote the development speed of the enterprise. At the same time, there are many kinds of financing modes, such as internal financing, external debt financing and equity financing. If the financing mode is matched with the enterprise status, the financing activity is easier to succeed and the risk is also smaller. Otherwise, improper financing mode will not only affect the profit of enterprises, but also affect the survival of enterprises. We suppose that, after financing, the business manager of the enterprise can make a choice to invest either hydrogen-fueled vehicle project or lithium-ion battery vehicle project, in this case, we made an equilibrium analysis on the choice of investing which one new energy vehicle project and corresponding financing mode, according to the incomplete information dynamic game model, it is concluded that the equilibrium point (perfect Bayesian equilibrium refinement) of financing is most likely to appear in the state of equity financing; when the rate of return on assets of investment projects is within a certain range, both the financing enterprise and the investor can obtain the bigger profit. In addition, the risk value of the project also is calculated by using VaR model.

There are some unpredicted factors in floating solar power plants that can affect the investment return value. This research aimed to develop an NPV-at-risk based risk management analysis on the floating solar power plant. This research proposed six-staged solutions: communication and consultation, context assignment, risk identification, risk analysis, risk evaluation, and risk mitigation. This study took place in a floating solar power plant in Indonesia. This research showed that some unpredicted risks, such as irradiation, operation and maintenance costs, inflation, and interest rate, could contribute to the investment return. This procedural proposal could be applied in the management of the income realization based on the income projection.

The present study aims to develop a risk-based approach to finding optimal solutions for life extension management for offshore wind farms based on Markowitz’s modern portfolio theory, adapted from finance. The developed risk-based approach assumes that the offshore wind turbines (OWT) can be considered as cash-producing tangible assets providing a positive return from the initial investment (capital) with a given risk attaining the targeted (expected) return. In this regard, the present study performs a techno-economic life extension analysis within the scope of the multi-objective optimisation problem. The first objective is to maximise the return from the overall wind assets and the second objective is to minimise the risk associated with obtaining the return. In formulating the multi-dimensional optimisation problem, the life extension assessment considers the results of a detailed structural integrity analysis, a free-cash-flow analysis, the probability of project failure, and local and global economic constraints. Further, the risk is identified as the variance from the expected mean of return on investment. The risk–return diagram is utilised to classify the OWTs of different classes using an unsupervised machine learning algorithm. The optimal portfolios for the various required rates of return are recommended for different stages of life extension.

Purpose: The purpose of this study is to ascertain which financial factors affect the price-to-earnings ratios of Canadian firms. Methodology: A sample of 578 Canadian firms, across 11 industries, listed on the Toronto Stock Exchange during 2011 to 2018 is examined. Stock prices and financial statements accounts data is collected from S & P Capital IQ. We compute 27 financial factors to use as independent variables to regress on the price-to-earnings ratio dependent variables employing the Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) utilizing the software program’s forced, forward, and backward selection methods. Robustness tests are conducted using alternative dates (after the fiscal year end) to discover which model of financial factors best explains the forward price-to-earnings ratio as well as other statistical methods such as analysis of variance. Results: We find a unique model for each of the 3 models based on the forward price-to-earnings ratio date. The financial factors that explain each of the dates after the end of the fiscal year (1 month, 2 months, and 3 months) are the 4 variables: net profit margin, return on investment, total asset turnover, and the natural logarithm of the total assets. For model 3 (1 month after fiscal year end), in addition to the previous 4 factors, the dividends per share is part of the regression equation. All 3 models have strong statistically significant results at an alpha level of one percent. Further, industry effects are deduced and presented. Unique contribution to theory, policy, and practice: The results are unique to a Canadian sample of firms post- International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) adoption. Companies can utilize the empirical findings to manage their financial performance to maximize their price-to-earnings ratio. A product of a firm’s higher price-to-earnings ratio is a lower cost of capital which expands the corporation’s investment opportunities. Investors can apply this research to develop investment strategies hinged on price-to-earnings ratios to augment investment returns.

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to analyze selected financial and investment indicators and compare them within companies which disclose and do not disclose information about CSR. Design/Methodology/Approach: The research aimed at achieving the assumed goal was conducted on the financial and investment results of companies listed in the mWIG40 and sWIG80 indices on the Warsaw Stock Exchange for 2015-2020. The study relied on using profitability ratios and elements of portfolio analysis to evaluate the financial and investment performance of listed SMEs. Findings: The conducted analysis showed that in the case of indices of small and medium-sized companies listed on the WSE, it can be concluded that companies that do not disclose information on CSR are able to obtain better financial and investment results. In terms of the measures used, it was the average portfolio of companies not reporting information on CSR in 2015-2020 that was characterized by higher ROE and ROA, higher dynamics of the EPS, higher investment efficiency according to monthly and annual rates of return and risk-adjusted measures (Sharpe and Treynor ratios). Practical Implications: The information obtained will be the basis for multifaceted research on the impact of corporate social responsibility on the financial and investment results achieved by companies, in particular for making comparisons and assessments of the application of CSR and its impact on the results of operations in the spatial - international aspect. Originality/Value: The study joins the current literature on the impact of corporate social responsibility on financial and investment results. This paper enhances the knowledge about the impact of disclosing information on CSRon listed SME’s by using both financial and investment ratios.

While higher effort in research is advocated for agriculture, there continues to be a lack of measurement of its impact in economic terms, at least in Europe. This paper seeks to assess the economic impact of public agricultural R&D investments in Europe. Different panel models are applied on 16 European countries, by employing productivity and investment data. Results show positive impacts with returns on public R&D investments on agricultural productivity of between 6.5% and 15.2%, varying according to model specifications and computation techniques. These values confirm that research expenditure in agriculture is well justified in economic terms. However, the results are highly dependent on the analytical approach and limited by the paucity of expenditure data. Further research is recommended to take into account the role of other important determinants of impact, such as climate, spill overs and the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP). However, a proper consideration of these variables will first require a major improvement of data availability.

BACKGROUND Mixed Martial Arts (MMA) is an increasingly popular combat sport incorporating striking and grappling that results in a high incidence of injuries. OBJECTIVES The purpose of this study was to analyze the impact of injuries on the return to sport and post-injury performance of professional MMA athletes. We hypothesize that increased age is associated with lower probability of return to sport and diminished post-injury performance. METHODS Publicly available data (obtained from ESPN.com/MMA, UFC.com, Rotowire.com/MMA) from professional MMA fighters who resigned from fight cards due to injury from 2012 to 2014 were analyzed. Injury history, match history and outcomes, and duration of time to return to professional fighting were recorded and compared to a cohort consisting of uninjured opponents. RESULTS 454 fighters were included in the analysis. The mean age at the time of injury was 30.0±3.9 years. 94.4% of injured athletes were able to return to professional MMA, and athletes required a mean duration of 6.8±6.7 months between injury and their next professional fight (range 0.3-58 months). There was no significant difference in winning percentage in the post-injury period between the injured group and the uninjured group (p = 0.691). Increased age at the time of injury was associated with the odds of being able to return to professional fighting after injury (OR = 0.822, p = 0.001). CONCLUSION In this analysis of publicly available injury data on MMA fighters, there was a high rate of return to professional sport and no evidence of an associated decline in performance following major injury requiring withdrawal from a fight card. Older age at the time of injury was associated with decreased odds of being able to return to professional fighting. With increasing popularity of combat sports, sport-specific prognostic information will help guide and treat specific injuries associated with MMA participation.

E-commerce has witnessed a steady growth with advances in digital technologies. However, one of the challenges faced by online retail is its inability to provide customers with the opportunity to “touch-and-feel” a product before purchasing, thereby resulting in a higher rate of product returns. To address this, online retailers, nowadays, are adopting various omnichannel configurations. Using a stylized model, we study three such omnichannel configurations: selling the product online, establishing a showroom while selling the product online (‘Experience-in-Store-and-Buy-Online (ESBO)’), and selling the product through both a brick-and-mortar (B&M) store and the online channel while allowing in-store product returns (‘Buy-Online-and-Return-In-Store (BORS)’). Based on product attributes such as product standardization and valuation we recommend optimal omnichannel strategies. Our results show that depending on whether a premium product is highly personalized or standardized, opening an additional showroom or a B&M store becomes optimal for the retailer. In contrast, for a low-valued, highly personalized product, the retailer prefers opening an exclusive showroom. Otherwise, for a low-valued, standardized product, the retailer opens an additional B&M store or continues to operate only online based on the product return rate and valuation. If the unit cost of transporting the returned products from customers is low, the retailer prefers to sell the product online only. Moreover, if the hassle cost of online purchase is too high, the strategy of in-store return becomes uneconomic. We also analyze the impact of customers’ exchanging returned items at the B&M store and their product fitness heterogeneity on the retailer’s optimal omnichannel strategy.

In order to enhance understanding about the actual savings behaviour and impulses which drive savings behaviour, it is interesting to study the micro foundations of savings behaviour. Collecting micro data through filled questionnaire from households in urban areas, this study identifies the motives of savings and the instruments and channels where the savings are invested in Pakistan. The results reveal that investment motive, higher income and greater frequency of household members joining labor force for earning incomes enhance the monthly savings rate. The results can be used to offer Islamic investment deposits in an attractive way. If the investment deposits are pitched properly by highlighting the stable ex-post investment returns and low ex-post volatility, then people with an investment motive parking their savings in fixed income mutual funds would be attracted towards Islamic investment deposits. Likewise, incremental long term savings plans wherein periodic investments increase over a period of time can be offered given that monthly savings rate are found to be positively associated with income. Finally, joint investment accounts can be offered given the finding that monthly savings rate is higher in households with greater number of earning members in family.JEL Classification: G11, G21, G23How to Cite:Shaikh, S. A. (2021). Incorporating Private Savings Behavior in Product Offerings: A Case Study of Pakistan. Signifikan: Jurnal Ilmu Ekonomi, 10(2), 247-258. https://doi.org/10.15408/sjie.v10i2.20139.

Human resources have a very important role in the running of a company. Every employee is required to work as well as possible because employee performance determines the success of the company to achieve its goals. In order for employees to produce good performance, companies need to pay attention to the factors that affect employee performance, namely the work environment. The work environment is divided into 2 (two) namely the physical work environment and the non-physical work environment. This study aims to determine the effect of physical and non-physical work environments on Bukalapak employees' performance. This study uses quantitative research methods through multiple linear regression which includes the t test and F test. Data were collected using a questionnaire with a Likert scale measurement. Digital questionnaires using Google Form were distributed to all 140 employees with a return rate of 100 questionnaires. Furthermore, data processing is carried out using regression analysis. The test results show that the physical work environment, non-physical work environment and both simultaneously have a significant effect on employee performance.

Research background: The paper focuses on the research of investors? decisions with regard to shares of all 12 banks listed on the Warsaw Stock Exchange during the first half of 2020. It examines the behavior of a subindex reflecting bank shares? prices against the main WIG index WIG and 14 sector subindices. The authors identify groups of banks with different investors? responses. They also classify banks into separate groups on the basis of changes in the fundamental indicators describing their economic and financial performance. The study concentrates mainly on the verification of the stability of this attribution, explaining reasons for its modifications over time. Purpose of the article: To identify the characteristics of bank clusters determining different capital market responses to their listed shares and to explain the reasons for volatility in investors? behavior within the analyzed period. Methods: The methodology of the research can be described in three areas. The first is the statistical analysis with the emphasis on the use of a quarter range to capture changes in the volatility of share prices. The second area is the clustering k-means method based on the interpolated ? from quarterly to daily ? measures of the bank?s financial condition. This mathematical approach is a novelty in finance and economics. The last, third, area is forecasting with the use of linear regression analysis, which is the key factor in determining the abnormal rates of return. The indicated areas are combined through a generally understood correlation analysis. Findings & value added: Large retail banks have been less affected compared to medium-sized ones with relatively rich corporate portfolios. The initial market reaction reflected concern about the resistance to the crisis of poorly capitalized banks with mean liquidity buffers. Upon the announcement of government support, investors? approach to the shares of banks of differentiated economic and financial performance conformed accordingly. These findings are valuable in the long term especially from the perspective of supervision authorities? policy during external shocks. The presented study suggests designing flexible and tailor-made regulatory approach aligned with the defined bank clusters. Its value added also consists in proposing a new method of analysis, combining interpolation and automatic clustering, which has proved to be adequate for the study of a bank?s financial condition based on daily frequency data. Furthermore, assuming the same length of the estimation window, a close relationship is shown between the results of clustering and the forecasts based on different measures of rates of return.

Honey bee breeding is one of the important agricultural and economic activities that can contribute to economic and social development, provide job opportunities for youth, and the role of bees in raising crop productivity. The research problem is the decrease in production of honey bees, despite its economic, nutritional and medical importance, and this means that there are deficiencies and problems that impede the optimal use of the development of honey bee production in Qalyubia Governorate. The research aimed Upgrading the efficiency of using the productive resources used to produce honey to achieve the maximum possible return, by optimum use of production inputs for honey bee in Governorate to increase its production and reduce its production costs. The most important research result is Estimating the general time trend of the development of honey production in Egypt during the period 2000/2019, and it was found that the production of honey is decreasing by about 252.8 tons annually, the determined coefficient that 90% of the change in the production of honey is due to the factor of time. The rate of return on investment was about 0.6, 1.3 and 1.4 for projects (the first, second and third categories) respectively. The net present value for (the first, second and third categories) was estimated at 10 thousand pounds, 53.6 thousand pounds, 90 thousand pounds, respectively. Estimating the capacity efficiency for the first and second productive category, they amounted about 0.980, 0.972, respectively and this means that the apiaries didn’t reach the capacity efficiency and can reach it by increasing their production by an estimated rate of about 2%, 3%, but the capacity efficiency of the third category apiaries is about 1, this means that the apiaries in this category have achieved capacity efficiency, and they operate at the optimum production.

PurposeThe purpose of this study is to elaborate the theoretical mechanism of rural credit input affecting the urban–rural income gap from the perspective of labor transfer, and use a dynamic panel mediation model to test the transmission mechanism of rural credit input affecting the urban–rural income gap through labor transfer, so as to provide an empirical basis for narrowing the urban–rural income gap in China.Design/methodology/approachThis paper constructs a mechanism analysis framework for rural credit input affecting the urban–rural income gap. From the perspective of resource allocation and labor transfer, the authors expound the transmission path of rural credit input to the urban–rural income gap and analyze the theoretical mechanism of rural credit input that affects the urban–rural income gap through labor transfer. Based on this, this paper uses the dynamic panel mediation model to test the effect relationship between rural credit input, labor transfer and urban–rural income gap in 31 provinces of China from 2009 to 2018.FindingsIn theory, increasing rural credit input can ease the financial constraints on the development of “agriculture, rural areas and farmers” and provide capital accumulation for the development of rural non-agricultural industries. The development of rural non-agricultural industries can provide more jobs for rural surplus labor, thereby increasing the labor rate of return in rural areas, and ultimately conducive to narrowing the urban–rural income gap. Further, increasing rural credit input can improve the development level of rural non-agricultural industries, thereby promoting the transfer of agricultural labor. At the same time, rural credit input based on the intermediary variable of labor transfer has a significant inhibitory effect on the urban–rural income gap.Research limitations/implicationsThis study mainly focuses on the relationship between rural credit input, labor transfer and urban–rural income gap, so it is impossible to use micro-level data to further verify the impact of rural credit input on labor transfer. At the same time, the collection of indicators of rural credit investment in the China Financial Yearbook only started in 2009, which limited the number of samples to a certain extent.Practical implicationsThis paper assumes that the economy is mainly composed of urban and rural economic sectors. Therefore, labor can flow freely between urban and rural areas. However, in the near future, China's rural secondary and tertiary industries may develop rapidly, especially with the in-depth implementation of rural revitalization strategy, it is very important to pay attention to the current situation of rural industrial structure and incorporate the factors such as rural industrial structure into the existing model.Social implicationsThis study attempts to provide a new perspective and inspiration for rural credit input, the optimal allocation of labor force and narrowing the urban–rural income gap under China's rural revitalization strategy.Originality/valueBased on the analysis framework of neoclassical economic theory, this paper uses the constant elasticity of substitution production function to establish an urban–rural two-sector nested model that includes credit supply variables and analyzes the mechanism of rural credit input affecting the urban–rural income gap through labor transfer.

PurposeThe majority of the literature on green buildings in Ghana focuses on environmental benefits, innovative designs, construction technologies and project management techniques. However, little is known about how such facilities are financed. This issue creates potential knowledge gaps, one of which this study aims to address. This study examines the key drivers for green building project financing in Ghana.Design/methodology/approachThe study uses an explanatory sequential design with an initial quantitative instrument phase, followed by a qualitative data collection phase. An extensive critical comparative review of the literature resulted in the identification of eight potential drivers. One hundred and twenty-seven questionnaire responses based upon these drivers from the Ghanaian construction industry were received. Data were coded with SPSS v22, analysed descriptively (mean, standard deviation and standard error) and via inferential analysis (One Way ANOVA and One-Sample t-Test). These data were then validated through semi-structured interviews with ten industry professionals within the Ghana Green Building Council. Data obtained from the semi-structured validation interviews were analysed through the side-by-side comparison of the qualitative data with the quantitative data.FindingsThough all eight drivers are important, the five key drivers for the Ghanian construction industry were identified as, in order of importance, “high return on investment”, “emerging business opportunity”, “ethical investment”, “conservation of resources” and “mandatory regulations, standards, and policies”. The interviewees agreed to and confirmed the importance of these identified drivers for green building project financing from validating the survey's key findings.Research limitations/implicationsKey limitations of this study are the restrictions regarding the geographical location of the collected data (i.e. Kumasi and Accra); timing of the study and sample size (i.e. the COVID-19 pandemic making it difficult to obtain adequate data).Practical implicationsThough this study was conducted in Ghana, its implications could be useful to researchers, policymakers, stakeholders and practitioners in wider sub-Saharan Africa. For instance, financial institutions can invest in green buildings to expand their green construction and mortgage finance products to build higher value and lower risk portfolios. The findings from this study can provide investors with the enhanced certainty needed to help guide and inform their investment decisions, i.e. what to invest in, and when, by how much and how a scheme being “green” may influence their rate of return. Also, for building developers, it will give them a clearer understanding of the business case for green buildings and how to differentiate themselves in the market to grow their businesses.Originality/valueThis study's findings provide insights into an under-investigated topic in Ghana and offer new and additional information and insights to the current state-of-the-art on the factors that drive green building project financing.

Facilitating access to the Internet is an important part of the public library mission, and is crucial in ensuring that all citizens have the possibility of access to contemporary digital information and public services. Part of managing this access relies on the Acceptable Use Policy (AUP), an agreement between the library and the user regarding the conditions of access. This article reports on a national UK study of public library AUPs and the development of a new national model policy for public libraries, and which can be considered as ‘best practice’. The article reports analysis of AUPs across the UK, with specific focus on how they communicate the use of filtering, and surveillance. This research adds new insight by studying the content of AUPs and contributes to the limited research that exists on public library AUPs in the UK. The research analyzed AUPs from 205 authorities in the UK, a return rate of 99.5%. The resulting conclusions and synthesis of relevant guidance on AUPs led to the formation of the model policy presented in this article.

The COVID-19 pandemic affected the globe and every strata of community. Effects can be seen in almost all sectors, education being one of the sectors which was greatly impacted. UNICEF cited a number of 1.6 billion children of schooling age affected by the pandemic. Countries all over the world including Malaysia started working on alternatives to ensure that the learning of schooling children continues throughout the COVID-19 pandemic. The approach chosen by the Malaysian Ministry of Education was to disseminate classes and lessons via online platforms otherwise known as the practice of e-learning. With existing issues of access and gaps in achievement between the rural and urban communities it was a point of interest to investigate how teachers in different contexts dealt with the e-learning initiative. In this study, the aim was to measure the attitude of the teacher, their level of technological literacy and the challenges that they face despite of their context. The study was conducted as an online survey involving all the English Teachers in the Limbang district with the total population of English teachers amounting to 103. The return rate of the survey generated 50 responses and the gaps in the research were bridged with a protocoled focus group discussion with 5 teachers. This study echoed the findings of previous studies and highlights pertinent issues which must be dealt with before e-learning can be a strong and viable alternative learning mode for Malaysians.

Background Potential pharmacy students need a financial frame of reference to compare alternative fields of study or even determine if studying is financially worthwhile. Objective Estimate the rate of return to a pharmacy education investment in the U.S. Methods A model is used to estimate the rate of return to a pharmacy education. It is formulated using exclusively present values (i.e., dollars at 2019 prices). Several assumptions are made regarding the individual getting the education, the costs incurred, the amount borrowed, and the benefits derived. The robustness of the model is tested using sensitivity analysis and the rate of return is recalculated each time. Results The estimated real rate of return to a pharmacy education investment in the U.S., devoid of inflation and under the assumptions initially postulated in the model, is 4.89%. The nominal rate of return is 6.44%. Post-estimation sensitivity analysis shows that the real rate of return is relatively inelastic with respect to changes in eight inputs considered, thus indicating robustness in the results of the model. Conclusions The real rate of return estimated here establishes pharmacy as a financially viable occupation for young individuals possessing the aptitude and commitment to pursue a patient-centered career in medication management.

The aim of the article is to prove the positive impact of education on work salary. For this purpose, the main task of the article is toestimate the Mincer rate of return by taking several factors into account. A secondary task of the research is to analyze the results of2010 and 2011 and to find explanations for the significant differences between the two years. The results of research and a detailedanalysis of the labour market indicate a positive return from attainment of education at an individual level, and they strengthen thehypothesis about a correlation among higher education attainment, higher employment levels and welfare. So far, the Mincer rate ofreturn has not been widely used in Latvia. Keywords: rate of return, education, work salary. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/ 10.15181/rfds.v11i3.623

Risk-Adjusted-Return-On-Capital (RAROC) is a loan-pricing criterion under which a bank sets the loan term such that a certain rate of return is achieved on the regulatory capital required by the Basel regulation. Some banks calculate the amount of regulatory capital for each loan under the standardized approach ("standardized banks", the regulatory capital is proportional to the loan amount), and others under the internal rating-based (IRB) approach ("IRB banks", the regulatory capital is related to the Value-at-Risk of the loan). This paper examines the impact of the RAROC criterion on the bank's loan-pricing decision and the retailer's inventory decision. We find that among the loan terms that satisfy the bank's RAROC criterion, the one that benefits the retailer the most requires the bank to specify an inventory advance rate in addition to the interest rate. Under this loan term, the retailer's inventory level is more sensitive to his asset level when facing an IRB bank compared to a standardized bank. An IRB (standardized) loan leads to higher profit and inventory level for retailers with high (low) asset. For retailers with medium asset, an IRB loan results in a higher retailer profit but a lower consumer welfare. Calibrated numerical study reveals that the benefit of choosing standardized banks (relative to IRB banks) can be as high as 30% for industries with severe capital constraints, volatile demands and low profit margins, highlighting the importance for retailers to carefully choose the type of banks to borrow from. When the interest rate is capped by regulation, retailers borrowing from a standardized bank are more likely to be influenced by the interest rate cap than those borrowing from an IRB bank. Under strong empire-building incentives (the bank will offer loan terms to maximize the size of the loan), retailers with medium initial asset level shift their preference from IRB banks to standardized banks.

The purpose of this study was to examine the influence of the variable interest income, company size, and productivity on the corporate sukuk rating. The yield on the sukuk that will be received by investors illustrates the level of investor returns but the rate of return also describes the level of risk borne by investors. This research was conducted on all companies that issued sukuk which were listed on the Indonesia Stock Exchange for the period 2014-2018 and published their financial reports during the study period. The research sample is corporate sukuk with 35 data. This research was conducted using a quantitative approach with panel data. The data analysis technique used in this study was panel data regression with a random effect model. The results showed that interest income and productivity had no effect on the sukuk rating while firm size had an effect on the sukuk rating. This finding is in accordance with the existing theory that the factors that influence the corporate sukuk rating can be detected by the influence of non-financial variables.

We empirically examine the effect of local religious beliefs on the risk-taking behaviour of U.S. life insurers headquartered in that region. We distinguish between insurers that predominantly write annuities and insurers that predominantly write life insurance policies; the annuity business is relatively riskier than writing life insurance. Insurers headquartered in high-Catholic or low-Protestant areas are more likely to be annuity writers. Annuity writers located in high-Catholic or low-Protestant areas invest more in risky assets and exhibit higher investment return volatilities, as well as a higher volatility of their return on assets. Overall, our results suggest that local culture has significant influences on life insurers’ behaviour. Supplementary Information The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1057/s41288-021-00211-z.

Research background: The role of supplementary pension systems in providing adequate income in old-age is increasing significantly. They are frequently analysed, but rather in terms of architecture, product forms, assets under management or tax incentives than in terms of their efficiency, costliness or readability for individuals. Purpose of the article: The first aim of this paper is to evaluate individual retirement products in Poland regarding their linguistic readability and transparency, investment efficiency and costliness. Moreover, we examine whether there is any correlation between the analyzed characteristics of contracts that would suggest an intentional strategy by financial institutions to hide low efficiency and high costs. The second aim of the article is to assess which individual retirement products are similar to each other and which are significantly different. The research covers two types of individual retirement products (IKE and IKZE) offered at the beginning of 2017. Methods: We used the ?Jasnopis? linguistic analysis tool to assess the difficulty level of the language used in the contracts and we conducted desk-research to analyse their transparency. We indicated the costliness and efficiency of the products by calculating the 5-year cost ratios and real average 5-year rates of return. To examine the relations between the characteristics of pension contracts, we used the Spearman's rank correlation coefficient and then verified its significance with a non-parametric test. Moreover, to identify groups of products that are similar to or different from each other, Ward's method was used. The study includes nearly 90% of all individual retirement products offered in Poland. Findings & value added: For both types of retirement products studied (IKE and IKZE), we found that the more readable a contract is, the higher its rate of return is and the higher the costs charged are. Moreover, the more readable a contract is, the more transparent it is. The findings of the study provide financial institutions, the supervisor and creators of social policy with information on market imperfections and recommendations how to improve the individual retirement products offered on the market. Our research makes a unique contribution to the multidimensional research of supplementary pension systems. It also develops the understanding of how to successfully use linguistic tools in complex analyses of financial services. The results of the hierarchical cluster analysis proved that both IKE and IKZE products differ substantially and their features generally do not depend on the type of the financial provider.

Introduction. An important problem in Ukraine in the context of the global Covid-19 epidemic and the economic crisis is the search for opportunities to attract foreign and domestic investment. Their involvement in the context of the annexation of Crimea and the escalation of the conflict in the East of the country remains unreasoned, controversial and ineffective. To ensure effective management of business entities (hereinafter – BE) requires prompt and reliable accounting of investment activities in an economic crisis and quarantine restrictions. Under these conditions, the investment policy of the state requires the improvement of accounting and analytical support for the management of investment activities through the introduction of modern methods of its implementation.Purpose. To achieve this goal, the following tasks were set and solved: to generalize the theoretical and methodological principles of the formation of accounting and analytical support for the management of investment activities of economic entities; to explore approaches to the formation of a system of indicators to assess the attractiveness of investment objects and justify the choice of investment projects in order to provide in-depth accounting and analytical information for effective management of investment activities of economic entities.Methods. The theoretical and methodological basis of the study is the dialectical method of cognition using a systematic approach to the study of phenomena and processes related to the accounting and analytical support of investment management of business entities.Results. When forming the accounting and analytical support of investment activities for its management, it is advisable to use the following indicators: 1. Net present value (NPV). 2. Internal rate of return (IRR). 3. Payback period. 4. Rate index (RI).The use of these methods of calculating the attractiveness of investment projects gives the opportunity to obtain a comprehensive assessment of the feasibility of the proposed alternative investment projects, in which each of the above indicators characterizes a particular aspect of financial results for the investor: the method of net present value (NPV) gives an estimate of the mass of profit (or cash growth) from capital investment; the method of rate index (RI) characterizes the level of return on invested capital; the method of internal rate of return (IRR) characterizes the rate of return on invested capital. The internal relationship of these indicators, which characterize the effectiveness of the project, allows us to consider the category of "efficiency" of investments in several areas, depending on the priority interests of the investor and possible scenarios for project development.The choice of indicators and methods will depend on the interests of information users, i.e. stakeholders. Thus, in the context of the analytical justification of the choice of investment project using different methods of evaluating its effectiveness, the investor can obtain the following information: using the net present value (NPV), it is possible to predict how much money the investor will receive from investing funds for the entire period of the project's operation; using the integral current value indicator, information will be obtained on a possible increase in funds from investing in a project, which, under certain circumstances, can be completed at a certain stage and, as an object of construction in progress, is subject to implementation; using the indicator of the internal rate of return, information is formed on the comparative return per unit of invested resources in comparison with existing alternative investments. In addition, this indicator serves as an indicator of the profitability of the project with an increase in the market interest rate on the attracted investment resources.Conclusion. Therefore, the current system of accounting and analytical indicators does not fully reflect the diversity of approaches to assessing the investment activities of the BE. Accounting and analytical support, as a component of information support for investment management of BE, allows solving the functional tasks of management, providing management with complete and reliable information about investment processes, especially the attractiveness of investment projects. We believe that a promising area of further research is the comparison of domestic and international methods of accounting and analytical support for investment management, which more fully characterize their investment attractiveness and create opportunities for more effective selection of indicators for their implementation in Ukrainian enterprises.

PurposeThe increasing rate at which individuals, especially, females in Ghana are seeking higher education calls for an estimation of the returns to schooling and education in Ghana.Design/methodology/approachThe study employs the Mincer equation to a representative cross-sectional micro-data from Ghana using OLS and instrumental variable (IV) methodologies. The paper uses spouse's education as instruments in the IV estimation.FindingsReturn to schooling was found to be higher for females than males, likewise, membership of an old student associations and location of the household. Returns to education increases as the level of education rises whilst the rate of returns initially increases but fall as labour market experience rises. The study also found that the rates of return to education were higher for Christian, followed by Muslim and believers of other lesser-known religion in Ghana.Research limitations/implicationsReturn to schooling was found to be higher for females than males. Likewise, individuals who are members of an old student association and are in urban areas were found to have a higher return to schooling than individuals who are not members of an old student association and are in rural areas. Returns to education increases as the level of education rises whilst the rate of returns initially increases but fall as labour market experience rises. The study also found that the rates of return to education were higher for Christian, followed by Muslim and believers of other lesser-known religion in Ghana.Practical implicationsWage determination process is different for males and females, across religion and residency. The higher returns to schooling for females imply education is a good investment for women and girls and should be a development priority.Social implicationsThe higher returns to schooling for females imply an investment in girl's education should be a development priority.Originality/valueThe paper extends the existing literature by focussing on the role of religion, old student's association (alma mater) and gender on the differential earning returns to schooling.

PurposeThis case study aims to appraise the financial benefits of green building construction in developing countries. The case study presents, green building's positive net present value (NPV) investment in real terms and potentially enhanced stock market returns at the firm level compared to competitors.Design/methodology/approachThe case study examines secondary data on a green building certification and longitudinal operation costs to estimate green building investments' financial benefits. The case study also compares the stock market performance of green building portfolio company with non-green building competitors of similar size and industry.FindingsThe case study finds out that the real return rate on green building investment is higher than the weighted average cost of capital (WACC) of the company with an inflation-adjusted payback period of fewer than ten years. Findings compare favourably to the extant literature which was mostly in developed economies. The paper further highlights that stock market performance for a green building focused company shows improved returns to shareholders relative to non-green competitors.Research limitations/implicationsThe results are specific to the time and building researched; green buildings costs have reduced over time, and a new study may show improved case study findings. The case study results on stock market performance are indicative and may need further research for evaluation.Practical implicationsThe case study presents a model for critical appraisal of green buildings investment. The paper further indicates that green building investment may lead to operational savings and superior stock performance compared to competitors.Originality/valueThe paper presents a green building investment appraisal model which might be useful for the industry and academia. Developing countries have limited literature on green buildings' financial benefits; this case study quantifies the financial benefits and compares them with the available literature related to developed economies’ green buildings.

Our paper studies the impacts of the Dieselgate scandal on the required rate of return on equity investments into VW, Daimler, and BMW. The object of investigation is the beta coefficient that determines the risk premium in the Capital Asset Pricing Model (CAPM). Our research takes a deep dive into the developments from the turning point of the scandal (the EPA NOTICE 2015) on September 18, 2015 – when a Notice of Violation of the Clean Air Act was issued to Volkswagen by the EPA – to the end of February 2016. This period also covers FORMAL COMMENCEMENT 2016, when the U.S. Department of Justice first sued Volkswagen on behalf of the EPA. The spillover (contagion) effect of fraudulent practices of VW impacted BMW, Daimler and other companies in the industry that share a similar business model and market segment. Our research of historical market betas has not confirmed the expectation that in the context of the Dieselgate scandal the return required on equity investments into VW, Daimler, and BMW would soar. The Dieselgate scandal proves that the reliability of beta estimates is an inverse function of market volatility. Historical market beta is, therefore, not a good estimate of the required rate of return for the companies in question.

This paper investigates the payment scheme and forecast information sharing issues in the express delivery logistics with the high-speed railway. The HSR carriers need to coordinate the transportation capacity between passenger and freight. It is widely recognized that the advance payment scheme (APS) using as deposit is a beneficial way for the HSR carriers to make decisions on the transportation capacity preserved for express delivery. However, the express service providers, who possess private forecast information of express delivery demand, may share inaccurate information with the HSR carriers to acquire sufficient preserved transportation capacity. This paper discusses what payment scheme is preferred by the HSR carrier, the express service provider through discussing the deposit decisions with or without forecast information sharing. We show that sharing demand forecast information can reduce the prereserved capacity and increase the profits of the HSR carrier. With the delayed payment scheme (DPS), the express service provider has no motivation to share the information; while with the APS, the HSR carrier can reasonably choose the deposit to encourage the express service provider to share the demand information. Our analysis also shows that the HSR carrier’s profits with the APS is restricted by the investment returns and the express service provider’s information sharing decisions. We also analyze the value range of the deposit, which is a proportion of the overall payment, that allows both the HSR carrier and the express service provider to prefer the APS, as well as to encourage the express service provider to share the demand information.

Supplemental Digital Content is Available in the Text., Background: Dynamic movement of patients in and out of HIV care is prevalent, but there is limited information on patterns of patient re-engagement or predictors of return to guide HIV programs to better support patient engagement. Methods: From a probability-based sample of lost to follow-up, adult patients traced by peer educators from 31 Zambian health facilities, we prospectively followed disengaged HIV patients for return clinic visits. We estimated the cumulative incidence of return and the time to return using Kaplan–Meier methods. We used univariate and multivariable Cox proportional hazards regression to conduct a risk factor analysis identifying predictors of incident return across a social ecological framework. Results: Of the 556 disengaged patients, 73.0% [95% confidence interval (CI): 61.0 to 83.8] returned to HIV care. The median follow-up time from disengagement was 32.3 months (interquartile range: 23.6–38.9). The rate of return decreased with time postdisengagement. Independent predictors of incident return included a previous gap in care [adjusted Hazard Ratio (aHR): 1.95, 95% CI: 1.23 to 3.09] and confronting a stigmatizer once in the past year (aHR: 2.14, 95% CI: 1.25 to 3.65). Compared with a rural facility, patients were less likely to return if they sought care from an urban facility (aHR: 0.68, 95% CI: 0.48 to 0.96) or hospital (aHR: 0.52, 95% CI: 0.33 to 0.82). Conclusions: Interventions are needed to hasten re-engagement in HIV care. Early and differential interventions by time since disengagement may improve intervention effectiveness. Patients in urban and tertiary care settings may need additional support. Improving patient resilience, outreach after a care gap, and community stigma reduction may facilitate return. Future re-engagement research should include causal evaluation of identified factors.

Thomas Piketty isn’t scared to tell a big story. In 2013, he produced Capital in the Twenty-First Century, a 700-page tome about inequality that combined Jane Austen and Honore de Balzac with data from tax returns and national statistics. One idea that captivated many readers was r versus g. When the rate of return on capital (think rental yields and share dividends) exceeds the overall economic growth rate, then inequality rises. When g is bigger than r, inequality falls. The theory didn’t e...

There is an emerging global trend toward more responsible and sustainable investment practices that is creating an increased appetite for forestry investments. This is against a backdrop of a dearth of forestry investment performance data of the kind suitable to aid econometrically significant investment projections. This article uses historical roundwood timber and lumber price data combined with a forestry discount rate to synthetically create historical forestry investment returns for the last two centuries. A Forestry Investment Total Return (FITR) Index is created from these data. A key advantage of the index is not relying on smoothed timber prices, making returns more representative of their reporting period. The FITR Index shows forestry investment outperforming equities over long durations, with a lower standard deviation of returns and a positive, rather than negative, skew of returns. The article suggests that responsible and sustainable investments can produce strong investment performance. TOPICS:Real assets/alternative investments/private equity, mutual funds/passive investing/indexing, performance measurement, ESG investing Key Findings ▪ The study estimates US forestry investment returns averaged 9.24% per annum from 1871 to 2018 with a standard deviation of returns of 12.3% and a positive skew of 88%. Comparable returns on US equities were 8.95% per annum with a higher standard deviation of 17.9% and a negative skew of 13%. ▪ Estimated forestry returns are based on an assumed forestry discount rate and changes in US timber prices over the period. The article shows that changes in timber prices relative to consumer prices have a consistent pattern going back to 1269. ▪ Forestry investment is likely to be a win–win for investors seeking sustainable investments and for policymakers by providing the potential for strong investment returns while also tackling environmental and climate change.

Private investment in Africa represents access to a different source of growth and investment returns than is typically included in institutional portfolios. Investment risk and returns available in Africa must be considered in the context of differences with global developed markets, including leverage at the portfolio and fund level, prevalence of portfolio company ESG program implementation, access to the full universe of opportunities, and underlying drivers of growth. Investors often overlook this region due to a lack of familiarity with these differences and common concerns, including political risk, currency exposure, corporate governance, and ultimate generation of competitive returns with the required scale. Private investment in Africa can benefit from economic growth opportunities and underlying trends, including population growth, urbanization, and increasing regional trade, specific to the region. An investment strategy appropriate to the region is essential to realize the potential of private investment opportunities in a risk-controlled manner. TOPICS:Private equity, frontier markets, risk management, performance measurement Key Findings ▪ Private investment in Africa can benefit from economic growth opportunities and underlying trends, including population growth, urbanization, and increasing regional trade, specific to the region. ▪ Investment risk and returns available in Africa must be considered in the context of differences with global developed markets, including leverage at the portfolio and fund level, prevalence of portfolio company ESG program implementation, access to the full universe of opportunities, and underlying drivers of growth. An investment strategy appropriate to the region is essential to realize the potential of private investment opportunities in a risk-controlled manner. ▪ Private investment in Africa can be made at attractive absolute and relative (to developed markets) valuations in a risk-controlled manner and is worth serious consideration by institutional investors.

This article considers trends in wealth at the middle and top of the distribution, with a particular focus on the period around the Great Recession. It illustrates that leverage rates of middle class families relative to high‐wealth families were beneficial to relative rates of return of middle class families for most periods since 1983 but was extremely detrimental during the Great Recession. It also considers the savings rates over time among high‐wealth and middle class families, showing that dissaving slowed the recovery in wealth—especially among the middle class. Differential leverage was also a key factor explaining wealth inequality trends.

This article describes our study of the impact of economic and financial crises on the investment behavior and cash flow allocation of leveraged buyout (LBO) and venture capital (VC) funds. It complements prior research on the performance of private equity investments throughout the financial crisis. We base our empirical analysis on 10,073 LBO and VC deals from 1999 until 2018, provided by Thomson Reuters Eikon, and analyze the resilience of investments in various industries regarding volatility, maximum drawdowns, and investment returns. The empirical results show that LBO and VC funds withdrew their capital from the most volatile industry sectors during both the dot-com crisis (2000–2002) and the financial crisis (2007–2008). The data analysis confirms that these funds reduced their overall exposure to the markets during crises by holding back capital and allocating their money to less volatile and more crisis-resilient industries, such as energy and power. These findings extend crisis-related research by explaining how LBO and VC funds’ dynamic investment behavior during crises can positively affect investment performance. TOPICS:Private equity, financial crises and financial market history, performance measurement Key Findings ▪ The article shows that fund managers in LBO and VC funds allocate their investors’ capital into counter-cyclical and crisis-proof sectors and withdraw money from volatile sectors during an economic crisis. ▪ The findings demonstrate that this active change in the fund managers’ investment behavior during the crises may explain why LBO and VC funds can outperform comparable public equity indices. ▪ The article further shows that the allocation of capital in LBO and VC funds during crises is comparable to investors’ allocation behavior in the public equity markets, which is especially important considering the outperformance of PE and VC funds over public equity measured by the Public Market Equivalent.

This article provides the first large-sample analysis of buyout and venture capital fund values over their lifetimes. Specifically, the authors examine fund future investment multiples (TVPIs), internal rates of return (IRRs), and direct alphas based on the current reported net asset values (NAVs) at each year of a fund’s life. Using a sample of 1,400 mature buyout and VC funds, they find that the typical fund experiences a falloff in future returns after it is about seven to eight years old. However, the remaining performance is highly variable for funds of all ages, and the dispersion in returns also tends to increase after funds are about eight years old. They examine the cross-sectional determinants of the remaining fund value and find that several fund-specific and market-wide factors determine future performance and that these vary by type and age of fund. For example, young funds tend to be harmed by high market-wide dry powder levels, whereas older funds appear to benefit. TOPICS:Private equity, performance measurement Key Findings ▪ The typical fund experiences a falloff in returns after it is about seven to eight years old. This is true for both VC and buyout funds. ▪ Contrary to common wisdom, the cross-sectional dispersion of fund performance measured by future internal rate of return and direct alpha tends to increase, not decrease, for funds more than five years old. ▪ A wide variety of market-wide and fund-specific factors predict future fund performance. These include to-date distributions, dry powder, previous fund performance, fund size, general partner fundraising activity, previous public market stock returns, and credit spreads. Relevant factors are different for VC funds and buyout funds and can vary systematically over funds’ life cycles.