Integrated flood risk management for urban resilience: A multi-method framework combining hazard mapping, hydrodynamic modelling, and economic impact assessment

The growth and composition of the North Dakota economy can be measured using economic base analysis. Economic base is defined as the value of goods and services exported from an economic unit. Economic base also can be called a region’s export base because industries (or ‘basic’ sectors) earn income from outside the area. North Dakota’s economic base is comprised of those activities that produce a product or a service purchased by individuals, governments, and businesses located outside of the state. Economic base estimates represent dollars coming into the economy in exchange for exported goods and services. By contrast, economic impact and economic contribution assessments for industries examine the net and gross in-state business volumes, respectively. Comparisons of economic base estimates to economic contribution or economic impact assessments are not appropriate as those evaluations represent different economic measures. Also, measuring the state’s industries using Gross State Product does not provide comparable metrics to economic base, economic impact, or economic contribution assessments. The numbers presented in this report are part of an ongoing data set used to measure export sales in North Dakota. That data base is often used to illustrate changes in the state’s economy and differences in the relative sizes of industries in various regions of the state. North Dakota’s economy has traditionally been driven by natural resource-based activities, i.e., agriculture, coal, and petroleum. Growth in the state’s basic sector industries has accelerated since 2000 with agriculture and energy providing the impetus for this expansion. Efforts to diversify the state’s economy in the 1990s and early 2000s can be linked to the expansion of the state’s economic base, as growth in previous periods was steady, but moderate. More recently, the development of shale oil in the Williston Basin has created the largest change in the state’s economic base. North Dakota’s economic base has grown from $8.3 billion in 1990 to $42.3 billion in 2012 when measured in current (nominal dollars). In terms of constant dollars (removal of the effects of inflation), the state’s economic base went from $13.9 billion in 1990 to $42.3 billion in 2012. From 2011 to 2012, all economic base activities in the state grew in real terms except Federal payments. Agriculture grew by 13.7 percent from 2011 to 2012 (please note that agricultural processing and farm input manufacturing are not included with the agriculture industry due to data limitations). The petroleum sector grew by 100 percent from 2011 to 2012 (gas and crude oil processing is included as data is available to estimate those activities separately from oil and gas production). Manufacturing (which includes agricultural processing and farm input manufacturing) grew by 14.3 percent. Coal mining and conversion was nearly constant from 2011 to 2012, as growth was only 0.1 percent. Tourism grew in real terms by 3.3 percent from 2011 to 2012. Exported services, from 2011 to 2012, grew by 6.5 percent in real terms. Federal payments declined by 5.7 percent over the period. Overall, the state’s exports from

A compositional approach to regional socio-economic impact assessment

This paper summarises the main economic findings of an interdisciplinary EU project (FP6) which studied the impacts of climate change in Hungary, Bulgaria and Romania. Economic impact assessments were carried out at region and sector specific case study levels. Results suggest positive economic impacts related to climate change on agriculture in the Bulgarian case study region, whereas no clear message about impact direction could be derived for the Romanian region under investigation. The studied climate change impacts on tourism are tendentially negative in the regions considered within the single tourism case studies. The conducted energy case studies also suggest (small and sometimes insignificant) negative economic impacts of climate change within specific configurations assumed. Vulnerability of the public sector has been assessed by analysing the countries’ risk transfer mechanisms with respect to damages from extreme weather events.

Regional economic impact assessments (EIAs) of recreational fisheries reveal how anglers' expenditures affect economic activity such as sales, income, and employment in a particular region. Unfortunately, most EIA studies report only the final impacts of the EIA, without describing the economic interdependencies that produced the impacts or how the results should and should not be used to guide management decisions. This is particularly troublesome because most resource managers only vaguely understand how EIA models work and how to interpret the results in a fisheries management framework. The purpose of this article is to provide a starting point toward establishing consistent and defensible techniques for conducting regional EIAs of recreational fisheries and to explore the appropriate uses of EIA outputs as they relate to the growing needs of natural resource managers. Using marine recreational party and charter boat fishing in Maine in 1996 as an example, an EIA was conducted with the IMPLAN (Impact analysis for Planning) input–output system. Economic impacts were analyzed separately for Maine residents and nonresidents, and a linear production function that represented average for-hire operating expenditures was developed and integrated into the input–output model. Direct, indirect, and induced economic impacts were estimated for sales, income, and employment. In total, the US$1.12 million spent in Maine by nonresident party and charter anglers in 1996 resulted in $1.04 million in sales that remained within the state, $393 thousand in additional income, and supported approximately 37 jobs. Resident expenditures in 1996 totaled $276 thousand and generated $225 thousand in instate sales, $82 thousand in income, and approximately 10 jobs. The impacts of nonresident expenditures were generally five times greater than that of their resident counterparts. However, the actual economic impact of resident expenditures depends on assumptions regarding the absence of the marine for-hire fishery in Maine. Although the model's multipliers may be used to predict the total impacts of changes in expenditures by party and charter boat anglers, it is important to understand their limitations. The procedures and data sets applied here, if used in conjunction with future versions of IMPLAN, can serve as a foundation for updating the Maine input–output model provided in this study and for developing economic impact assessments of recreational fisheries in other states.

Legislation and market competition make it necessary to assess systems regarding their environmental, social, and economic impacts. The life cycle sustainability assessment (LCSA) approach can be used for this purpose. However, the literature shows limitations of this approach. This article focuses on the often encountered inconsistency and reduced transparency within the economic dimension due to the lack of harmonized impact assessment methods. Therefore, we propose a novel economic life cycle impact assessment (eLCIA) method called DEALA (Differentiated Economic Assessment in a Life Cycle‐Oriented Analysis), which allows economic assessments at three levels of aggregation. Overall, DEALA is based on economic principles and provides a structured approach to conduct environmental life cycle costing studies, resulting in greater transparency, comparability, and flexibility, as illustrated by an initial comparison with an existing case study. DEALA also facilitates a differentiated and detailed analysis of the results so that hotspots and improvement potentials can be identified, making DEALA a suitable economic LCIA method that should be considered in future studies. These benefits are confirmed through a LCSA of a battery supply chain. The assessment provides detailed and specific insights that can be used to design more sustainable battery supply chains.

Quantitative economic impact assessment of invasive plant pests: What does it require and when is it worth the effort?

Economic impact assessment (EcIA) has attracted some criticism due to its limited focus. Typically, EcIA is used to validate the proposed proposals based on growth in income and employment. This paper argues that EcIA should play a more active and stronger role in impact assessment. For example, the impacts of the proposed projects should be assessed using the economic development goals rather than only changes in economic growth. The conceptual framework for the comprehensive impact assessment is discussed. Examples of indicators that can be used in relation to sustainable development goals are provided.

The quality of any economic impact assessment largely depends on the adequacy of the input variables and chosen assumptions. This article presents a direct economic impact assessment of a music festival hosted in Norway and sensitivity analyses of two study design assumptions: estimated number of attendees and chosen definition (size) of the affected area. Empirically, the article draws on a state-of-the-art framework of an economic impact analysis and uses primary data from 471 event attendees. The results show that, first, an economic impact analysis is a complex task that requires high precision in assessing different monetary flows entering and leaving the host region, and second, the study design assumptions exert a tremendous influence on the final estimation. Accordingly, the study offers a fertile agenda for local destination marketing organizers and event managers on how to conduct reliable economic impact assessments and explains which elements of such analyses are particularly important for final estimations.

BackgroundPositive economic impact is a key decision factor in making the case for or against investing in an artificial intelligence (AI) solution in the health care industry. It is most relevant for the care provider and insurer as well as for the pharmaceutical and medical technology sectors. Although the broad economic impact of digital health solutions in general has been assessed many times in literature and the benefit for patients and society has also been analyzed, the specific economic impact of AI in health care has been addressed only sporadically.ObjectiveThis study aimed to systematically review and summarize the cost-effectiveness studies dedicated to AI in health care and to assess whether they meet the established quality criteria.MethodsIn a first step, the quality criteria for economic impact studies were defined based on the established and adapted criteria schemes for cost impact assessments. In a second step, a systematic literature review based on qualitative and quantitative inclusion and exclusion criteria was conducted to identify relevant publications for an in-depth analysis of the economic impact assessment. In a final step, the quality of the identified economic impact studies was evaluated based on the defined quality criteria for cost-effectiveness studies.ResultsVery few publications have thoroughly addressed the economic impact assessment, and the economic assessment quality of the reviewed publications on AI shows severe methodological deficits. Only 6 out of 66 publications could be included in the second step of the analysis based on the inclusion criteria. Out of these 6 studies, none comprised a methodologically complete cost impact analysis. There are two areas for improvement in future studies. First, the initial investment and operational costs for the AI infrastructure and service need to be included. Second, alternatives to achieve similar impact must be evaluated to provide a comprehensive comparison.ConclusionsThis systematic literature analysis proved that the existing impact assessments show methodological deficits and that upcoming evaluations require more comprehensive economic analyses to enable economic decisions for or against implementing AI technology in health care.

A review of economic impact assessment (EcIA), social impact assessment (SIA), and community participation practice in the rapidly growing coal industry of Australia's Bowen Basin suggests significant shortcomings in scope and reporting with neither EcIA nor SIA giving adequate attention to the measurement and distribution of negative impacts. This review also demonstrates a tendency to separate community participation from the conduct of impact assessment, partly in response to a perceived need to engage in relationship building with impacted communities through the entire life of mining operations. However, this separation also has significant implications for the quality of impact assessment studies and is suggestive of an approach to engagement that is more focused on expectation and image management than on participation in decision-making.

Integrated ecological, economic and social impact assessment of alternative flood control policies in the Netherlands

Typically, the term ‘risk’ is referred to as the product of a harmful consequence of an activity or event and the probability of its occurrence. For the social and economic components of an environmental assessment, there is a need to broaden the traditional definition of risk because what is considered to be ‘risky’ differs between expert risk analysts and other members of the public. Therefore, for the purposes of a social and economic impact assessment, risk needs to be seen as a subjective experience that is felt by, and is different for, everyone. Given this definition, a social and economic impact assessment needs to relate social and economic effects to people's attitudes towards risk. This paper discusses the methodology that was applied for a social and economic impact assessment completed for the restart of a nuclear generating station in Pickering, Ontario, Canada. This methodology is currently being refined and applied to other nuclear-related projects in Canada.

The economic impact of Noosa national park : an holistic assessment

Toward cool cities and communities: A sensitivity analysis method to identify the key planning and design variables for urban heat mitigation techniques

One of the most encouraging recent developments in supply chain management has been the concerted effort to incorporate local small-to-medium enterprises (SMEs) into the supply chains of multi-national corporations. However, local SME procurement can lead to adverse social impacts. This paper demonstrates how the integration of social and economic impact assessment (SEIA) into sourcing strategy can be an effective tool to enhance the benefits associated with projects to local communities. Drawing on research into the mining, oil and gas sectors, the contribution of this paper is the application of impact assessment methodologies to local procurement. The paper recommends the development of a local procurement strategy and offers a step-by-step process for applying a Local Procurement Social Risks and Opportunities Assessment to local procurement planning.