The first theme addressed in this paper is agricultural asset performance. The low rate of return on agricultural assets has been of particular interest to policy makers. From a market portfolio perspective, several studies have analyzed the relationship between farm asset returns and systematic...

For physically asset-intensive organisations asset management processes and intervention strategies are considered a crucial element, as there is heavy reliance on optimal performance of assets in order to maximise organisational performance and business goals. There is a tendency for...

As global demand for food, fuel, and energy resources rise and concerns about climate change and the depletion of fossil fuels become more pressing; demand for renewable energy projects has grown. Thanks to related scientific developments, a variety of innovative conversion technologies is now...

This paper develops a framework for sustainable asset integrity management (AIM) with regards to renewable energy generation plants. The authors conclude that increased downtime, low energy output, high cost of maintenance and repair operations, which are attributable to poor assets integrity...

I outline the effect of business networks on trade, FDI and welfare in a two-country, two-firm duopoly. The network effect, following Greaney (2002), is modelled as a marginal cost disadvantage facing a firm from Foreign in selling to Home. Unlike traditional trade costs, this cost cannot be...

This paper uses microlevel data from the Agricultural Resource Management Survey to examine the changes in the distributions of household wealth and to assess the role farm subsidies play, among other factors, in affecting these distributions. The empirical analysis relies on the concept of the...

This study summarizes research on farm-, local-, regional-, and macro-level economic effects of ethanol production. Given current production levels, the ethanol production industry annually employees approximately 3,500 workers, pays out nearly $132 million in worker salaries, generates over...

Government funding of innovation can have a significant impact not only on the rate of technical change, but also on its direction. In this paper, we examine the role that government grants and government departments played in the development of artificial intelligence (AI), an emergent general...

The problem of corruption in socio-economic development has long been a focus of academics and practitioners. To address this concern in China, the 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China instituted a new anti-corruption policy. In this paper, we examine the impact of this...