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on Project, Program and Portfolio Management |
| By: | Nelson, John; Olugbade, Olajide; Shapira, Philip; Biddle, Justin |
| Abstract: | Recent economic development policy in the United States has, in a break from previous decades, identified equity as an explicit goal. However, little is known about what novel challenges and opportunities face economic development programs and practitioners in attempting to advance equity. This paper reports results from a workshop engaging 48 managers and staff working on components of the Georgia Artificial Intelligence Manufacturing Project (Georgia AIM), a $65 million equity-focused regional economic development project funded by the U.S. Economic Development Administration and the Georgia state government. Participants discussed their understandings of economic participation and equity, potential obstacles and opportunities in achieving equity, and approaches to assessing equity outcomes. Results reveal diversity in understandings of equity in the manufacturing economy. Participants agree that widespread participation in manufacturing work partly constitutes manufacturing equity, but they exhibit more divergence about social, psychological, or environmental aspects of participation and equity. Meanwhile, participants identified a wide variety of both internal and external factors which will affect whether Georgia AIM achieves its equity goals. This report illustrates several tensions which equity-focused economic development projects will have to face—between promoting all or only some sorts of manufacturing jobs; between promoting benefits from manufacturing and reducing harms from manufacturing; and between achieving and assessing impact. Participants’ grounded perspectives on negotiating these tensions can provide guidance for future economic development projects. |
| Date: | 2024–10–04 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:osf:socarx:ujfsq_v1 |
| By: | Patrick John Barron; Patricia Fernandes; Stephen Joseph Winkler; Michael Woolcock |
| Abstract: | Governments and nongovernmental organizations around the world utilize Community-Driven Development (CDD) approaches to address complex and overlapping development challenges. Despite consistent evidence on some impacts of CDD—especially improvements in basic services—there is significant variation in most outcomes and several unanswered questions. This paper argues that the central task to advance learning on CDD (and similar complex development interventions) is identifying the conditions under which it works and the design and implementation choices that will make it most effective within a given context. The paper provides an overview of CDD, background on the existing evidence, and identifies gaps in CDD’s impact across four broad types of outcomes—cohesion, inclusion, resilience, and process legitimacy. The paper concludes by outlining a set of priority research questions that will advance learning on CDD and provides guidance on the empirical approaches and tools required to answer these research questions. The proposed learning agenda focuses on understanding variations in project design, implementation modalities, and context, arguing that increased knowledge in these domains will help to optimize the impacts of current CDD projects, inform the design of new projects, and develop an understanding of what project designs are most scalable in different contexts. |
| Date: | 2024–08–27 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wbk:wbrwps:10883 |
| By: | Davis, Graham A.; Chadi Bou Habib; Solheim, Gaute; Martin Lokanc |
| Abstract: | This paper investigates the determinants of mining projects, with a focus on green minerals. The research question is the effect of political risk on investment decisions, the size of projects, the volume of ore mined, and the ensuing resource rents captured by the host country. The paper shows the challenges of measuring and capturing resource rents, using a mathematical model of resource rent maximization for the host country under the constraint of a positive after-tax cash flow for investors. The analysis finds that the optimal approach for taxing extraction is a progressive profit tax on mining revenues that generates revenues for the country while minimally deterring investment. Alternatively, taxing cash flow, which can be non-distortionary, can be implemented. Using the S&P Capital IQ database, the analysis finds that the low-quality of governance, institutions, infrastructure, skills, and services dampens the exploration and exploitation of copper, a key mineral for green energy. The opportunity cost in terms of unexplored or underexploited deposits translates into suboptimal global copper production and forgone revenues for the poorest host countries. To unlock exploration, the paper proposes measures to mitigate political risk, including investing in geological surveys and institutions and designing stable tax systems. For underexploited projects, it proposes that countries not only invest in infrastructure, skills, and services, but also improve governance and institutions. This would lower the metal grade at which investors would be willing to commit, ultimately producing more metal from identified mineral deposits. Interventions from international financial institutions can help to alleviate all country risks, including political risks, that hinder credible intertemporal commitments between investors and countries. |
| Date: | 2024–11–04 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wbk:wbrwps:10965 |
| By: | Nidhi Kalra; Edmundo Molina-Pérez (Rand Corporation); James Syme (Rand Corporation); Fernando Esteves; Hermilio Cortés; Mateo Tonatiuh Rodríguez-Cervantes; Víctor Manuel Espinoza-Juárez; Marcela Jaramillo; Richard Baron (2050 Pathways Platform); Claudio Alatorre; Marco Butazzoni; Adrien Vogt-Schilb (Inter-American Development Bank - Inter-American Development Bank) |
| Abstract: | Are development and decarbonization conflicting or complementary goals? In this report, we explore how Latin America and the Caribbean can improve socioeconomic and development outcomes while also reaching net-zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050. Specifically, we introduce SiSePuede, an open source decarbonization modeling toolkit that evaluates decarbonization actions costs, benefits, and emissions reductions across the economy. We find that maximizing actions could achieve net-zero emissions in the region before 2050 and net $2.7 trillion in benefits compared to more traditional development. Benefits include massive fuel cost savings; avoided costs from reduced air pollution, congestion, and car crashes; and the value of ecosystem services from forests. Although there are many paths to net-zero emissions, three actions are critical: producing electricity with renewables, electrifying transport, and protecting and restoring forests by halting deforestation and shifting food-production patterns. Economy-wide strategies that implement these actions at scale can reduce emissions dramatically and net enormous benefits to the region even amid deep uncertainties, with a median of $1 trillion in net benefits across all scenarios. These benefits are unevenly distributed across sectors and actors, and across time, so realizing them and ensuring a just transition to net zero requires governments to overcome important financing, regulatory, infrastructure, and other barriers. Each country must tailor its own strategy to address development and emissions goals based on local priorities, capabilities, resources, and technical capacity. SiSePuede provides a robust analytical foundation to support these efforts. |
| Keywords: | decarbonization, long-term strategy, climate mitigation, NDC |
| Date: | 2023–12–08 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:journl:halshs-04458161 |
| By: | O'Connor, Ruth; Sanchez, Emerson; Bice, Sara; Jones, Kirsty; Henderson, Hayley |
| Abstract: | There is a growing need to maximise the social benefits achieved from public investment in infrastructure, particularly with the transition to net zero economies. Project Delivery Models (PDMs)—the contractual agreements that set out roles and responsibilities for infrastructure project partners—can underpin the delivery of social benefits, yet the processes involving their selection are largely opaque. In this paper we explore how social considerations inform PDM selection and how this is facilitated by policy. We interviewed highly experienced procurement professionals from the sector about how social benefits and risks are considered. We also examined how the associated regulatory environment supports social considerations through documentary analysis of auditing guidance documents. We found that not only are social benefits sidelined in early project decisions, but social risks are inadequately considered. An entrenched gap in social expertise contributes to this situation while project compartmentalisation presents challenges for inclusion and transparency in decision-making. Current auditing processes provide little incentive for social benefit consideration and reinforce both risk framing and compartmentalisation of major infrastructure projects. The paper offers new and important insights into this early project stage and distils five recommendations for improving social benefit creation from infrastructure investments, particularly in developed economies. |
| Date: | 2025–01–14 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:osf:socarx:6n9qy_v1 |
| By: | Koul, Sanjay |
| Abstract: | This paper explores global, regional, and national initiatives aimed at achieving net-zero emissions by 2050, focusing on progress made at each level. The global push for decarbonization has seen over 130 countries committing to net-zero targets, driven by international agreements and the growing urgency to mitigate climate change. Major global players, including the United States, the European Union, and Japan, have made legally binding commitments, while financial projections suggest that approximately $275 trillion will be required globally to transition to sustainable energy systems by 2050. This includes investments in renewable energy, energy efficiency, and carbon capture technologies. The Middle East, historically reliant on fossil fuels, is undergoing a significant transformation, with nations like Saudi Arabia and the UAE setting ambitious net-zero goals. Saudi Arabia has pledged to achieve net-zero by 2060, while the UAE has set its target for 2050. These countries are leading the region in renewable energy investments, focusing heavily on solar power, with projects such as the Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum Solar Park and Saudi Arabia’s NEOM city project. This paper analyzes the economic, technological, and policy frameworks supporting these net-zero initiatives across the globe, with a specific focus on the Middle East’s unique challenges and progress. It highlights the growing reliance on renewable energy, the role of international collaborations, and the hurdles that remain for regions heavily dependent on hydrocarbons. The analysis underscores the importance of sustained financial investments, innovation in green technologies, and multilateral cooperation to meet net-zero targets by 2050. |
| Date: | 2025–02–11 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:osf:osfxxx:ek3gd_v1 |
| By: | A. Patrick Behrer; Pullabhotla, Hemant |
| Abstract: | Depletion of groundwater is a major challenge in India. This paper examines how a major rural public works program (Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act of 2005) that financed the construction of surface water infrastructure that may have plausibly increased aquifer recharge rates impacted groundwater levels. Using a difference-in-differences approach on the staggered and heterogeneous rollout of the program, the paper shows that groundwater levels increased after its implementation. These increases were concentrated in states that constructed the largest number of program-financed surface water projects. The observed increases in groundwater appear to have led to increases in the irrigated area of high-value crops and greater overall irrigation during the dry season. |
| Date: | 2024–09–03 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wbk:wbrwps:10886 |
| By: | Danièle Patier (LAET - Laboratoire Aménagement Économie Transports - UL2 - Université Lumière - Lyon 2 - ENTPE - École Nationale des Travaux Publics de l'État - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique); Laila Abdelhai (LAET - Laboratoire Aménagement Économie Transports - UL2 - Université Lumière - Lyon 2 - ENTPE - École Nationale des Travaux Publics de l'État - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique) |
| Abstract: | The scarcity and price of land in the city had led to the remoteness of logistics activities, with low added value, to the large outskirts of the cities. Recently, the Covid crisis, the alarming geopolitical context, ecological disasters have led to a change in purchasing behavior, the explosion of e-commerce. The fragility of our production and supply systems has led to the paralysis of a large part of our economic activities. Today, despite the scarcity of space and the cost of land, new innovative logistics spaces are making a comeback in city centers. The aim of this article is to analyze: - The relevance of new logistics space concepts to meet new expectations - How their integration into the categories of identified logistics spaces completes the network of the territory - The conditions of their return to the heart of the city despite the urban, economic and ecological constraints imposed by the European Climate Plan - The limits and opportunities of new concepts - To enrich the nomenclature of Urban Logistics Spaces by taking into account their radius of action, their functionality and the mode of management. This paper is based on the results of works, carried out within the framework of European urban logistics projects and the French national program Urban Goods Movements", which have given rise to numerous publications. |
| Keywords: | Urban logistics space, Sustainable goods distribution, New urban logistics concepts |
| Date: | 2023–07–17 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:journl:halshs-04570628 |
| By: | Zolezzi, Sandro |
| Abstract: | This Perspective explores how impact evaluation on IPA's activities and projects can substantially improve the effectiveness and the competitive position of attracting FDI to the host country. |
| Date: | 2025 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:colfdi:311081 |