Appropriate Level Of Investment Research Articles

The Impact of Investment in Human Capital on Industrial Development: An Empirical Analysis of Pakistan

Over the last half-century, reduction in poverty and reasonable economic growth have been the fruit of continued industrial development, mostly in Asia. Improved telecommunication, liberalized markets, and better infrastructure cannot accelerate economic growth unless an appropriate level of investment in human capital is not available. The study mainly targets to investigate impact of investment in human capital on industrial development in Pakistan from 1980 to 2023. The study incorporates government expenditures on education (EXE), government expenditures on health (EXH), and growth in enrollment rate in vocational institutes (EVG) as indicators of investment in human capital. The study has applied Augmented Dickey-Fuller to check stationarity of variables followed by estimation of Autoregressive Distributive Lag (ARDL) model to find co-integration. It is resulted from estimation that expenditure in health and enrollment in vocational training confirm leaves positive impact on industrial development in case of Pakistan. The empirical outcomes are consistent with existing evidence found on the same subject for other economies. In Pakistan, there is a need for policy formulation to achieve the right direction of educational development for industrial development.

Perspectives on valuing water quality improvements using stated preference methods

Improvements to the quality of freshwater rivers and lakes can generate a wide array of benefits, from “use values” such as recreational boating, fishing, and swimming to “nonuse values” such as improved outcomes for aquatic biodiversity. Bringing these nonmarket values into decision-making is crucial to determining appropriate levels of investment in water quality improvements. However, progress in the economic valuation of water quality benefits has lagged similar efforts to value air quality benefits, with implications for water policy. New data sources, modeling techniques, and innovation in stated preference survey methods offer notable improvements to estimates of use and nonuse benefits of improved water quality. Here, we provide a perspective on how recent applications of stated preference techniques to the valuation of the nonmarket benefits of water quality improvements have advanced the field of environmental valuation. This overview is structured around four key questions: i) What is it about water quality that we seek to value? ii) How should we design and implement the surveys which elicit individuals’ stated preferences? iii) How do we assess the validity of the findings provided by such studies? and iv) What are the contributions of these valuation exercises to public policy? In answering these questions, we make reference to the contributions provided by the papers in this Symposium.

The joint impact of environmental awareness and system infrastructure on e-waste collection

The prevailing literature on the design of reverse logistics networks for e-waste collection recognizes the accessibility of the collection sites as a key driver of the consumers’ return behavior. The propensity of a consumer to return an end-of-use or an end-of-life item, however, also depends on his/her sensitivity to environmental sustainability. In this paper, we study the impact of simultaneously determining the optimal density of a network of collection centers as well as the most appropriate level of investment in the public's environmental awareness. We adopt a Nerlove-Arrow-type advertising model to capture the potential influence of public awareness campaigns in increasing the consumers’ environmental sensitivity over time. The potential negative impact of the travel distance to the nearest collection site is also incorporated. Thus, we present a dynamic modeling framework for the joint design of the network infrastructure and the public campaign intensity. A case study is presented based on the operations of the Canadian E-Waste Stewardship Program in the Greater Vancouver region. We find that investments into environmental awareness can enable the take-back scheme to improve its collection rates significantly. Our findings through the case study also reveal that running an advance campaign prior to the launch of the collection network can be an effective strategy in most cases. In addition, we present an extended model, which highlights that increasing the investment in environmental awareness can be utilized as a lever to offset the impact of increased hauling costs.

Розвиток інвестиційної діяльності міста

The article examines the essence of investment activity and its impact on the development of the city. The relevance of increasing the inflow of investments by creating favorable conditions for the development of green tourism is emphasized. This study used the findings of foreign and domestic scientists and global practices of green tourism functioning as an integral part of the city’s attractiveness among investors. It has been established that rural green tourism is currently one of the promising areas of development of the tourism industry of foreign countries, the rapid development of which in the last year is due to quarantine restrictions. It combines a wide range of different types of tourism based on the use of natural resources. It was found that the accelerated development of green tourism can play the role of a catalyst for investments in the region and the country as a whole. The subject of the study is a set of theoretical, methodological and practical aspects of increasing the effectiveness of the development of green tourism in the business environment. The purpose of this work is to substantiate theoretical and methodological approaches and develop practical recommendations for the development of green tourism in Ukraine, increase investment income, and analyze internationally recognized tools for stimulating the development of green tourism in the world. The proposed incentive tools will contribute to ensuring the appropriate level of investment in the regions of Ukraine and the gradual greening of technological processes in accordance with international environmental requirements, which will lead to an automatic increase in the activity and efficiency of environmentally oriented innovative activities of the country’s enterprises. The state of green tourism in Ukraine and European countries is analyzed. The work highlights the negative and positive sides of modern green tourism in Ukraine and describes the main recommendations for the development of this area and increasing its level of attractiveness for foreign and domestic investors (on the example of the Poltava region). The obtained result will allow more systematic and qualitative implementation of «greening» in the cities of Ukraine.

Economic Evaluation of Mental Health Effects of Flooding Using Bayesian Networks.

The appraisal of appropriate levels of investment for devising flooding mitigation and to support recovery interventions is a complex and challenging task. Evaluation must account for social, political, environmental and other conditions, such as flood state expectations and local priorities. The evaluation method should be able to quickly identify evolving investment needs as the incidence and magnitude of flood events continue to grow. Quantification is essential and must consider multiple direct and indirect effects on flood related outcomes. The method proposed is this study is a Bayesian network, which may be used ex-post for evaluation, but also ex-ante for future assessment, and near real-time for the reallocation of investment into interventions. The particular case we study is the effect of flood interventions upon mental health, which is a gap in current investment analyses. Natural events such as floods expose people to negative mental health disorders including anxiety, distress and post-traumatic stress disorder. Such outcomes can be mitigated or exacerbated not only by state funded interventions, but by individual and community skills and experience. Success is also dampened when vulnerable and previously exposed victims are affected. Current measures evaluate solely the effectiveness of interventions to reduce physical damage to people and assets. This paper contributes a design for a Bayesian network that exposes causal pathways and conditional probabilities between interventions and mental health outcomes as well as providing a tool that can readily indicate the level of investment needed in alternative interventions based on desired mental health outcomes.

Emission Reduction Opportunities in a Rapidly Growing Economy

Vietnam’s Green Growth Action Plan for the period 2014–2020 sets out an overall plan for the sustainable development of the country. One of the cornerstones of that plan is the development of a greenhouse gas inventory and emission reduction opportunity assessment for Ho Chi Minh City. This provides a basis for the roadmap towards green growth in Ho Chi Minh City, one of Vietnam’s largest cities. Marginal costs of 38 emission reduction measures were determined for two main economy sectors, namely energy (32 measures) and agriculture, forestry, and other land use (6 measures). From that analysis, a marginal abatement cost curve was compiled for the energy sector. The total emission reduction opportunities available in 2020 are estimated to be 8.97 million tCO2e, which represents a 14.7% reduction compared to business as usual. Even when the city only implements reduction measures with negative marginal costs (i.e., abatement that saves money), significant reductions of 5.25 MtCO2e (8.6% reduction compared to business as usual) would be achieved. There are significant similarities in abatement opportunities between Ho Chi Minh City and Hanoi, Vietnam’s capital. The case study shows significant reduction in greenhouse gas emissions can be achieved in fast-growing cities with an appropriate level of investment and government support.

Modelling environmental and economic sustainability of logistics

PurposeResearch on sustainability has progressed from a singular focus on one aspect to a simultaneous focus on more than one aspect of the triple bottom line. However, there is a dearth of research that explains why sustainability-related decisions in business often do not bear the expected results. Research that provides managers with a tool to achieve environmental sustainability of logistics without compromising the economic sustainability is scarce. Hence, the purpose of this paper is to bridge the above gaps and to explore the factors that affect investment in technology to balance environmental and economic sustainability of logistics. A model based on system dynamics approach explains the simultaneous interplay of these factors. Simulating the model helps the managers of logistics function decide the size of investment in technology, to achieve environmental efficiency without negatively influencing the economic performance.Design/methodology/approachA model based on system dynamics approach explains the simultaneous interplay of these factors. Simulating the model helps the managers of logistics function decide the size of investment in technology, to achieve ecological efficiency without compromising with the economic performance.FindingsCollaboration with regulatory authorities and with players within the same industry and across industries is a must so that eco-logistics does not become an economic burden for businesses. The decision to invest in technology for eco-logistics is further accentuated if the technology promises some added economic benefits.Research limitations/implicationsFrom a theoretical perspective, the research has added to the less extensive literature on system dynamics modelling, which is a mixed methodology, combining both qualitative and quantitative techniques. The research is also one of the few attempts that have attempted to simultaneously study more than one aspects of sustainability in business, quantitatively through simulation. Simulation was demonstrated through a single case study, Future works can aim to apply the causal loop diagram to firms in varied sectors.Practical implicationsThe managers can use the causal loop diagram to assess the environmental performance of logistics and decide on appropriate level of investment to balance ecological and economic performance of logistics.Originality/valueThe causal loop diagram has been developed through primary data collection via semi-structured interviews. The results were validated by presenting them to respondents to ensure they represent their view points. The results are, therefore, practical and original. This research does not build upon an existing data set or aims to test the applicability of any existing model. The model for this research has been developed from the grass-roots level.

What Drives Declining Support for Long-Term Ecological Research?

AbstractSeveral recent papers have reinvigorated a chronic concern about the need for ecological science to focus more on long-term research. For a few decades, significant voices among ecologists have been assembling elements of a case in favor of long-term ecological research. In this article and for the first time, we synthesize the elements of this case and present it in succinct form. We also argue that this case is unlikely to result in more long-term research. Finally, we present ideas that, if implemented, are more likely to result in appropriate levels of investment in long-term research in ecological science. The article comes at an important time, because the US National Science Foundation is currently undertaking a 40-year review of its Long-Term Ecological Research Network.

An optimization model for investment in technology and government regulation

Companies struggle every day to estimate the adequate level of investment in new technologies, and governments lack the tools to determine the impact of their regulations on industry including telecommunications networks. Despite these facts, few studies discuss ways to assess appropriate levels of investment for technological initiatives and government regulations. To fill this gap, this study provides an optimization model for the investment of technology and government regulation, based on efficiencies. Results obtained from surveying northern European companies support the importance of estimating investment in technology and government regulation levels. The survey identified the four most relevant factors for practitioners: quality, cost, technology adoption, and government regulations. Based on the survey’s results, the model evaluates the level of investment for technology adoption and government regulations using cost and quality as target variables. Additional data from a German carrier served to test the model. Results show that technology investment delivers more benefits in cost and quality by increasing technology adoption. However, the model also suggests that diminishing returns make efficiencies stall at a certain level of technology adoption, and shows an investment threshold dependent on the type of benefit, cost, or quality the company seeks to maximize. Regarding government regulation, the model shows a counterintuitive behavior at higher levels of investment for the cost coefficients and at all levels of investment for the quality coefficient. This suggests that government regulation effects could be shifting from fixed-order cost to other types of costs.

Contemporary Debates: The Hundertwasser Art Centre with Wairau Maori Art Gallery

What began as a humble sketch on the back of an envelope, the Hundertwasser Art Centre with Wairau Māori Art Gallery project has evolved into a unique and ambitious quest for artistic representation in Northland. The history of this controversial public art project, yet to be built, has seen a number of debates take place, locally and nationally, around the importance of art in urban and rural societies and the broader socio-economic context surrounding the development of civic architecture in New Zealand. This project has not only challenged the people of Northland to think about the role of art in their community, but it has prompted New Zealanders to question whether there is an appropriate level of investment in the arts in New Zealand.

Efficient Large-Scale Energy Storage Dispatch: Challenges in Future High Renewable Systems

Future power systems with high penetrations of variable renewables will require increased levels of flexibility from generation and demand-side sources in order to maintain secure and stable operation. One potential flexibility source is large-scale energy storage, which can provide a variety of ancillary services across multiple time scales. In order for appropriate levels of investment to take place, and in order for existing assets to be utilized optimally, it is essential that market signals are present which encourage suitable levels of flexibility, either from storage or alternative sources. Suboptimal storage plant dispatch due to uncertainty and inefficient market incentives are represented as operational constraints on the storage plant, and the impact of these inefficiencies are highlighted. Thus, changes required in operational practices for storage plant at different installed wind capacity levels, and the challenges that private storage plant operators will face in generating appropriate bids in a market environment at high variable renewable penetrations are explored. The impacts on system generating costs and storage profits are explored under different plant operating assumptions.

Analysis of the impact of the sectoral distribution of investment in the economic imbalance in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq for the period (2006-2016)

The investment leads to capital accumulation and keeps the continuity of economic growth and development process, so it has to be to maintain the appropriate levels of investment by taking all necessary measures so such a favorable and safe investment environment to reassure investors about the future of their investments, and from this perspective, this research deals with the impact of investing in changing the economic structure of the Iraqi Kurdistan region stand on the sectoral distribution of investment and its impact on the contribution of economic sectors in the composition of GDP and in the Employment . And then measure the impact of investment in the imbalance of the structure of the Iraqi Kurdistan region's economy during the period (2006-2016).

Malaria in China, 2011-2015: an observational study.

ObjectiveTo ascertain the trends and burden of malaria in China and the costs of interventions for 2011–2015.MethodsWe analysed the spatiotemporal and demographic features of locally transmitted and imported malaria cases using disaggregated surveillance data on malaria from 2011 to 2015, covering the range of dominant malaria vectors in China. The total and mean costs for malaria elimination were calculated by funding sources, interventions and population at risk.FindingsA total of 17 745 malaria cases, including 123 deaths (0.7%), were reported in mainland China, with 15 840 (89%) being imported cases, mainly from Africa and south-east Asia. Almost all counties of China (2855/2858) had achieved their elimination goals by 2015, and locally transmitted cases dropped from 1469 cases in 2011 to 43 cases in 2015, mainly occurring in the regions bordering Myanmar where Anopheles minimus and An. dirus are the dominant vector species. A total of United States dollars (US$) 134.6 million was spent in efforts to eliminate malaria during 2011–2015, with US$ 57.2 million (43%) from the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria and US$ 77.3 million (57%) from the Chinese central government. The mean annual investment (US$ 27 million) per person at risk (574 million) was US$ 0.05 (standard deviation: 0.03).ConclusionThe locally transmitted malaria burden in China has decreased. The key challenge is to address the remaining local transmission, as well as to reduce imported cases from Africa and south-east Asia. Continued efforts and appropriate levels of investment are needed in the 2016–2020 period to achieve elimination.

Degrees of Ignorance About the Costs of Data Breaches: What Policymakers Can and Can't Do About the Lack of Good Empirical Data

Estimates of the costs incurred by a data breach can vary enormously. For instance, a 2015 Congressional Research Service report titled “The Target and Other Financial Data Breaches: Frequently Asked Questions” compiled seven different sources’ estimates of the total losses resulting from the 2013 Target breach, ranging from $11 million to $4.9 billion. The high degree of uncertainty and variability surrounding cost estimates for cybersecurity incidents has serious policy consequences, including making it more difficult to foster robust insurance markets for these risks as well as to make decisions about the appropriate level of investment in security controls and defensive interventions. Multiple factors contribute to the poor data quality, including that cybercrime is continuously evolving, cyber criminals succeed by covering their tracks and victims often see more risk than benefit in sharing information. Moreover, the data that does exist is often criticized for an over-reliance on self-reported survey data and the tendency of many security firms to overestimate the costs associated with security breaches in an effort to further promote their own products and services. While the general lack of good cost data presents a significant impediment to informed decision-making, ignorance of the economic impacts of data breaches varies across categories of costs, events, and stakeholders. Moreover, the need for precision, accuracy, or concurrence in data estimates varies depending on the specific decisions the data is intended to inform. Our overarching goals in this paper are to clarify which types of cybersecurity cost data are more easily collected than others; how policymakers might improve data access and why previous policy-based efforts to do so have largely failed; and what differential ignorance implies for cybersecurity policy and investment in cyber defenses and mitigation. Our prognosis is that important data gaps, especially as those relate to the $-impacts of cybercrime, including data breaches, will endure and are not fully solvable. Certain cost categories are relatively easily estimated, while others will forever remain difficult if not impossible to estimate precisely. Furthermore, much of the best data that will exist will in the hands of Information Security (InfoSec) and Cybersecurity Insurance (CyberIns) providers and will remain private. We do not view this as a problem in need of correction; however, we do see a role for government in helping make some of this cybersecurity market intelligence data available to other market participants. Although data gaps for publicly available data will continue to remain severe, in many cases, this will not be an impediment to evidence-based decision-making so long as the government can encourage a flow of good third-party research.

The contribution of passive surveillance to invasive species management

It has been recognised for some time that the community has an important role to play in invasive-species management. Reports from the community about new incursions can lead to significant cost savings when this early detection results in shorter management programs. Unfortunately there is little to guide invasive-species managers on cost-effective ways to elicit and incorporate information from the public in their pest-management programs. Not all community surveillance is equal: some information from the public about the presence of pests and diseases may arise from chance encounters, other data may be reported by stakeholders from a particular industry or by groups of volunteers organised on the basis of citizen science activities. While the resources, activities and effort required to encourage each type of community surveillance are known to differ, very little is known of the relationships that determine effectiveness, and thus the appropriate level of investment that would be required to encourage a particular level of reporting. In this research we focus on passive surveillance—the most fortuitous type of community surveillance—and review the current knowledge base on measuring its cost and effectiveness. We aim to stimulate the research required to improve our understanding of passive surveillance, and we provide guidance on the type of data that should be collected by agencies to enable this research. This information could then provide us with the ability to design optimal surveillance portfolios that integrate the surveillance opportunities provided by the public to best advantage.

Measuring benefits of providing water for environmental improvement in Daechi-stream and Ji-stream

This study attempts to estimate the benefits of using water ensuing from the Chilgap multipurpose reservoir for environmental improvement. The contingent valuation method (CVM) was used to elicit the willingness to pay (WTP) for providing environmental improvement water from the Chilgap reservoir to Daechi-stream and Ji-stream. The DCDB (double-bound dichotomous choice) survey method was used to collect data for the analysis. Due to the usually high cost of increasing the sample size, the use of follow-up questions was implemented as an inexpensive method of improving the efficiency of the estimation. A spike model was used in this study because a number of respondents showed zero WTP. The spike model can be estimated as easily as the conventional model. Results show that the average annual household’s WTP is 4,516 won using the conventional model and 8,644 won using the spike model. Applying the estimated average annual household’s WTP to the Chungnam and Daejeon regional levels, the benefits of environmental improvement water from the Chilgap reservoir is estimated at 11.9 billion won per year. The temporal benefits of providing water for environmental improvement, for a 50-year period at a 6.0% discount rate, is estimated at about 190 billion won in the Chungnam and Daejeon areas. These results could be useful especially when the government tries to determine an appropriate level of investment and to make a policy related to providing environmental improvement water.

Foreign Direct Investment in Cambodia’s Telecommunications Industry

In order to obtain a mobile telecommunications network rapidly and at low cost, the Cambodian government opened the sector to all comers wishing to make appropriate levels of investment. The subsequent turmoil of investment and aggressive marketing of products led to a situation of hypercompetitiveness, which is unsustainable and resulted in several companies subsequently divesting. Using the results of a programme of quantitative and qualitative research, this paper reports on these events and the implications of foreign direct investment in a lightly-regulated sector in which excessive competition may be solicited. Keywords: Cambodia, foreign direct investment, hyper-competitiveness, telecommunications

Foreign Direct Investment in Cambodia’s Telecommunications Industry

In order to obtain a mobile telecommunications network rapidly and at low cost, the Cambodian government opened the sector to all comers wishing to make appropriate levels of investment. The subsequent turmoil of investment and aggressive marketing of products led to a situation of hypercompetitiveness, which is unsustainable and resulted in several companies subsequently divesting. Using the results of a programme of quantitative and qualitative research, this paper reports on these events and the implications of foreign direct investment in a lightly-regulated sector in which excessive competition may be solicited. Keywords: Cambodia, foreign direct investment, hyper-competitiveness, telecommunications

Operational wildfire suppression modelling: a review evaluating development, state of the art and future directions

Wildfires are an inherent part of the landscape in many parts of the world; however, they often impose substantial economic burdens on human populations where they occur, both in terms of impacts and of management costs. As wildfires burn towards human assets, a universal response has been to deploy fire suppression resources (crews, vehicles and aircraft) to extinguish them, and limit their spread or impacts. The determination of the appropriate levels of investment, resource allocation and suppression tactics is a challenge for managers. As suppression expenses account for a substantial proportion of the cost of fires, and escaped fires account for a large portion of impacts, fire suppression models have been developed to better inform decision-makers. We undertake a review of the literature pertaining to the development of operational models that emulate fire suppression as part of decision support systems. We provide a summary of the development of modelling approaches, discuss strengths and limitations and provide perspectives on the direction of future research.

내부고장을 고려한 고온형 연료전지 대규모 발전단지의 병렬운전 변압기 적정 뱅크수에 관한 연구

High temperature fuel cell system, such as molten carbonate fuel cells(MCFC) and solid oxide fuel cells(SOFC), are capable of operating at MW rated power output. The power output change of high temperature fuel cell imposes the thermal and mechanical stresses on the fuel cell stack. To minimize the thermal-mechanical stresses on the stack and increase the systems reliability, we should divide the power plant configuration to several banks. However, the improvement of reliability in fuel cell power plant system causes an increase of the investment cost, for example, replacement costs, labor costs, and so on. For this reason - the balance between investment and reliability improvement - many studies about the appropriate level of investment have been conducted.<BR> In this paper, we evaluate the cost for operation and installation, the benefit for electric energy and thermal energy sales, and the system reliability for several cases : these cases relate with the bank configuration.