nep-ppm New Economics Papers
on Project, Program and Portfolio Management
Issue of 2018‒01‒15
two papers chosen by
Arvi Kuura
Tartu Ülikool

  1. Cost-benefit analysis for flood risk management and water governance in the Netherlands; an overview of one century By Bos, Frits; Zwaneveld, Peter
  2. Business Dynamic Statistics of Innovative Firms By Nathan Goldschlagy; Elisabeth Perlmanz

  1. By: Bos, Frits; Zwaneveld, Peter
    Abstract: The Netherlands is a global reference for flood risk management. This reputation is based on a mix of world-class civil engineering projects and innovative concepts of water governance. For more than a century, cost-benefit analysis has been important for flood risk management and water governance in the Netherlands. It has helped to select the most effective and efficient flood risk projects and to coordinate and reconcile the interests of various policy areas, levels of government and private stakeholders. This paper provides for the first time an overview of this well-developed practice. This includes the cost-benefit analysis in the 1901 act for enclosure of the Zuiderzee, van Dantzig’s famous formula for the economically optimal strength of dikes and a whole set of cost-benefit analyses for More room for rivers and the Delta Program for the next century. Dutch practice illustrates how cost-benefit analysis can support and improve flood risk management and water governance; other countries may learn from this. Rough calculations indicate that investing in cost-benefit analysis has been a highly profitable investment for Dutch society.
    Keywords: History of cost-benefit analysis in the Netherlands, management of natural resources, optimal strength of dikes, value of statistical life, biodiversity, Lely, Tinbergen, van Dantzig, Eijgenraam, Zuiderzee Works, Delta Works, More room for rivers, Delta Program for the next century
    JEL: A1 B0 C44 D61 H54 Q5
    Date: 2017–08
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:80933&r=ppm
  2. By: Nathan Goldschlagy; Elisabeth Perlmanz
    Abstract: A key driver of economic growth is the reallocation of resources from low to high productivity activities. Innovation plays an important role in this regard by introducing new products, services, and business methods that ultimately lead to increased productivity and rising living standards. Traditional measures of innovation, particularly those based on aggregate inputs, are increasingly unable to capture the breadth and depth of innovation in modern economies. In this paper, we describe an effort at the US Census Bureau, the Business Dynamics Statistics of Innovative Firms (BDS-IF) project, which aims to address these challenges by extending the Business Dynamics Statistics data to include new measures of innovative activity. The BDS-IF project will produce measures of firm, establishment, and employment flows by firm age, firm size, and industry for the subset of firms engaged in activities related to innovation. These activities include patenting and trademarking, the employment of STEM workers, and R&D expenditures. The exibility of the underlying data infrastructure allows this measurement agenda to be extended to include copyright activity, management practices, and high growth firms.
    Keywords: Firm dynamics, innovation, Longitudinal Business Database, Business Dynamics Statistics
    Date: 2017–01
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cen:wpaper:17-72&r=ppm

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