Economic impact assessment of mega infrastructure pipeline projects

The economic development features for the decades after the Second World War provide evidence that investments to new infrastructures are a key driver in strengthening the national economy and enhancing nation’s productivity, as it creates economic benefits and additional income. However, the decision for fund allocation and investments in mega infrastructure pipeline projects often must be made in conditions that are much more fraught with uncertainty. The key question in such decisions is if the economic impact caused by the new project could be able to essentially boost the economy by creating new jobs and generating new income on one hand; and which are the business sectors expected to archive the benefits of this investment. This article deals with the estimation of the mega infrastructure pipeline project economic effects in economy. The methodological framework is based on input–output approach providing quantitative estimations about the economic impact of the project in terms of new income and jobs. The numerical application deals with the assessment of a cross-border crude oil pipeline project, connecting the ports of Burgas (Bulgaria) and Alexandroupolis (Greece), establishing a new transportation corridor for the crude oil from Black Sea to Southeast Mediterranean.     

Mapping research on R&D,innovation and productivity: a study of an academic endeavour

ABSTRACT

This paper accounts for the development of the academic endeavour to determine the firm-level relationship between investments in R&D and productivity. The impact of 28 highly cited publications within this line of study is investigated using a combination of bibliometric techniques and citation function analysis. We show how the attention paid to this line of research broadens and deepens in parallel to the diffusion of innovation as a research theme during 2000s. Our findings also suggest that the attraction of scholarly attention is driven by combination of broadening interest in the central research question under study and boundary-pushing methodological contributions made in the key contributions.     

Regulations and Technology Diffusion: Cross Subsidies and Digital Infrastructure Creation

Using contemporary historical data, the analysis has examined the impact of cross‐subsidization on technology diffusion within telecommunications networks for local exchange sector telecommunications firms in the United States for the years 1995 to 2000. Firms obtaining greater cross‐subsidies engage in greater technology diffusion via network modernization using digital technologies. Contingent on the institutional setting, cross subsidies have risen. These amounts have been put to relevant use in the diffusion of technology via deployment of digital infrastructure. The principles of subsidization are considered negatively as they have presumed anti‐competitive consequences. In technology diffusion they have played a positive role, as the evidence shows. From a radical subjectivist perspective, cross subsidies generate financial capital for firms, which permits them to deploy high quality technology investments such as broadband and these investments can be used for entrepreneurial experiments in providing several customer services.     

As times goes by. A dynamic impact assessment of the innovation policy and the Matthew effect on Argentinean firms

ABSTRACT

The objective of this paper is to analyse the impact of public funds for innovation on firm’s capabilities, innovative dynamics and economic performance. A large stream of literature about the evaluation of public funds is focused on testing the existence of additionality effects on investments and results. This paper aims to provide evidence about other dimensions of the firm that public policy can alter, with focus on the time window between the treatment and the impact, and the role of the Matthew effect (recurrence) in this process. The empirical exercise is based on a dynamic panel data made of 1465 firms (3337 observations) that applied to the Argentinean Technological Fund (FONTAR), which is the main public fund for innovation in Argentina, between 2007 and 2016. Results show short-term effects of accessing to FONTAR on firms’ capabilities, medium-term effects on innovation efforts and long-term effects on productivity. Even though the effect on productivity is larger among recurrent firms, the differences among recurrent and non-recurrent firms are not conclusive in case of capabilities and innovation efforts. All in all, this research provides evidence about the ‘when’ of public policy and the need to look beyond input additionality effects when analysing its impact.     

When do Heuristics Matter in Global Capital Markets? The Case of the BRIC Acronym

ABSTRACT

Several recent publications have argued that the use of heuristics by financial investors can distort global capital flows, but scholars have paid little attention to the scope conditions that determine when heuristics become influential (and when they don’t). Building on work in economic sociology and behavioural finance we suggest that the degree to which investment heuristics can bias aggregate capital flows depends on the levels of uncertainty and self-referentiality that structure the environments under which investment decisions are being made. Applying these insights to the two principal global markets for corporate investment, we argue that the institutional structure of markets for short-term portfolio equity investments (PEI) is far more conducive to trigger the mimetic adoption of a specific heuristic than in markets for long-term foreign direct investments (FDI). To test this hypothesis, we leverage the high level of arbitrariness of the selection of Brazil, Russia, India and China into the BRIC acronym and empirically examine the impact of its remarkable rise to prominence among communities of financial investors in the mid-2000s on global capital flows to emerging economies. In line with the theoretical argument, we find robust evidence of a strong BRIC-bias in markets for PEI but not FDI.     

Contribution to productivity or pork barrel? The two faces of infrastructure investment

This paper proposes a simultaneous-equation approach to the estimation of the contribution of transport infrastructure accumulation to regional growth. We model explicitly the political-economy process driving infrastructure investments; in doing so, we eliminate a potential source of bias in production–function estimates and generate testable hypotheses on the forces that shape infrastructure policy. Our empirical findings on a panel of France's regions over 1985–92 suggest that electoral concerns and influence activities were, indeed, significant determinants of the cross-regional allocation of transportation infrastructure investments. By contrast, we find little evidence of concern for the maximization of economic returns to infrastructure spending, even after controlling for pork-barrel.     

农村基础设施投资与农村发展研究述评

农村基础设施具有公共物品的特征,典型地应由公共部门提供。大量研究表明农村基础设施投资对农村发展具有正效应,然而对引起正效应的具体联系和因果关系的研究较少,所以除了建议增加公共基础设施投资之外,很难提出更多的具体政策建议。本文对农村基础设施与农村发展的主要文献进行了系统的梳理,将农村基础设施对农村发展的影响划分为宏观经济效应、微观经济效应和分配效应三种,并展望了该领域的研究前景。     

Potential effects of scaling-up infrastructure in Peru: a general equilibrium model-based analysis

ABSTRACT

This study assesses and compares the potential economic impacts of different investment plans dedicated to filling infrastructure gaps in Peru. Using a national database at the firm level, we start by estimating empirically the positive externalities of Peruvian infrastructure, such as energy, telecommunications, and transportation facilities, on the output of private activities. In the second step, these estimates are introduced in a dynamic computable general equilibrium model used to conduct counterfactual simulations of various investment plans in infrastructure over a 15-year period. These simulations show first to what extent scaling-up infrastructure could be a worthwhile strategy to achieve economic growth in Peru; however, they also show that these benefits depend on the choice of funding schemes related to such public spending.     

The socio-economic value of satellite earth observations: huge,yet to be measured

ABSTRACT

Earth-observing satellites provide regular and accurate data that can support evidence-based decisions and public policies in a wide range of domains, potentially bringing huge socio-economic benefits. However, obstacles to effective data exploitation and poor awareness about their impacts risk hindering this potentiality and threaten the investments. Leveraging on the case of the Copernicus Programme, we review the challenges related to the full exploitation of free environmental space data and to the measurement of the related impacts. We then discuss the need for empirical approaches based on value-chain analysis with the objective to stimulate further societal and economic research.     

Swimming upstream throughout the turmoil: Evidence on firm growth during the great recession

Economic downturns significantly impact on industry and firm dynamics. During a slowdown, increased competitive pressure makes less efficient firms more likely to exit (the cleansing hypothesis). However, evidence on Italian manufacturing firms during the Great Recession contrasts with this view. In fact, a not negligible subset of firms grew considerably during the crisis, increasing intra-industry heterogeneity. In this paper, we study these swimming upstream firms (SUFs) and we obtain two results. First, SUFs exhibit a high capability accumulation profile (innovation, intangibles investments and internationalization). Second, the impact of endogenous capability accumulation does not vanish after controlling for exogenous factors.     

Impact of regional interactions on China’s trade performance: evidence from a spatial econometric approach

ABSTRACT

In this paper, we examine the impact of regional interactions on China’s trade performance as supported by infrastructure development, using exports and imports of Chinese-owned and foreign-owned firms disaggregated for 28 provinces. Taking into account the disparities in the regional economic activities, we use five spatial weight matrices in a spatial panel lag and spatial panel error frameworks in the period 1996–2016. The spherical distance and the gasoline usage weight matrices measure the impact of ground connections on China’s trade flows. The nautical miles and the river distance weight matrices measure the impact of maritime and river connections on trade flows for provinces along the sea coast, in the Yangtze valley, and along Zhu river, respectively. We find significant cross border effects on provincial trade flows. The effects vary between areas and firms. Overall, our findings show positive influence of regional interactions on China’s international trade performance.     

Globalization and the connection of remote communities: A review of household effects and their biodiversity implications

The remote regions of the world provide refuge to a disproportionate amount of the Earth's biodiversity. As globalization continues, isolated human communities in these regions are increasingly connected to global market, migration, and technology networks. We review the diffuse literature on the household effects of changing market access, migration, and technology adoption in remote regions and implications for native biodiversity. Market access affects biodiversity in remote communities through changes in household economics and social networks. Migration, either to or from remote settlements, affects biodiversity through changes in population, remittances, human capital, and social networks. Finally, we consider effects due to production, public infrastructure, and information and communication technologies. There is much ambiguity surrounding these causal pathways, and thus we also examine the roles of various ecological, household, community, and institutional mediating factors in determining the impacts of global connection. Finally, we explore the limitations of our current knowledge and research practices and propose directions for future work to address key uncertainties in theory and evidence as well as weaknesses in methodological approaches. We recommend a broad and interdisciplinary mode of inquiry as the best means toward clarifying globalization's impacts on human settlements and the biodiversity harbored in the Earth's remaining remote regions.     

The Geoeconomics/Politics of Italy’s Investment Promotion Community

ABSTRACT

Through an historical analysis, this article discusses outward investments promotion as an underexplored aspect of geoeconomics. The empirical focus is on Italy’s institutional support to the internationalization of firms from 1992 to 2015, between the post-socialist transformation of Central and Eastern Europe and the years following the global crisis of 2008. The main argument is that large geopolitical events led to complex interactions between Italy’s firms and policymakers. These interactions reshaped Italy’s geo-economic strategies as well as territorialities. The article identifies the emergence and consolidation of a group of public, semi-public and private actors, thus building a new model of an investment promotion community (IPC). It finds that (a) the IPC emerged to provide an institutional infrastructure necessary to project Italy’s sovereignty beyond national boundaries and (b) in so doing, the elites involved interpreted firms’ needs within broader political issues. Thus, the emergence of the IPC represents a shift from geopolitics to geoeconomics.     

Capabilities and (Missed) Opportunity for Women’s Entrepreneurship in Kuwait

Abstract

Kuwait offers a powerful context for investigating the entrepreneurial cultures developing in Gulf countries in response to the concurrent trends of pursuing economic diversification and efficiency, and the constraints posed by cultural narratives that maintain inequality between the sexes. Bringing a capabilities lens to the analysis of entrepreneurship promotion programs means shifting from a focus on meeting basic human needs to ensuring capabilities development. To begin, we discuss the capabilities approach to entrepreneurship with a focus on the necessity/opportunity classification. Next, we review the entrepreneurship ecosystem in Kuwait, including its focus on opportunity entrepreneurs and the legal, economic, and sociocultural framework in which they operate. After considering the impact of Kuwait’s gender-blind approach on women’s entrepreneurship, we conclude with some suggestions for strengthening Kuwait’s potential for capability expansion through entrepreneurship.     

Aggregate infrastructure capital stock and long-run growth: Evidence from Finnish data

In this paper, Bayesian methods and the Finnish aggregate infrastructure capital series from 1860 to 2003 are used to explore how government infrastructure policy affects long-run output growth. We use Finnish data, since to the best of our knowledge the Finnish land and water construction investments series is the best available sufficiently long time series on aggregate infrastructure investments. The Finnish data provide strong and robust evidence indicating that permanent changes in government infrastructure policy have permanent effects on the growth rate of output.     

Volume and Quality of Infrastructure and the Distribution of Income: An Empirical Investigation

We provide evidence on the link between infrastructure development and the distribution of income for the period 1960–97. We use roads, railways, telecommunications, and energy measures. The approach is comprehensive as individual measures and composite indices are used. Cross-country and panel regressions are applied. In the latter, we apply GMM dynamic methods to minimize for endogeneity problems. We find that both quantity and quality of infrastructure are negatively linked with income inequality. The quantitative link tends to be stronger in developing countries than the qualitative link. These findings hold when using different econometric methods and most infrastructure measures.     

Globalization and the connection of remote communities: A review of household effects and their biodiversity implications

The remote regions of the world provide refuge to a disproportionate amount of the Earth's biodiversity. As globalization continues, isolated human communities in these regions are increasingly connected to global market, migration, and technology networks. We review the diffuse literature on the household effects of changing market access, migration, and technology adoption in remote regions and implications for native biodiversity. Market access affects biodiversity in remote communities through changes in household economics and social networks. Migration, either to or from remote settlements, affects biodiversity through changes in population, remittances, human capital, and social networks. Finally, we consider effects due to production, public infrastructure, and information and communication technologies. There is much ambiguity surrounding these causal pathways, and thus we also examine the roles of various ecological, household, community, and institutional mediating factors in determining the impacts of global connection. Finally, we explore the limitations of our current knowledge and research practices and propose directions for future work to address key uncertainties in theory and evidence as well as weaknesses in methodological approaches. We recommend a broad and interdisciplinary mode of inquiry as the best means toward clarifying globalization's impacts on human settlements and the biodiversity harbored in the Earth's remaining remote regions.     

The impact of public R&D investments on patenting activity: technology transfer at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency

ABSTRACT

This paper presents estimates of the impact of public R&D on patenting activity at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). Using a time series of public sector agency data, we estimate the per-capita R&D elasticity of new patent applications using a knowledge production function framework model that is an expanded version of what other scholars have used with private sector data. New patent applications are an important step in the technology transfer activities of a federal agency. We estimate this elasticity to be about 2.0. This elasticity value represents an initial estimate of the impact of EPA’s R&D investments on its technology transfer activity.     

Characterising Japanese Direct Investment in Central and Eastern Europe: A Firm Level Investigation of Stylised Facts and Investment Characteristics

This article analyses the activities of Japanese investors in Central and Eastern Europe since the beginning of the region's transition. The use of firm level data on Japanese foreign direct investment (FDI) in the region allows us to focus on the industry, location and timing of affiliate establishment at a level of detail previously unexamined. This enables us to compare Japanese investment with overall regional inward investment as well as investigate country specialisation patterns within the region. We also characterise the type of investing parent, and determine how investments in CEE fit into the European-wide investment patterns for these firms. Finally, we investigate the entry mode choices of investing firms, finding a shift from minority-owned joint ventures and limited participation in the region in favour of wholly-owned subsidiaries and larger involvement in the region.     

Gender Effects of Trade Openness in Sub-Saharan Africa

ABSTRACT

More than thirty years into the modern era of globalization, scholars are now in a position to evaluate the distributive effects of the policy shifts that have led to greater economic integration. One region of the world for which little robust empirical evidence exists on gendered employment effects is Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). To identify whether there is an impact of economic and trade structure on women's relative access to work, this contribution empirically explores these issues for thirty-eight SSA countries, and for two subgroups. Panel data for the period 1991–2010 is examined using fixed effects, random effects and two-stage least-squares estimation techniques. Findings suggest that trade liberalization has gendered employment effects, with the direction depending on the structure of the economy. However, the more robust finding is that a country's infrastructure has played a determining role in gendered labor market outcomes in SSA since the early 1990s.