Resource frontiers and agglomeration economies: The varied logics of transnational land-based investing in Southern and Eastern Africa

Actor-level data on large-scale commercial agriculture in Sub-Saharan Africa are scarce. The peculiar choice of transnational investing in African land has, therefore, been subject to conjecture. Addressing this gap, we reconstructed the underlying logics of investment location choices in a Bayesian network, using firm- and actor-level interview and spatial data from 37 transnational agriculture and forestry investments across 121 sites in Mozambique, Zambia, Tanzania, and Ethiopia. We distinguish four investment locations across gradients of resource frontiers and agglomeration economies to derive the preferred locations of different investors with varied skillsets and market reach (i.e., track record). In contrast to newcomers, investors with extensive track records are more likely to expand the land use frontier, but they are also likely to survive the high transaction costs of the pre-commercial frontier. We highlight key comparative advantages of Southern and Eastern African frontiers and map the most probable categories of investment locations.

Dubai will draw in investment through share offerings

Significance On the same day, its new USD450mn desalination project, publicised as the most sustainable in the region, was reported to be on track for completion. DEWA, the emirate’s principal provider of power and desalinated water, is seeking to attract investors as it gears up to launch the first in a run of new major initial public offerings (IPOs) in Dubai. Impacts The reliance of companies targeted for IPOs on service charges levied on Dubai’s majority-expatriate population may deter some investors. Dubai will showcase future deals to advertise its claim that it is still the most attractive investment location in the Gulf. The IPO push will be personally driven by Dubai’s deputy ruler, Maktoum bin Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum.

Territorial Analysis of the Survival of European Aid to Rural Tourism (Leader Method in SW Spain)

Due to the problems of the European rural environment, the European Union introduced territorial development strategies called the Leader Method (LEADER Initiatives and the now extinct PRODER Operational Programs implemented only in Spanish territory). The objective was to activate the economic development of these areas, to maintain the population and to slow down the migration and aging processes. During the last 25 years, these initiatives have been implemented in European rural areas, and more particularly in Extremadura, establishing new activities such as rural tourism, which has become the economic backbone of many families, complementing agricultural incomes. The development of rural tourism has led to the implementation of accommodation and catering services throughout Extremadura, adapting to the new tourist demands. However, after 25 years, its sustainability has been very different, with contextual variables that have conditioned its success. Therefore, it is necessary to analyze the economic sustainability of the tourism offer financed by Leader and the extinct Proder in order to identify the factors that have determined its success in a territory with very diverse characteristics. For this purpose, a methodology based on two statistical analysis techniques (principal component analysis and cluster analysis) has been designed to establish behavioral patterns through the different context variables used. The results obtained have shown that factors such as investment, location, the presence of protected resources and accessibility are determining factors for the survival of the tourism offer.

DETERMINATION THE PRIORITY OF FACTORS INFLUENCING OVERSEAS INVESTMENT DESTINATIONS OF BUSINESSES USING AN ANALYTIC HIERARCHY PROCESS METHOD

Because of the great benefits overseas investment brings, countries and businesses are increasingly concerned with the question of an ideal investment destination. Many studies have shown that, factors of the consumption market, the infrastructure and resources, economic and political environment have a significant impact on the decision to choose an investment location, however the priority order of these factors are different for various research spaces. By studying the specific case of Viettel Group - one of the largest telecommunications groups in Vietnam that is having many international investment activities in recent years, the study has been verified the priority order of factors influencing the decision to choose an overseas investment location of this corporation. The research outcomes show that the group of factors that have the most influence on investment decisions is the group "Consumption market", more specifically, the sub-factor "Market Size" is considered more than the others. Keywords: Investment Destinations, Foreign Investment Decision, Analytic Hierarchy Process.

Lokalizacja instalacji odnawialnych źródeł energii – aspekty prawne

The article analyses in detail legal regulations governing the location of wind and photovoltaic farms. It also describes the basic planning instruments adopted in Poland. The analysis includes the principles adopted in the so-called “Distance Law”, i.e. the principle of investment location based on the local spatial development plan, and the principle of minimum distance of a wind tourbine from residential buildings. Next, the decisions permitting the location of PV farm were described - the decision on development conditions and the decision on the location of a public purpose investment. The article identifies legal and factual problems related to the adoption of legal regulations and offers potential solutions.

Using improved iterative gravity method to optimize the investment location of agricultural biomass power generation projects: a case study

Biomass power generation has characteristics of good quality of power generation, high reliability and mature technology. It plays significant aspects in maintaining the safety of energy, optimizing energy structure, alleviating environmental pollution and promoting the economic development in the rural areas. Analyzing the investment of biomass power generation in China systematically cannot only improve the scientificity of the investment process, but also guide the industry to develop rapidly and healthily. At present, the investment areas of agricultural biomass power generation projects are too concentrated and the fuel supply is difficult, which affect the normal operation of biomass power plants and lead to loss or on the verge of profit and loss of biomass power generation plants. This paper constructed the optimal model of investment location of agricultural biomass power generation projects using the iterative gravity algorithm based on the key factors analysis to affect the operation costs of agricultural biomass power plants. The model optimized the transportation lines and transportation distance, and gained the smallest transport costs of power generation materials after a few iterative calculations. This paper took Huantai County as an example, and determined the optimal investment location of agricultural biomass power project using the Region props toolbox of Matlab 7.4. The simulating calculation of Huantai County showed that the results given by this model are reliable, and this method to select the investment location of agricultural biomass power projects is feasible and effective.

Risk Is Relative: Heterogeneous Responses to Institutional Risks for Foreign Investment

Are economic actors equally sensitive to institutional conditions? While existing research recognizes that institutions can have varying effects on actors’ interests, the implicit assumption is that actors are homogeneous in how sensitive they are to their institutional environment. We investigate this assumption in the context of foreign direct investment, arguing that actors from countries with weaker institutions will be less affected by information about host country institutional conditions—both good and bad. We test this argument using survey data from a diverse group of managers-in-training at an international business school. We find that when asked to evaluate a potential foreign investment location, respondents from developing countries are significantly less sensitive to information about the host country’s courts than their counterparts from developed economies. In contrast, we find that economic actors from both developed and developing countries respond similarly to information about the stability of economic policies. The findings suggest that sensitivity to the risks and safeguards of certain institutional conditions vary systematically across actors, depending on both the home environment to which economic actors have been exposed and the type of host institution.

Multinational Banks and IMF Conditionality

We find firm-level evidence that US banks receive preferential treatment in countries under IMF conditionality. We rely on investment location decisions to infer firms’ expectations about future profits and find that US firms are approximately 53 percent more likely to acquire financial firms in countries under financial conditionality. IMF programs without financial conditionality and FDI in other sectors serve as placebo tests. Financial conditionality has weak effects on investment decisions by non-US firms, which implies a political-economy interpretation. Firm-level data indicate that the distinctive behavior of US firms is not due to advantages of scale or to a US-firm fixed effect, but to US influence in the IMF. Firms from other major IMF shareholders benefit as well, but the effects are much weaker. The effects are concentrated in the politically relevant firms that have local affiliates, which is consistent with the interpretation that firms lobby for preferential treatment.