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on Project, Program and Portfolio Management |
| By: | Kilby, Christopher (Department of Economics and Statistics, Villanova School of Business, Villanova University) |
| Abstract: | In the last few years, numerous econometric studies have unearthed evidence of donor influence over the geographic distribution of funds from international financial institutions (IFIs). Scholars are now beginning to use quantitative methods to delve into the details of donor influence to understand better how IFIs function and to guide institutional reform. The evidence suggests that donors influence both the amount of funds committed (the number and size of loans) and the disbursement of committed funds. This paper advances the literature by applying stochastic frontier analysis to a novel data source to examine factors that affect how quickly World Bank projects proceed from identification to approval, i.e., how long it takes to prepare a project. Accelerated preparation is one explanation for how the World Bank might increase the number of loans to a recipient member country within a fixed time frame, for example in response to that country siding with powerful donor countries on important UN votes or while that country occupies an elected seat on the UN Security Council or the World Bank Executive Board. |
| Keywords: | Donor Influence; Project Preparation; Stochastic Frontier Analysis; United States; UN voting; World Bank |
| JEL: | F35 F53 O19 |
| Date: | 2011–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:vil:papers:14&r=ppm |
| By: | Okello, Julius Juma; Ndirangu, Lydia K. |
| Abstract: | The need to provide agricultural information to farmers has led to emergence of numerous ICTbased MIS projects in developing country. These projects aim at promoting commercialization of smallholder agriculture and subsequently their welfare. This study examines the how the environment in which such ICT-based MIS affect their performance. It specifically uses the DrumNet project, an ICT-based MIS, to assess how the socio-economic, physical, political and physical environment in the project areas affected its performance. The study finds that those transaction-related problems, especially strategic default, deriving from these environmental factors greatly undermined the performance of DrumNet forcing it to relocate severally. It discusses policy implications of these findings. |
| Keywords: | ICT-based MIS projects, the DrumNet model, operational environment, performance, Kenya, Research Methods/ Statistical Methods, |
| Date: | 2010–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaae10:96193&r=ppm |
| By: | Andrew D. Krueger (University of Delaware); George R. Parsons (Department of Economics, University of Delaware); Jeremy Firestone (University of Delaware) |
| Abstract: | Several offshore wind power projects are under consideration in the United States. A concern with any wind power project is the visual disamenity it may create. Using a stated preference choice model, we estimated the external costs to residents of the State of Delaware for offshore wind turbines located at different distances from the coast. The annual costs to inland residents was $19, $9, $1, and $0 (2006$) for turbines located at 1, 3.6, 6, and 9 miles offshore. The cost to residents living on the ocean was $80, $69, $35, and $27 for the same increments. |
| Keywords: | Windfarms, View Disamenity, Valuation |
| JEL: | Q51 |
| Date: | 2011 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:dlw:wpaper:11-04.&r=ppm |
| By: | Schaller, Lena; Drosler, Matthias; Kantelhardt, Jochen |
| Abstract: | Using a significant amount of public funding, large-scale nature-conservation projects in Germany aim to secure and develop ecologically valuable areas and endangered habitats and species. Due to the substantial land-use changes accompanying these projects, their implementation can also have relevant climate effects â one result which has not been explicitly focused upon previously. Our study analyses major cost positions in implementing such projects, particularly the expense of changing or abandoning agricultural land-use for conservation purposes. We link public funding to relevant climate effects and derive CO2 abatement costs. Therefore we conduct plot-specific ex-post analyses of agricultural land-use and greenhouse-gas (GHG) emissions. Our study takes place in regions where changes in agricultural land-use for conservation purposes have been fully implemented in the past and where climate effects are expected to be high. Our analysis is based on data provided by regional stakeholders and our project partners. First results show that land-use changes for conservation purposes can lead to positive climate effects. The efficiency as regards âabatement costsâ we derive on basis of the data set available lies within the range of costs for alternative measures of climate change mitigation. However it becomes clear that CO2 abatement cannot be seen as the only benefit of such measures; the high cost of agricultural compensation has to be contrasted with further effects such as biodiversity and water conservation |
| Keywords: | Environmental Economics and Policy, |
| Date: | 2011–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aesc11:108797&r=ppm |
| By: | Rusike, Joseph; Jumbo, S.; Ntawuruhunga, Pheneas; Kawonga, J.M.; James, Braima; Okechukwu, R.; Manyong, Victor M. |
| Abstract: | Ex ante evaluation of agricultural research for development projects has become important in recent years for priority setting, ex post impact assessment and learning about generalizability to other populations and contexts. We apply farm household and random utility modeling to baseline survey data and evaluate the impact of a cassava research for development project in Malawi prior to its implementation. The project is being implemented to unlock the potential of cassava in response to the global food crisis. We find that a high proportion of farm households are not self-sufficient in food production and can be assisted by increasing the productivity of land and labor in production, processing and marketing of cassava to reduce deficits and increase marketed surplus. The research for development embeds research in an innovation systems network and speeds up exposure, awareness, adoption and diffusion. This increases the likelihood that incremental benefits will be generated and accrue earlier compared to the counterfactual without the project. |
| Keywords: | Resource /Energy Economics and Policy, |
| Date: | 2010–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaae10:96182&r=ppm |
| By: | Cooper, David J. (Florida State University); Sutter, Matthias (University of Innsbruck) |
| Abstract: | Team success relies on assigning team members to the right tasks. We use controlled experiments to study how roles are assigned within teams and how this affects team performance. Subjects play the takeover game in pairs consisting of a buyer and a seller. Understanding optimal play is very demanding for buyers and trivial for sellers. Teams perform better when roles are assigned endogenously or teammates are allowed to chat about their decisions, but the interaction effect between endogenous role assignment and chat unexpectedly worsens team performance. We argue that ego depletion provides a likely explanation for this surprising result. |
| Keywords: | role selection in teams, team performance, takeover game, winner's curse, communication, experiment |
| JEL: | C91 C92 |
| Date: | 2011–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp5892&r=ppm |
| By: | Silvia Ferrini; Marco P. Tucci |
| Abstract: | The Impact Factor (IF) “has moved ... from an obscure bibliometric indicator to become the chief quantitative measure of the quality of a journal, its research papers, the researchers who wrote those papers, and even the institution they work in” ([2], p. 1). However, the use of this index for evaluating individual scientists is dubious. The present work compares the ranking of research units generated by the Research Factor (RF) index with that associated with the popular IF. The former, originally introduced in [38], reflects article and book publications and a host of other activities categorized as coordination activities (e.g., conference organization, research group coordination), dissemination activities (e.g., conference and seminar presentations, participation in research group), editorial activities (e.g., journal editor, associate editor, referee) and functional activities (e.g., Head of Department). The main conclusion is that by replacing the IF with the RF in hiring, tenure decisions and awarding of grants would greatly increase the number of topics investigated and the number and quality of long run projects. |
| Keywords: | scientific research assessment, Impact Factor, bibliometric indices, feasible Research Factor |
| JEL: | A11 A12 |
| Date: | 2011–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:usi:wpaper:614&r=ppm |