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on Project, Program and Portfolio Management |
| By: | Silvester van Koten |
| Abstract: | When building a cross-border transmission line (a so-called interconnector) as a for-profit (merchant) project, where the regulator has required that capacity allocation be done non-discriminatorily by explicit auction, the identity of the investor can affect the profitability of the interconnector project and, once operational, the resulting allocation of its capacity. Specifically, when the investor is a generator (hereafter the integrated generator) who also can use the interconnector to export its electricity to a distant location, then, once operational, the integrated generator will bid more aggressively in the allocation auctions to increase the auction revenue and thus its profits. As a result, the integrated generator is more likely to win the auction and the capacity is sold for a higher price. This lowers the allocative efficiency of the auction, but it increases the expected ex-ante profitability of the merchant interconnector project. Unaffiliated, independent generators, however, are less likely to win the auction and, in any case, pay a higher price, which dramatically lowers their revenues from exporting electricity over this interconnector. |
| Keywords: | electricity markets; regulation; cross-border electricity transmissions; vertical integration; asymmetric auctions; bidding behavior |
| Date: | 2011–02–25 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:rsc:rsceui:2011/10&r=ppm |
| By: | Hans-Wolfgang Micklitz |
| Abstract: | I am interested in the relationship between constitutional and private law. The two Grand Projects, the European Constitution and the European Civil Code, serve as a catalyst to develop my argument. I will first look at the link between the two Grand Projects by placing emphasis on parameters which may help to explain and to analyse the reasons why both ended or seem to have ended in deadlock. I use the metaphor of ‘failure’, meaning the political ‘failure’, the non realisation of the European Constitution which has now been replaced by the Lisbon Treaty and the predictable ‘failure’ of the European Civil Code project, called the Common Frame of Reference, which obviously does not have the support of the European Commission, the Council or the Member States. Ideological preconceptions refer to implicit assumptions which united the elaboration of the two Grand Projects despite their conceptual differences. It will have to be shown that the idea of a European Constitution is at least based on a mandate from the Member States, whereas such a mandate does not exist in the European Civil Code project. So there is an inherent deep difference between the Grand Projects. Seeking deeper links via implicit assumptions, however, suggests that the two Grand Projects are politically and legally connected despite their different origins and functions. Only by understanding the linkage may we create an opportunity to put private law into a constitutional perspective. |
| Keywords: | Constitution for Europe; European law; harmonisation |
| Date: | 2010–05–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:erp:euilaw:p0133&r=ppm |
| By: | Solga, Heike; Baas, Meike; Kohlrausch, Bettina |
| Abstract: | "The research report is based on the evaluation of the projects 'Increasing graduation quota - enhancing occupational capacities 2' (AQB2) and 'Improved occupational orientation and practice guidance' (VBOP). The two projects aimed at increasing the chances of successful school-to-training-transitions of less-educated youth. The projects intended to improve their occupational orientation, learning motivation and the practical relevance of education by establishing so called 'Be-rufsstarterklassen' and 'Praxisklassen', respectively, for low-achieving youth. These are separated classes, in which students attended of practical training in a form twice a week a und were supervised by 'occupational guidance advisers'. The two main goals of the projects were: successful graduation after grade 9 with a lower secondary school degree (Hauptschulabschluss) and getting a vocational training place. The projects in general had been successful. 90 per cent of the students of AQB2 and 95 per cent of the students of VBOP (who had attended the project until the end) obtained a lower secondary school degree. Moreover, 47 per cent of the AQB2 participants and 55 per cent of the VBOP participants (compared to 34 per cent of students attending a parallel class without 'treatment'), who left school after grade 9, have started with vocational training. However, this projects' success is reduced by a dropout rate of the two projects. In addition, AQB2 participants with good school grades had a lower chance to get a training place after leaving school than comparable students from the control classes." (Author's abstract, IAB-Doku) ((en)) |
| Date: | 2011–09–19 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iab:iabfob:201106&r=ppm |
| By: | Link, Albert N. (University of North Carolina at Greensboro, Department of Economics); Scott, John T. (Dartmouth College) |
| Abstract: | This paper summarizes National Institute of Standards and Technology’s (NIST’s) previous economic impact analyses and provides guidelines for NIST’s management for planning, conducting, and interpreting NIST’s future economic impact analyses that (1) document the economic contribution of NIST’s investments in infrastructure technology (infratechnology) and (2) inform management about the effectiveness of past projects and guide strategic planning. <p> Motivating this agency-specific case study is the general expectation and challenge for public institutions to be accountable for their use of public resources. Economic impact analysis is one way that public institutions can quantify the social contribution of their activity. Impact analysis can also provide important lessons to management about the effectiveness of previous resource allocation decisions, and it can provide guidelines for future strategic planning. <p> This paper discusses each of the 17 NIST economic impact analyses in the context of the stages of economic activity—R&D, production, or commercialization—benefiting from the infrastructure technology research studied in each analysis. The analyses find that there are typically benefits for private-sector conduct of R&D because R&D is more difficult without state-of-the-art infratechnologies, such as measurement and test methods and critically evaluated scientific data. There are benefits for production because data, measurement methods, process control models, etc. contribute to better process control. Also, there are benefits for commercialization because products are of higher quality (yielding more value to consumers) and the infratechnologies lower transaction costs through product acceptance testing standards (lower overall acquisition costs for consumers and accelerate market penetration). <p> In addition to discussing the findings in the 17 analyses about the benefits for the three stages of activity, the paper explains how the benefits of NIST’s infratechnology investments occur throughout the supply chains in industry, from the producers of materials through the producers of intermediate products to the final consumers of the product or service. The 17 analyses are also discussed in the context of where in the relevant supply chains the benefits were realized and the extent to which those benefits could be estimated quantitatively and incorporated into the evaluation metrics presented in each analysis. |
| Keywords: | economic impact analysis; NIST; social rate of return |
| JEL: | D61 H11 O22 |
| Date: | 2011–09–22 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ris:uncgec:2011_016&r=ppm |
| By: | M. Du Preez; M.C. Sale |
| Abstract: | Social housing projects often face substantial “Not-in-my-backyard†(NIMBY) sentiment and as a result are frequently plagued by local opposition from communities who argue that nearby property prices will be affected adversely by these developments. International hedonic pricing studies conducted have, however, produced mixed results with some concluding that social housing developments may in fact lead to an improvement in surrounding property values. There is, however, a paucity of South African evidence. This study considers the validity of the most pervasive NIMBY argument, the claim that social housing developments negatively affect nearby property values, by considering the property prices of 170 single-family homes in the Walmer neighbourhood, Nelson Mandela Bay, as a function of their proximity to an existing low-cost housing development. The results of this study indicate that in the case of one Nelson Mandela Bay low-cost housing development, a negative impact is exerted on the property values of nearby houses. |
| Date: | 2011 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:rza:wpaper:241&r=ppm |