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on Project and Portfolio Management |
| By: | Wei Chi; Richard B. Freeman; Morris M. Kleiner |
| Abstract: | This study uses a 10-year longitudinal database on U.S. manufacturing establishments to analyze the dynamics of the adoption and termination of employee involvement programs (EI). We show that firms' use of EI has not grown continuously, but rather introduce and terminate EI policies in ways that imply that the policies are complementary with each other and with other advanced human resource practices, seemingly moving toward an equilibrium distribution of EI policies. Using a Markov model, we estimate the long-run distribution of the number of EI programs in firms and find that adjustment to the steady-state distribution takes about 20 years. |
| JEL: | J0 J53 |
| Date: | 2007–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:12878&r=ppm |
| By: | Larson, Donald F.; Breustedt, Gunnar |
| Abstract: | Under the Kyoto Protocol, countries can meet treaty obligations by investing in projects that reduce or sequester greenhouse gases elsewhere. Prior to ratification, treaty participants agreed to launch country-based pilot projects, referred to collectively as Activities Implemented Jointly (AIJ), to test novel aspects of the project-related provisions. Relying on a 10-year history of projects, the authors investigate the determinants of AIJ investment. Their findings suggest that national political objectives and possibly deeper cultural ties influenced project selection. This characterization differs from the market-based assumptions that underlie well-known estimates of cost-savings related to the Protocol ' s flexibility mechanisms. The authors conclude that if approaches developed under the AIJ programs to approve projects are retained, benefits from Kyoto ' s flexibility provisions will be less than those widely anticipated. |
| Keywords: | Environmental Economics & Policies,Investment and Investment Climate,Non Bank Financial Institutions,Energy Production and Transportation,Economic Theory & Research |
| Date: | 2007–02–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wbk:wbrwps:4131&r=ppm |
| By: | Boyan Jovanovic; Balàzs Szentes |
| Abstract: | This paper provides a theory that explains the sizeable excess return to venture equity, and ties it to the high VC discount rates, i.e., to VC impatience. The theory is based on the shortage of venture capitalists (VCs). Since the VC's opportunity cost of dealing with a company is supporting a new profitable project, he is less patient with maturing firms than an ordinary entrepreneur would be. This may explain why VC-backed firms reach IPOs earlier than other start-ups and why they are worth more at IPO. The scarcity of VCs enables them to internalize their social value, so that the competitive equilibrium is socially optimal. We estimate the model and back out the return of solo entrepreneurs which is always below that of the return on venture equity. The model that we fit to data targets a VC ALPHA of five percent. We find that an ALPHA of ten percent would induce the VC to terminate too many projects. |
| JEL: | G24 L26 |
| Date: | 2007–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:12874&r=ppm |
| By: | van de Walle, Dominique; Ren Mu |
| Abstract: | While most economists assume that aid is fungible, most aid donors behave as if it is not. The authors study recipient government responses to development project aid in the context of a specific World Bank-financed project. They estimate the impact of a rural road rehabilitation project in Vietnam on the kilometers of roads actually rehabilitated and built. Using local-level survey data collected for this purpose, the authors test whether the evidence supports the standard economic argument that there will be little or no impact on rural roads rehabilitated, given fungibility. They find evidence that, although project aid impacts on rehabilitated road kilometers were less than intended, more roads were built in project areas. The results suggest that there was fungibility within the sector, but that aid largely stuck to that sector. |
| Keywords: | Transport Economics Policy & Planning,Rural Roads & Transport,Rural Transport,Roads & Highways,Housing & Human Habitats |
| Date: | 2007–02–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wbk:wbrwps:4133&r=ppm |
| By: | Wagstaff, Adam |
| Abstract: | Vietnam ' s Health Care Fund for the Poor (HCFP) uses government revenues to finance health care for the poor, ethnic minorities living in selected mountainous provinces designated as difficult, and all households living in communes officially designated as highly disadvantaged. The program, which started in 2003, did not as of 2004 include all these groups, but those who were included (about 15 percent of the population) were disproportionately poor. Estimates of the program ' s impact-obtained using single differences and propensity score matching on a trimmed sample-suggest that HCFP has substantially increased service utilization, especially in-patient care, and has reduced the risk of catastrophic spending. It has not, however, reduced average out-of-pocket spending, and appears to have had negligible impacts on utilization among the poorest decile. |
| Keywords: | Health Monitoring & Evaluation,Health Economics & Finance,Housing & Human Habitats,Health Law,Health Systems Development & Reform |
| Date: | 2007–02–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wbk:wbrwps:4134&r=ppm |
| By: | M N, Murty; Dhavala, Kishore Kumar; Ghosh, Meenakshi; Singh, Rashmi |
| Abstract: | The growing demand for public transport in mega cities has serious effects on urban ecosystems, especially due to the increased atmospheric pollution and changes in land use patterns. An ecologically sustainable urban transport system could be obtained by an appropriate mix of alternative modes of transport resulting in the use of environmentally friendly fuels and land use patterns. The introduction of CNG in certain vehicles and switching of some portion of the transport demand to the metro rail have resulted in a significant reduction of atmospheric pollution in Delhi. The Delhi Metro provides multiple benefits: reduction in air pollution, time saving to passengers, reduction in accidents, reduction in traffic congestion and fuel savings. There are incremental benefits and costs to a number of economic agents: government, private transporters, passengers, general public and unskilled labour. The social cost-benefit analysis of Delhi Metro done in this paper tries to measure all these benefits and costs from Phase I and Phase II projects covering a total distance of 108 kms in Delhi. Estimates of the social benefits and costs of the project are obtained using the recently estimated shadow prices of investment, foreign exchange and unskilled labour as well as the social time preference rate for the Indian economy for a study commissioned by the Planning Commission, Government of India and done at the Institute of Economic Growth. The financial internal rate of return on investments in the Metro is estimated as 17 percent while the economic rate of return is 24 percent. Accounting for benefits from the reduction of urban air pollution due to the Metro has increased the economic rate of return by 1.4 percent. |
| Keywords: | Transport; Air Pollution; Cost- benefit analysis and Shadow prices. |
| JEL: | Q51 Q58 Q53 |
| Date: | 2006–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:1658&r=ppm |
| By: | David Card; Pablo Ibarraran; Ferdinando Regalia; David Rosas; Yuri Soares |
| Abstract: | This paper summarizes the findings from the first randomized evaluation of a job training program in Latin America. Between 2001 and 2005 the government of the Dominican Republic operated a subsidized training program for low-income youth in urban areas. The program featured several weeks of classroom instruction followed by an internship at a private sector firm. A random sample of eligible applicants was selected to undergo training, and information was gathered 10-14 months after graduation on both trainees and control group members. Although previous non-experimental evaluations of similar programs in Latin America have suggested a positive impact on employment, we find no evidence of such an effect. There is a marginally significant impact on hourly wages, and on the probability of health insurance coverage, conditional on employment. Finally, we develop an operational definition of the impact of training on "employability" in the context of a dynamic model with state dependence and unobserved heterogeneity. Consistent with our main results, we find no significant impact of the training program on the subsequent employability of trainees. |
| JEL: | J24 |
| Date: | 2007–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:12883&r=ppm |
| By: | Adilov, Nodir; Waldman, Michael |
| Abstract: | This paper formally explores the optimal length of copyright protection when the value of an intellectual work changes over time due to depreciation and value-enhancing ex-post investments. The first main finding is that, in the case of a single project, granting infinitely-lived copyright protection maximizes social welfare when the return on ex-post investments is high relative to the return on the initial investment. We also provide simulation results of our model for the case of multiple heterogeneous projects that show how social welfare varies with the length of copyright protection and the returns on initial and ex-post investments. We then consider what our framework says concerning the social-welfare effects of the 1998 Copyright Term Extension Act. Here we show that, depending on the importance of ex-post investments, the act may have either increased or decreased social welfare. Our final analysis considers the social-welfare implications of replacing fixed-length copyright protection with Landes and Posner's (2003) idea of indefinitely-renewable copyright protection. We find that implementing indefinitely-renewable copyright protection frequently increases social welfare provided the returns on ex-post investments are sufficiently large. We also provide a brief history of Disney's Mickey Mouse and argue that the history of that character matches quite well with the predictions of our theoretical approach. |
| Keywords: | Optimal copyright length; copyright term extension act |
| JEL: | L5 |
| Date: | 2006–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:1551&r=ppm |
| By: | Lechner, Michael; Wunsch, Conny (Institut für Arbeitsmarkt- und Berufsforschung (IAB), Nürnberg [Institute for Employment Research, Nuremberg, Germany]) |
| Abstract: | "We estimate short, medium, and long-run individual labor market effects of training programs for unemployed by following program participation on a monthly basis over a ten-year period. Since analyzing the effectiveness of training over such a long period is impossible with experimental data, we use an administrative database compiled for evaluating German training programs. Based on matching estimation adapted to the various issues that arise in this particular context, we find a clear positive relation between the effectiveness of the programs and the unemployment rate over time." (author's abstract, IAB-Doku) ((en)) |
| Keywords: | Qualifizierungsmaßnahme, arbeitsmarktpolitische Maßnahme, Beschäftigungseffekte - Determinanten, Arbeitslosenquote, Arbeitslose, berufliche Reintegration, Arbeitsmarktchancen, Teilnehmer, Trainingsmaßnahme, Einkommenseffekte, Arbeitsmarktentwicklung, Westdeutschland, Bundesrepublik Deutschland |
| JEL: | J68 |
| Date: | 2007–02–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iab:iabdpa:200707&r=ppm |