Documents investment return 17 results

"This paper surveys a recent body of research by Carneiro, Hansen, and Heckman [Carneiro, P., K. Hansen, and J.J. Heckman, 2001, Fall. Removing the veil of ignorance in assessing the distributional impacts of social policies. Swedish Economic Policy Review 8 (2), 273–301., Carneiro, P., K. Hansen, and J.J. Heckman, 2003, May. Estimating distributions of treatment effects with an application to the returns to schooling and measurement of the effects of uncertainty on college choice. International Economic Review 44 (2), 361–422. 2001 Lawrence R. Klein Lecture], Cunha and Heckman [Cunha, F. and J.J. Heckman, 2006. The evolution of earnings risk in the US economy. Presented at the 9th World Congress of the Econometric Society, London], Cunha, Heckman, and Navarro [Cunha, F., J.J. Heckman, and S. Navarro, 2004, March. Separating heterogeneity from uncertainty in an aiyagari–laitner economy. Presented at the Goldwater Conference on Labor Markets, Arizona., Cunha, F., J.J. Heckman, and S. Navarro, 2005, April. Separating uncertainty from heterogeneity in life cycle earnings, The 2004 Hicks Lecture. Oxford Economic Papers 57 (2), 191–261., Cunha, F., J.J. Heckman, and S. Navarro, 2006. Counterfactual analysis of inequality and social mobility. In S.L. Morgan, D.B. Grusky, and G.S. Fields (Eds.), Mobility and Inequality: Frontiers of Research in Sociology and Economics, Chapter 4, pp. 290–348. Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press], Heckman and Navarro [Heckman, J.J. and S. Navarro, 2007, February. Dynamic discrete choice and dynamic treatment effects. Journal of Econometrics 136 (2), 341–396] and Navarro [Navarro, S., 2005. Understanding Schooling: Using Observed Choices to Infer Agent's Information in a Dynamic Model of Schooling Choice When Consumption Allocation is Subject to Borrowing Constraints. Ph.D. Dissertation, University of Chicago, Chicago, IL] that identifies and estimates the ex post distribution of returns to schooling and determines ex ante distributions of returns on which agents base their schooling choices. We discuss methods and evidence, and state a fundamental identification problem concerning the separation of preferences, market structures and agent information sets. For a variety of market structures and preference specifications, we estimate that over 50% of the ex post variance in returns to college are forecastable at the time agents make their schooling choices."

"In this paper we analyze the training behavior of firms in Germany and Switzerland — two countries with a comparable apprenticeship system but strong differences in the regulation of their respective labor markets. We make use of two representative firm-level surveys on the provision of apprenticeship training to analyze differences in the costs and benefits of training and the firm's training decision. Our results suggest that firms are more likely to make a substantial (short-term) net investment in apprenticeship training in the presence of strong employment protection laws."

"A number of papers in the field of net energy analysis have argued that declines in energy return on investment (EROI) could lead to increasing energy prices and a fall in economic growth. This paper develops a model (TranSim) which can simulate the economic and financial implications of an energy technology transition involving a reduction in EROI, by combining the stock-flow consistent (SFC) approach with an input-output (IO) model.
The TranSim model has the following key features. First, it includes three firm sectors, that produce energy, capital, and other (non-energy, non-capital) goods. Second, an IO model and an Almost Ideal Demand System are integrated into the SFC model. Third, capital vintages have embedded levels of labour productivity and intermediate good requirements that depend on the economic conditions in the period the vintage was produced.
Simulations are characterised by an initial increase in output (due to higher investment), followed by periods of recession and below trend growth (due to price inflation and changes to the functional income distribution). The negative effects associated with the transition – recession, stagnation, stagflation, increasing inequality and asset stranding – are positively related to the capital intensity of green energy production and reductions in EROI."

"Meeting the Paris climate goals requires the global economy's urgent decarbonization. States and intergovernmental bodies insist that this should be pursued via a tremendous spike in private investment in renewable power – encouraged and coordinated by states. However, this renewable investment boom will have to swim against the current of the stagnation of the world economy since the 1970s, characterized by weak rates of investment and growth. Undertaking decarbonization in this context presents unique political economy dilemmas. Firstly, although slow growth helps to reduce carbon emissions by lowering energy use, it simultaneously impedes energy efficiency gains. Secondly, the stagnant state of global industry militates against its adoption of expensive decarbonized industrial processes. Thirdly, while most renewable power sources have failed to attract sufficient investment, those that have expanded rapidly – particularly solar photovoltaic – have tended to exhaust their growth potential due to falling prices and profitability. Finally, economic stagnation has destabilized political institutions, exerting pressures on governments to stimulate growth regardless of the environmental implications. States must navigate these intractable dilemmas as they strategize to decarbonize the downturn."

"This article makes a systematic presentation of returns to education in Bulgaria, a country that has witnessed a number of dramatic structural changes over the last two decades. It examines the headway of returns to education for Bulgaria in two observed economic regimes — from communism to EU membership. The findings show a steady increase in returns to education for both men and women until 2003. The average returns to one additional year of education rose from 1.1 per cent in 1986 to 5.1 per cent in 2003 for men and from 2.1 to 5.9 per cent for women. Quantile regression estimations between 1986 and 2003 evince that the most prominent increase in the wage premium occurred at the top end of the distribution, where the rate of returns to education increased in particular for women — from a negative and insignificant sign in 1986 to 7 per cent in 2003. However, this increasing trend in returns to education seems to take an inverted U-shape in 2007, the year when the country joined the EU, which poses a new puzzle to be resolved. To this end, the current article introduces possible explanations for such a puzzle and sheds lights on a number of insightful policy implications."

"Background:This study is the first cost–benefit analysis (CBA) of occupational health and safety (OHS) in a low-income country. It focuses on one of the largest shipbuilding companies in Bangladesh, where globally recognised Occupational Health and Safety Advisory Services (OHSAS) 18001 certification was achieved in 2012.Objectives:The study examines the relative costs of implementing OHS measures against qualitative and quantifiable benefits of implementation in order to determine whether OHSAS measures are economically advantageous.Methods:Quantifying past costs and benefits and discounting future ones, this study looks at the returns of OHS measures at Western Marine Shipbuilding Company Ltd.Results:Costs included investments in workplace and environmental safety, a new clinic that also serves the community, and personal protective equipment (PPE) and training. The results are impressive: previously high injury statistics dropped to close to zero.Conclusions:OHS measures decrease injuries, increase efficiency, and bring income security to workers' families. Certification has proven a competitive edge for the shipyard, resulting in access to greater markets. Intangible benefits such as trust, motivation and security are deemed crucial in the CBA, and this study finds the high investments made are difficult to offset with quantifiable benefits alone."

"Les plateformes de financement participatif sur Internet (crowdfunding) connaissent un véritable engouement. Il en existe principalement trois formes : celles qui proposent aux internautes de faire un don – la plus populaire, notamment dans le secteur culturel (musique, cinéma, etc.) –, d'autres encore qui fonctionnent selon le principe de prêts rémunérés (crowdlending), et enfin les plateformes qui permettent un financement participatif en capital (crowdequity). La France, plutôt bien placée dans le secteur nouveau du crowdfunding, pourrait l'être davantage encore. Le financement participatif reste en effet peu efficace : de nombreuses campagnes de crowdfunding échouent. C'est pourquoi le gouvernement français, qui a décidé de faire de notre pays un leader européen en la matière, a mis en place une régulation propre aux activités de crowdfunding afin de renforcer la confiance du public vis-à-vis de ce type de financement."

"We measure the commonality in hedge fund returns, identify its main driving factor and analyse its implications for financial stability. We find that hedge funds' commonality increased significantly from 2003 until 2006. We attribute this rise mainly to the increase in hedge funds' exposure to emerging market equities, which we identify as a common factor in hedge fund returns over this period. Our results show that funds with a high commonality were affected disproportionately by illiquidity and exhibited negative returns during the subsequent financial crisis, thereby providing little diversification benefits to the financial system and to investors."