Potential Financial Returns Research Articles

Quantifying the impact of green bonds: using life-cycle assessment to measure comprehensive financial and environmental return on investment

ABSTRACT Green bonds are increasingly being used as a tool to finance projects related to climate change mitigation. Yet despite both a dramatic growth in demand and improving policy standards, there remains a gap between the activities these bonds finance and the quantification of their associated greenhouse gas (GHG) reductions. We present a new framework to help overcome these challenges, one that combines life-cycle assessment of impact reduction activities alongside traditional financial return on investment (ROI) metrics. We provide an example of this approach by quantifying both the potential financial and GHG return on a billion-dollar investment in anaerobic digesters, biochar facilities, and solar energy for the Minnesota dairy industry. Our results illustrate clear financial and GHG tradeoffs of alternative project investments and our discussion highlights how our new approach aligns with emerging policies, such as the EU Green Bond Standard, that aim to reduce greenwashing and achieve authentic GHG reductions.

Date of birth and purchase price as foals or yearlings are associated with Thoroughbred flat race performance in the United Kingdom and Ireland.

BackgroundThoroughbred breeders aim to have foals born early in the season, but scientific evidence on the advantages for race performance is scarce and contradictory.MethodsThe association between date of birth and purchase price as foal/yearling, with race performance by the end of the second and third years of life of Thoroughbreds racing in flat races in the United Kingdom (UK) and Ireland (IRE) was assessed using negative binomial and zero‐inflated negative binomial models on the entire 2014–2015 UK/IRE foal crops (n = 28,282).ResultsIn total, 6666 and 9456 horses raced in UK/IRE flat racing by the end of their second and third years of life. Prize money and prize money per start decreased with each additional day beyond 1 January that the foal was born. Purchase price as foal and yearling was negatively associated with the number of races run, while it was positively associated with prize money and prize money per start by the end of the third year of life.ConclusionsFoals born early in the season had higher earnings by the end of their second and third years of life than foals born later. Differences were more marked among males than females. The most expensive horses sold as foals or yearlings ran fewer races but earned more prize money and prize money per start than less expensive horses. Results from this population‐based analyses may inform strategies and management practices aiming to maximise horses’ racing performance potential and increase financial returns.

Investigating the Impact of Changing the Usage Type of Existing Structure Using BIM

Many real estate owners change the building in terms of the type of usage in response to changes in economic conditions and the requirements of the surrounding environment to get the best potential financial return. To investigate the possibilities of changing the real estate's usage, the owners of these existing structures turned to feasibility study experts for assistance in making the optimum alternatives. So, they need an integrated model between VE and BIM, especially applicable to an existing structure, to determine the optimum usage type for the existing structure. Value Engineering (VE) and Building Information Modeling (BIM) must be connected to profit from both outputs simultaneously. Previous studies only investigated the VE alternatives during the design phase; when they decided to reduce project costs by using construction materials alternatives, they ignored existing structure alternatives significantly when changing the usage type. This study attempts to provide an integrated model between VE and BIM that can be applied to the existing structure to assist in determining the best alternative in terms of the type of usage for such existing structures by conducting BIM methodology such as a feasibility study, including BIM software such as Revit and Primavera. A feasibility study that contains the bank rate of interest. As a result, the maximum financial return is obtained based on predetermined criteria and in compliance with decision-making requirements. Doi: 10.28991/CEJ-2022-08-08-06 Full Text: PDF

Estimating the economic cost of nurse sensitive adverse events amongst patients in medical and surgical settings.

To identify the costs associated with nurse sensitive adverse events and the impact of these events on patients' length of stay. Retrospective cohort study using administrative hospital data. Data were sourced from patient discharge information (N=5544) from six acute wards within three hospitals (July 2016-October 2017). A retrospective patient record review was undertaken by extracting data from the hospitals' administrative systems on inpatient discharges, length of stay and diagnoses; eleven adverse events sensitive to nurse staffing were identified within the administrative system. A negative binomial regression is employed to assess the impact of nurse sensitive adverse events on length of stay. Sixteen per cent of the sample (n=897) had at least one nurse sensitive adverse event during their episode of care. The model revealed when age, gender, admission type and complexity are controlled for, each additional nurse sensitive adverse event experienced by a patient was associated with an increase in the length of stay beyond the national average by 0.48days (p=.001). Applying this to the daily average cost of inpatient stay per patient (€1456), we estimate the average cost associated with each nurse sensitive adverse event to be €694. Extrapolating this nationally, the economic cost of nurse sensitive adverse events to the health service in Ireland is estimated to be €91.3 million annually. These potentially avoidable events are associated with a significant economic burden to health systems. The estimates provided here can be used to inform and prepare the way for future economic evaluations of nurse staffing initiatives that aim to improve care and safety. As many of these nurse sensitive adverse events are avoidable, in addition to patient benefits, there is a potential substantial financial return on investment from strategies such as improved nurse staffing that can reduce their occurrence.

How Venture Capitalists Bet: Evidence from Two Randomized Controlled Trials

Understanding the importance of both human and non-human assets in firms' early-stage financing process is crucial to examining theories of the firm. However, it is difficult to empirically generate causal evidence due to data limitations and the lack of exogenous variations. This paper uses two randomized controlled trials with real venture capitalists mainly from the U.S. to identify characteristics of both the project and their teams that causally affect venture capitalist funding. Specifically, I also check their relative importance on investors' decisions. I find that multiple team characteristics (i.e. founder's educational background and previous entrepreneurial experiences) and project characteristics (i.e. traction, business model, location, comparative advantages, etc.) causally affect investors’ contact and investment interests by influencing their evaluation of startups' potential financial returns, risk, and loyalty. Although project traction matters the most in my experimental setting, it is fundamentally the investors' belief in the startup’s profitability that matters the most. I also find the traditional correspondence test method, to an extent, inappropriate in testing the significance of project characteristics in virtue of the different signal-to-noise ratio problem.

Under what management and policy scenarios can alley cropping be a competitive alternative in the United States Southeast?

Despite statements that it can mitigate financial risk through farm diversification, alley cropping in the United States Southeast has not been comprehensively modeled to estimate potential financial returns and risks. We used a Monte Carlo method to model stochastic financial returns to monocropping agriculture, loblolly pine plantation, and loblolly pine alley cropping in North Carolina, USA, plotting the results from 25,000 iterations to understand financial risk. Under certain scenarios and assumptions, alley cropping did have financial returns comparable to, or potentially higher than, monocropping agriculture, but did not lower overall risk, as measured by the spread of the distribution of financial returns. Pine plantations, on the other hand, did have lower risk than both alley cropping and monocropping. Alley cropping with wider 24.4-m alleys performed better than narrow 12.2-m alleys. Allowing the producer to choose a timber rotation length that optimizes financial returns generated the best financial returns for alley cropping, but this assumes perfect knowledge of the manager and is unrealistic. Current policy programs of government payments for commodity crops and cost-share for tree planting, tend to favor monocropping over alley cropping or pine plantation. A hypothetical system of payments for carbon sequestration does increase pine plantation and alley cropping financial returns, but not to the extent that commodity crop programs currently increase monocropping financial returns, and does not reduce risk significantly. Overall, on average agricultural land in North Carolina, alley cropping may be of value to certain producers, but we find those possibilities to be somewhat limited.

Non–2,4-D–resistant cotton response to glyphosate plus 2,4-D choline tank contamination

AbstractField trials were conducted near Lubbock, TX, in 2013, 2014, and 2015 to evaluate non–2,4-D–resistant cotton response to low rates of glyphosate plus 2,4-D choline. Cotton was treated with five rates of glyphosate plus 2,4-D choline (0.0183, 0.183, 1.83, 18.3, and 183 g ae ha−1) at two application timings (nine leaf and first bloom). These rates correspond to contamination rates of 0.0008%, 0.008%, 0.08%, 0.8%, and 8%, respectively. Visual cotton injury, boll retention, lint yield, and fiber properties were recorded. When averaged over contamination rates, visual injury after applications made to nine-leaf cotton was greater than for first-bloom cotton in three of 3 yr and yield loss was greater when applications were made to nine-leaf cotton when compared with first-bloom cotton in two of 3 yr. Averaged over application timing, lint yield in 2013, 2014, and 2015 after glyphosate plus 2,4-D choline contamination rates of 0.0008% and 0.008% were not different than that of the nontreated control, whereas contamination rates of 0.08%, 0.8%, and 8% decreased yield by 3% to 20%, 45% to 58%, and 80% to 96%, respectively. Contamination rates of 0.0008%, 0.008%, 0.08%, and 0.8% rarely affected fiber quality; however, a contamination rate of 8% frequently decreased micronaire, fiber length, fiber length uniformity, and fiber strength. This decrease in fiber quality also resulted in a reduction in cotton loan value and potential financial return. Although decreases in fiber quality parameters were not observed with the 0.8% contamination rate, significant reductions in financial return occurred due to yield loss caused by injury from glyphosate plus 2,4-D choline.

Profitability of timber plantations on agricultural land in the Po valley (northern Italy): a comparison between walnut, hybrid poplar and polycyclic plantations in the light of the European Union Rural Development Policy orientation

In the last decades, the Rural Development Policy of the European Union has been encouraging timber plantations on agricultural land with an increasing focus on supporting multifunctional forest investments, favouring a diversification of timber plantation investment possibilities. In this study, we estimated and analysed the potential financial returns from forest plantations on agricultural land in the context of the Po valley (northern Italy). We compared traditional monospecific walnut and hybrid poplar plantations with polycyclic plantations, an innovative model of mixed and multi-rotation plantation with much higher positive impact in terms of biodiversity. We defined different management models according to site fertility and investment costs and carried out a financial analysis using typical capital budgeting indicators, i.e. net present value, equivalent annual value and internal rate of return. Our results show that polycyclic plantations can reach on average the highest investment returns, although there are significant variations depending on site fertility and investment cost levels. The diversification of species, rotations and final assortments of polycyclic plantations appear to be potentially successful elements to cope with market risks. Hybrid poplar plantations are the most consolidated segment of investment but show the largest variability in terms of potential returns. For walnut plantations, the longer payback period can negatively influence the investment attractiveness. Results were analysed and discussed also considering the opportunity costs associated with the alternative agricultural land use (annual crops), and the effect of subsidies, land use costs and timber stumpage price variations. These proved to be determinant variables in influencing potential investments returns.

The Effects of the New Hampshire Timber Yield Tax on Potential Financial Returns from Forest Management on Private Land

The USDA Forest Service Forest Vegetation Simulator was used to model the application of a three-cut shelterwood and a diameter-limit cut on a 118-acre private forest in New Hampshire to quantify the effects of the New Hampshire timber yield tax on potential financial returns. The yields at each cutting were combined with stumpage values, logging costs, log prices, forestry costs, and capital gains tax to develop net cashflows and to compare the financial returns with and without the tax. The internal rate of return would be 66 and 105 basis points higher without the tax, representing a 31 percent and 138 percent increase for the three-cut shelterwood and diameter-limit prescriptions respectively. Nondiscounted cashflows would be 137 percent higher for the diameter-limit cut and 38 percent higher for the three-cut shelterwood without the timber yield tax. The three-cut shelterwood produced total returns of 135 and 96 basis points higher than the diameter-limit harvest with and without the tax respectively. The findings from the study make a strong business case for eliminating the timber yield tax.

Stima dell’andamento della redditività delle piantagioni di pioppo alla luce delle politiche di settore

Abstract: Estimating the profitability trends of poplar plantations under current sectorial public policies. Investments in poplar plantations in the Po valley (Northern Italy), the most important segment of timber production for the Italian forest-based sector, are undergoing a decline since more than two decades. The investment level is influenced by both economic variables directly related to the production, such as timber prices, management costs, and land costs, as well as external variables indirectly related to it, such as the opportunity cost of competitive agricultural productions, environmental restrictions, and the presence of subsidies. This paper presents the results of an analysis of trends in timber investment returns from poplar plantations in the Po Valley. In specific, we estimated how these returns have changed in the last 15 years (2001-2015) as a result of the evolution of the key variables of cost and timber price, and assuming a representative plantation management regime. The results show that, in the considered period, poplar timber investments have had a significant decline, with estimated Internal Rate of Returns dropped of 22.1%-44.2% from 2001 to 2015. In specific, the Internal Rates of Returns, when defined and in the base case scenario, ranged from values between 7.1% and 14.0% (2001) to 4.4%-11.0% (2015). Poplar plantations are offering interesting income opportunities only when average timber prices are high, while in all the other cases the investments are at the threshold of economic viability or even negative. The decreased profitability, together with the high variability of potential financial returns, are negatively influencing the attitude towards the investments in poplar plantations. These results are discussed in the light of the recent sectorial public policies. In particular, we focused on the Measures to support plantations of the regional Rural Development Plans, which often proved to be decisive for establishing new plantations and crucial in (de)stabilizing the sector. The lack of a strategic coordination among the northern Italian Regions and the discontinuity of subsidies schemes have contributed to the destabilization of the market.

Entrepreneurial Orientation and the Corporate Social Performance to Financial Performance Debate

Interest in the potential financial returns associated with corporate social performance (CSP) has grown substantially. Multiple meta-analyses have reported a small, positive relationship between C...

Financial drivers of land use decisions: The case of smallholder woodlots in Amhara, Ethiopia

A household survey on the financial drivers of woodlot production was conducted in the Lake Tana watershed of Amhara State, Ethiopia. Analysis of smallholder Eucalyptus globulus Labill. production reveals that converting uneroded over eroded croplands leads to significantly higher financial returns. Returns were also significantly higher for rotation intervals closer to the optimal economic rotation and for higher planting densities. Most woodlots had positive financial returns. The presence of negative financial returns for some households demonstrates that positive ecological externalities, a lack of economies of scale and/or myopic behavior are potentially important factors in land use decision-making. Wood utilization decisions were shown to impact the potential financial returns of households. Smallholders’ activities demonstrate that eucalyptus is an imperfect substitute for agricultural production on surplus cropland. A third of respondents indicated they had intentionally chosen to convert uneroded croplands to achieve higher returns. Smallholders faced constraints in bargaining over price and access to markets. Future land use policies should address marketing constraints and unsustainable land use activities. Harvesting soil from natural forests and the conversion of productive surplus cropland to woodlot production both present long-term sustainability challenges. This study demonstrates the importance of considering economic and social incentives when creating land use policies for smallholder's woodlot production.

Commercialising Community Forestry in Indonesia: Lessons About the Barriers and Opportunities in Central Java

The integration of agriculture and forestry is commonly viewed as a foundation for sustainable livelihoods for small-scale farmers. In many tropical countries, traditional farming practices by smallholders include some trees or forest management for multiple purposes. This article reports on research that explores the experiences of smallholders in Central Java, Indonesia, who are increasingly blending aspects of their traditional farming practices with cultivation of commercial timber trees. Smallholders manage complex farming systems that are responding to the demands of commercial markets. Smallholders in Central Java typically manage a wide range of species that yield short-, medium- and long-term products that are used by households and sold into commercial markets. However, the authors’ research indicates that smallholders may not be optimising their forest management in relation to the potential financial returns, leading to a lower expectation of the value of forestry to their livelihoods. Support for community forestry could address several knowledge gaps amongst smallholders, so that community-based commercial forestry achieves its potential.

Financial and Management Implications of Producing Bioenergy in Upland Oak Stands in Kentucky

Wood-based bioenergy or energywood has been suggested as an alternative to various fossil-fuel-based energy sources. While a variety of studies have investigated some economic aspects of forest-based bioenergy throughout the United States, none have yet examined the profitability of forest-based bioenergy from a landowner perspective in the Central Hardwood Forest Region. This study assesses how a forest-based bioenergy market would impact the optimal rotation age, the mix of forest products produced, and the potential financial return from typical mixed hardwood nonindustrial private forest (NIPF) lands in Kentucky. Results indicate that producing woody biomass for energy alongside other traditional forest products substantially decreases rotation age and increases the financial returns to the landowner. The reduction in rotation age is substantial enough that there could be fairly large changes in the product mix obtained from a typical mixed hardwood stand in the region. This result indicates that policies aimed at regulating the forest-based bioenergy market should take the potential for significant changes in forest management into account.

Potential Yields and Economic Returns of Natural Disturbance-Based Silviculture: A Case Study from the Acadian Forest Ecosystem Research Program

Intrastand variability is promoted by many silvicultural systems designed to emulate natural disturbance regimes (natural disturbance-based silviculture [NDBS] systems) in the eastern United States and Canada but this variability is difficult to model in many growth-and-yield models, limiting application by the region's forest managers. We used a resampling approach to integrate intrastand variability into Forest Vegetation Simulator (FVS) growth-and-yield projections. We subsequently compared potential yield and financial returns over a 100-year period for two NDBS systems monitored in the Acadian Forest Ecosystem Research Program with two conventional systems: a two-stage uniform shelterwood and a single-tree selection system. NDBS systems produced the widest diameter distribution at the end of the harvest rotation and were more effective in recruiting large trees (>24 in.) and more diverse species relative to conventional silviculture systems. Projected merchantable yield and financial return were highest for the single-tree selection, followed by the two NDBS systems and finally the shelterwood; however, if standing merchantable value at the end of simulation was included, the NDBS systems ranked first and third overall financially. Our analysis suggests that NDBS systems are capable of sustaining a greater diversity in forest structure and composition while producing volume yields and financial returns that are competitive with conventional even- and uneven-aged silvicultural systems.

Sustainable rare diseases business and drug access: no time for misconceptions

Legislative incentives enacted in Europe through the Regulation (EC) No. 141/2000 to incentivize orphan drug development have over the last 12 years constituted a powerful impetus toward R&D directed at the rare diseases population.However, despite therapeutic promises contained in these projects and significant economic impact linked to burgeoning R&D expenditures, the affordability and value of OMPs has become a topic of health policy debate in Europe fueled by the perception that OMPs have high acquisition costs, and by misconceptions around pricing dynamics and rare-diseases business models. In order to maintain sustainable patient access to new and innovative therapies, it is essential to address these misconceptions, and to ensure the successful continuation of a dynamic OMPs R&D within rare-diseases public health policy.Misconceptions abound regarding the pricing of rare diseases drugs and reflect a poor appreciation of the R&D model and the affordability and value of OMPs.Simulation of potential financial returns of small medium sized rare diseases companies focusing on high priced drugs show that their economic returns are likely to be close to their cost of capital. Research in rare diseases is a challenging endeavour characterised by high fixed costs in which companies accrue substantial costs for several years before potentially generating returns from the fruits of their investments. Although heavily dependent upon R&D capabilities of each individual company or R&D organization, continuous flow of R&D financial investment should allow industry to increasingly include efficiencies in research and development in cost considerations to its customers. Industry should also pro-actively work on facilitating development of a specific value based pricing approach to help understanding what constitute value in rare diseases. Policy makers must reward innovation based upon unmet need and patient outcome. Broader understanding by clinicians, the public, and policy makers of the complexity of clinical programs to deliver OMPs to market is required to better comprehend the decisions needed and made by industry. In parallel, an overt effort to consider the impact of public policies on R&D investments is key to enable policy makers to better reconcile the incentives provided by public policy decisions and companies investments decisions in a more positive manner.

The State of Simulation in Endoscopy Education: Continuing to Advance Toward Our Goals

Since the introduction of flexible endoscopy in the late 1960s, training programs have faced challenges with endoscopy education. Among these hurdles of traditional endoscopic training are the negative financial impact training poses to a program (in the form of ecreased productivity and lost revenues), the increased isks to patient comfort and safety, as well as the adminstrative responsibility to ensure that competency by rainees is assessed and documented. Over the past deade, these hurdles have become even more challenging s procedure reimbursements have grown increasingly ighter and expectations to document quality and cometency metrics have grown. One potential answer to hese challenges is the use of simulation during training. ith the advent of computer simulation and ex vivo nimal models, there has been renewed interest and reearch in the area of endoscopy simulation with the opes of overcoming some of these hurdles by reducing raining duration, providing a risk-free environment for raining, and allowing for objective measures of skills and ompetency. Despite these research efforts, only a fracion of these hopes have been realized to date.

Using vehicle-to-grid technology for frequency regulation and peak-load reduction

This paper explores the potential financial return for using plug-in hybrid electric vehicles as a grid resource. While there is little financial incentive for individuals when the vehicle-to-grid (V2G) service is used exclusively for peak reduction, there is a significant potential for financial return when the V2G service is used for frequency regulation. We propose that these two uses for V2G technology are not mutually exclusive, and that there could exist a “dual-use” program that utilizes V2G for multiple uses simultaneously. In our proposition, V2G could be used for regulation on a daily basis to ensure profits, and be used for peak reduction on days with high electricity demand and poor ambient air quality in order to reap the greatest environmental benefits. The profits for the individual in this type of dual-use program are close to or even higher than the profits experienced in either of the single-use programs. More importantly, we argue that the external benefits of this type of program are much greater as well. At higher V2G participation rates, our analysis shows that the market for regulation capacity could become saturated by V2G-based regulation providers. At the same time, there is plenty of potential for widespread use of V2G technology, especially if the demand for regulation, reserves, and storage grows as more intermittent renewable resources are being incorporated into the power systems.

Spatial variation of plant communities and shoot Cu concentrations of plant species at a timber treatment site

Plant species, spatial variability in plant diversity and vegetation cover were recorded at a French timber treatment site with Cu-contaminated soils (65–2600 mg/kg). Shoot biomass, shoot Cu concentration and accumulation were determined for each plant species found on 168 quadrats with increasing total Cu in soil and soil solution. A total of 91 species occurred on the site including four considered as invasive (Cyperus eragrostis, Phytolacca americana, Senecio inaequidens, and Sporobolus indicus). Species richness, Shannon index, vegetation cover and plant biomass decreased as soil Cu increased. At low soil Cu, members of the Poaceae were most frequent followed by Fabaceae, Rosaceae, and Asteraceae. At high soil Cu, Poaceae were again most frequent. Species known to form Cu-tolerant populations, i.e. Agrostis capillaris, A. stolonifera and Rumex acetosella were present. Shoot Cu concentration and accumulation were higher in plants growing in the most contaminated soils. At 2142 mg Cu/kg soil, shoot Cu accumulation peaked at 6 mg Cu/m² in A. capillaris, and its shoot Cu concentration (364 mg Cu/kg dry weight) exceeded the fodder Cu threshold for domestic livestock. In less Cu-contaminated soils some candidates were identified for sustainable phytoremediation with a potential financial return.

Translational Development in University Settings: Moving University Innovation Towards the Development and Commercialization of Biomedical Products

University‐ and research institute‐based discoveries and innovation in the biomedical arena ultimately have to reach the commercial marketplace if they are to benefit mankind and if they are to further justify the substantial taxpayer investment in capitalizing fundamental basic biomedical research. This session will address new, university‐ and research institute‐based approaches that facilitate the movement of exciting biomedical innovation and intellectual property (IP) towards the commercial marketplace. The challenges facing commercialization enablement immediately post‐basic research are extensive and expensive, and they can only be met with investment of capital at the early and highly risk‐prone stage, a stage that the investment community refers to as the “Valley of Death”, a region that the investment community and companies scrupulously avoid due to the considerable uncertainty of success surrounding raw and unimproved early stage IP. New models of commercialization enablement in university and research institute settings are appearing, falling into the category of “translational research” and, more importantly, the newly identified category of “translational development”, an area that is outside of the traditional university and research institute technology transfer process and experience. This session will deal particularly with the challenges that academic scientists face in commercializing their ideas. The speakers will address the newly‐developed, applied research and development endeavors and novel solutions that are now being deployed inside entrepreneurial universities and research institutes to reduce the hurdles facing the ultimate commercialization of their biomedical IP, innovative solutions that improve that IP and move it up the value chain to the point where the further risk of development is substantially reduced and where the net valuation is substantially increased…and thus made far more attractive to investors and commercial licensees due to the increased valuation and the substantially reduced front‐end risk. The net effect on the academic scientist inventors and the universities or research institutes (i.e., the licensors) is that potential financial returns and royalty rates can be greatly increased. The speakers will address not only the essential actors and events involved in moving molecular life science innovation towards the marketplace, but will also provide needed glimpses for basic research‐focused faculty, post‐docs and students into the reality of the industrial biomedical therapeutic and product development and specification world, a funnel through which all biomedical innovation must flow if that innovation is to achieve social and financial success.