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on Project, Program and Portfolio Management |
| By: | Giorgia Samp\`o; Saverio Giallorenzo; Zelda Alice Franceschi |
| Abstract: | Why do some community-cooperation projects catalyse participation through durable, resilient collaboration networks while others result in negligible impact and leave the local social fabric unchanged? We argue outcomes hinge on participation architecture: simple, visible routines -- onboarding help, templated tasks, lightweight contribution/benefit tracking -- that create easy ``entry portals'' and route work across clusters without heavy hierarchy. We introduce Project Intervention Response Analysis (PIRA), a mixed anthropological-network-analysis framework that compares observed community networks with counterfactual networks absent from project-induced ties. PIRA also adds a new egocentric metric to detect ``architectural alters'' -- latent facilitators and boundary spanners. We begin validating PIRA in a three-month field study in Pomerini, Tanzania, where NGOs coordinated citizens, associations, and specialists. Findings indicate that sociotechnical participation architectures -- not charismatic hubs -- underwrite durable coordination. PIRA offers a reusable method to link organizational design mechanisms to formal network signatures. |
| Date: | 2026–02 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:arx:papers:2602.20009 |
| By: | Picchio, Matteo (Marche Polytechnic University); Santolini, Raffaella (Marche Polytechnic University) |
| Abstract: | We study the role of mayoral gender in attracting public funding in Italian municipalities. We exploit a novel administrative dataset containing detailed information on all projects aimed at the digitalisation of local public administrations and funded under Italy's National Recovery and Resilience Plan between 2022 and 2024. Exogenous variation in the timing of municipal elections and switches from male to female mayors provides quasi-experimental identification within a staggered difference-in-differences framework. We find that female mayors attract significantly larger amounts of national public funding for the digitalisation of municipal administrative services. This effect is particularly strong when female leadership is combined with high levels of human, or supported by a high quality local bureaucrats, and a policy environment characterised by substantial funding opportunities. By contrast, the share of women in municipal councils and executives does not play a significant role. We also find that our main results are driven by small and territorially fragile municipalities. |
| Keywords: | public funding, female political leadership, local governments, difference-in-differences, event-study, causal inference |
| JEL: | D72 H72 H76 J16 R58 |
| Date: | 2026–03 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp18399 |
| By: | Luca Di Corato (Ca’ Foscari University of Venice); Dimitrios Zormpas (University of Macedonia) |
| Abstract: | We study an irreversible investment problem with endogenous scale under uncertainty, characterized by a concave subsidy schedule featuring a policy-induced kink. Using a real options framework, we analyze how the structure of policy support, in particular, the presence of threshold-induced kinks, reshapes optimal investment timing and scale. Motivated by the recent reform of the Common Agricultural Policy, which introduced redistributive payments linked to "first hectares", we show that nonsmooth support schemes fundamentally alter investment incentives. Smaller projects respond to higher subsidies by expanding investment scale without affecting timing, while larger projects exhibit non-monotonic responses: higher basic payments encourage expansion but delay investment, whereas stronger redistributive components induce earlier investment in smaller projects. These asymmetric responses generate a pooling effect around the policy threshold, whereby heterogeneous investors optimally converge to similar project sizes. By introducing policy-induced kinks into a real options model with endogenous scale, the analysis shows that redistributive subsidies can generate pooling and non-monotonic timing-scale responses that cannot arise under smooth or linear payoff structures. More generally, the results highlight how non-linear subsidies affect irreversible investment decisions, with implications for subsidy capitalization and the dynamic allocation of land. |
| Keywords: | Real Options, Investment Timing and Scale, Non-Linear Subsidies, Land Development |
| JEL: | C61 D81 G31 |
| Date: | 2026 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ven:wpaper:2026:07 |
| By: | Henrekson, Magnus (Research Institute of Industrial Economics) |
| Abstract: | This study critically examines HYBRIT, a Swedish flagship project led by state-owned LKAB to produce fossil-free sponge iron using hydrogen from fossil-free electricity. Framed as central to EU’s green transition, HYBRIT promised CO₂ cuts exceeding Sweden’s total emissions but faced major technological, economic, and infrastructural hurdles. The analysis situates HYBRIT within broader “moonshot†policies, prone to political enthusiasm, rent-seeking, and neglect of opportunity costs. The project required large-scale hydrogen production, storage, and process adaptation, unproven at commercial scale. Profitability depended on persistently low electricity prices and high CO₂ costs while global competition in green steel intensified. Electricity constraints in northern Sweden further strained feasibility. Political, regional, and corporate interests nonetheless aligned behind HYBRIT, aided by limited scrutiny of state-owned firms. Mounting criticism and shifting priorities ultimately led LKAB to defer its sponge iron plans indefinitely, pivoting toward high-grade ore and critical minerals. The case highlights the risks of mission-oriented policies when political symbolism outweighs technological and market realities. |
| Keywords: | green deals, green steel, hydrogen, mission-oriented policies, moonshots, public choice, rent-seeking |
| JEL: | L20 L52 L70 O38 Q28 Q48 |
| Date: | 2026–02 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp18359 |
| By: | Florian Léon (FERDI - Fondation pour les Etudes et Recherches sur le Développement International, CERDI - Centre d'Études et de Recherches sur le Développement International - IRD - Institut de Recherche pour le Développement - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique - UCA - Université Clermont Auvergne); Djeneba Dramé (EconomiX - EconomiX - UPN - Université Paris Nanterre - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique) |
| Abstract: | Africa faces a major financial challenge: to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and finance its demographic, ecological, and digital transitions, the continent must close a financing gap estimated at several hundred billion dollars per year. Public resources and official development aid will not be sufficient. The solution may lie in domestic private resources: Caisse de dépôt institutions, little-known yet strategic financial institutions, have the potential to mobilize local private savings—currently largely underutilized—to finance projects of public interest. Present in eleven African countries, they still struggle to fully play their role. How can they become an effective lever to transform national savings into a driver of development? |
| Keywords: | Development financing, Sustainable development goals, domestic revenue mobilisation |
| Date: | 2026–02–23 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:journl:hal-05524903 |
| By: | Es-Sellami Ayoub (ENCG - Ecole Nationale de Commerce et de Gestion - UH2C - Université Hassan II de Casablanca = University of Hassan II Casablanca = جامعة الحسن الثاني (ar), UH2C - Université Hassan II de Casablanca = University of Hassan II Casablanca = جامعة الحسن الثاني (ar)); Kehel Mohammed (UH2C - Université Hassan II de Casablanca = University of Hassan II Casablanca = جامعة الحسن الثاني (ar), ENCG - Ecole Nationale de Commerce et de Gestion - UH2C - Université Hassan II de Casablanca = University of Hassan II Casablanca = جامعة الحسن الثاني (ar)) |
| Abstract: | The aim of this research is to analyse the relationship between monetary policy and the choice of investment projects at Moroccan Subnational governments. It sets out to explain how these authorities react to adjustments in monetary decisions. More precisely, our study seeks to understand the impact of changes in the key rate, made by Bank Al-Maghrib, on the use of credit and investment spending by local authorities during the period 2015-2024. The results of our analysis reveal a complex and non-linear relationship between these variables. According to economic theory, a cut in the key rate should encourage credit and stimulate investment, but the case of Morocco reveals a partial transmission of this logic. Indeed, some years have shown that favourable monetary conditions do not necessarily translate into an increase in credit or investment. |
| Abstract: | L'objectif de cette recherche est d'analyser la relation entre la politique monétaire et le choix des projets d'investissement au niveau des collectivités territoriales marocaines. Elle vise à expliquer comment ces collectivités réagissent aux ajustements des décisions monétaires. Plus précisément, notre étude s'attache à comprendre l'impact des modifications du taux directeur, effectuées par Bank Al-Maghrib, sur le recours au crédit et les dépenses d'investissement des collectivités territoriales durant la période 2015-2024. Les résultats de notre analyse mettent en évidence une relation complexe et non linéaire entre ces variables. Si, selon la théorie économique, une baisse du taux directeur devrait encourager le crédit et stimuler l'investissement, le cas du Maroc révèle une transmission partielle de cette logique. En effet, certaines années montrent que des conditions monétaires favorables ne se traduisent pas nécessairement par une hausse des crédits ni des investissements. |
| Keywords: | Monetary policy, Key interest rate, Local investments, Subnational governments, Collectivités territoriales, Investissements locaux, Taux directeur, Politique monétaire |
| Date: | 2026–01–04 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:journl:hal-05442849 |