Opportunity Cost

The Grameen Bank of Bangladesh has been in the vanguard of the microfinance movement, showing the potential to alleviate poverty by providing credit to poor households. Part of this success has been built on subsidies. In 1996, for example, total subsidies evaluated at the economic opportunity cost of capital amounted to about US$26–30 million. The evidence helps to explain why institutions like Grameen have not just sprung up on their own as private commercial ventures, and it underscores the value of openly addressing the costs and benefits of subsidization. The paper also describes recent difficulties in maintaining high repayment rates.

Current payment for environmental service (PES) schemes face challenges in the form of evaluation of opportunity costs and ecosystem service delivery, high transaction costs, and difficulties in ensuring conditionality. Even when these conditions are met, PES may be undermined by a lack of inclusivity, leading to societal conflicts over land use. We propose a new PES-type approach that we call

Research in entrepreneurial finance generally assumes that growth-oriented ventures lacking internal funds have to attract external finance or alternatively have to keep their growth ambitions in check. An often ignored alternative is that entrepreneurs resort to financial bootstrapping, defined as more or less creative techniques to reduce the need for more external finance (Ebben & Johnson, 2006; Winborg & Landström,

Marine biodiversity is a resource of enormous importance to human societies that provides critical ecosystem services. Economic valuation of some services has been utilized to promote conservation initiatives by revealing a tangible and causative link between biodiversity declines and economic losses. Other ecosystem services have eluded valuation, including the value of the sea as a repository of novel pharmaceuticals. Here,

Several payments for environmental services (PES) schemes to promote large-scale afforestation are currently operational in New Zealand. In addition, the country has the only national greenhouse gas (GHG) Emissions Trading Scheme centred on forest carbon credits in the world. These market-based instruments are paramount in promoting the changes in land use required to achieve New Zealand's GHG-emission targets under the Paris Agreement, as well as to pave the way towards the goal of a low-carbon economy by 2050. We estimated the impacts of PES schemes on the profitability of Pinus radiata forestry to identify low-productivity grasslands where afforestation is likely to financially offset the current land use (i.e., mainly sheep-and-beef farming), under the assumption of constant returns to scale. We find that even without PES, 56% of these agricultural lands present lower economic returns than forestry. When PES are considered, results suggest that, depending on the PES schemes and carbon prices, 77-100% of the low-productivity grassland areas could financially benefit from afforestation. If realized, afforestation of those lands could result in the long-term removal of 1.2-1.5 Pg CO 2 from the atmosphere.

This paper explores the critical importance of diversity in technology education for fostering innovation qualities, new knowledge and capabilities among learners for the knowledge economy. It asserts that the premise for increasing participation behind questions like" What does technology have to offer females and minority groups?" is fundamentally one directional and so gives a negative message to minority cultures and groups in technology education. The proposition implies limited understanding of the role and contribution that ...

Abstract This paper discusses the key issues and concerns in the Cambodian government's efforts to implement three priority education policies for 2006–2010: ensure equitable access to education; increase quality and efficiency of the education services; and ...

The theory of costs is a cornerstone of economic thinking, and figures crucially in the study of human action and society. From the first day of a principles-level course to the most advanced academic literature, costs play a vital role in virtually all behaviors and economic outcomes. How we make choices, why we trade, and how we build institutions and social orders are all problems that can be explained in light of the costs we face.

This volume explores, develops, and critiques the rich literature on costs, examining some of the many ways cost remains relevant in economic theory and practice. The book especially studies costs from the perspective of the Austrian or “causal-realist” approach to economics. The chapters integrate the history of economic thought with contemporary research, finding valuable crossroads
between numerous traditions in economics. They examine the role of costs in theories of choice and opportunity costs; demand and income effects; production and distribution; risk and interest rates; uncertainty and production; monopsony; Post-Keynesianism; transaction costs; socialism and management; and social entrepreneurship.

Together, these papers represent an update and restatement of a central element in the economic way of thinking. Each chapter reveals how the Austrian, causal-realist approach to costs can be used to solve an important problem or debate in economics. These chapters are not only useful for students learning these concepts for the first time: they are also valuable for researchers seeking to understand the unique Austrian perspective and those who want to apply it to new problems.

Although cloning may eventually become an important technology for livestock production, four ethical issues must be addressed before the practice becomes widespread. First, researchers must establish that the procedure is not detrimental to the health or well-being of affected animals. Second, animal research institutions should evaluate the net social benefits to livestock producers by weighing the benefits to producers against the opportunity cost of research capacity lost to biomedical projects. Third, scientists should consider the indirect effects of cloning research on the larger ethical issues surrounding human cloning. Finally, the market structure for products of cloned animals should protect individual choice, and should recognize that many individuals find the prospect of cloning (or consuming cloned animals) repugnant. Analysis of these four issues is complicated by spurious arguments alleging that cloning will have a negative impact on environment and genetic diversity.

There is much discussion about how in-game economies emerge and evolve—particularly how they deal
with money and inflation. But games incorporate economics at even more basic levels. Indeed, many gamers are already using the
economic way of thinking without even knowing it. The
key point is that games are all about basic economic
concepts: scarcity, choice, tradeoffs, opportunity cost,
trade, and entrepreneurship.