Alternative project selection procedures for less developed countries are compared and evaluated. Substantive differences among alternative procedures are in large part dependent upon differing assumptions about the economic environment in which the investment decisions are being made. In principal, since project selection procedures are based on theoretical welfare economics, most project selection procedures are equivalent. Thus, one of the basic results of the project selection procedures is that, in a perfectly competitive economy, allocation of resources on the basis of market prices of goods and factors results in Pareto optimality for a given income distribution. In other words, market prices of goods and factors would equate the marginal social cost of producing with the marginal social value of using the relevant goods or factors. However, to the extent the selection procedures operate where the perfectly competitive paradigm does not hold, market prices will no longer indicate the social costs and benefits of using and producing different commodities. The existence of trade distortions seriously interferes with the perfectly competitive paradigm. Judgments must be made regarding future trade control systems.

This book explains the financial appraisal of capital budgeting projects. The coverage extends from the development of basic concepts, principles and techniques to the application of them in increasingly complex and real-world situations. Identification and estimation (including forecasting) of cash flows, project appraisal formulae, and the application of net present value (NPV), internal rate of return (IRR) and other project evaluation criteria are illustrated with a variety of calculation examples. Risk analysis is extensively covered by the use of risk adjusted discount rate, certainty equivalent, sensitivity, simulation and Monte Carlo analysis. The NPV and IRR models are further applied to forestry, property and international investments. Resource constraints are introduced to the capital budgeting decisions with a variety of worked examples using linear programming technique. All calculations are extensively supported by Excel workbooks on the Web, and each chapter is well reviewed by end of chapter questions.

'The Economics of Project Analysis: A Practitioner's Guide' is written for project practitioners, for instructors in agricultural project economic analysis, and for students of that subject. This guide extends and complements the discussion of project and policy economics contained in the second edition of 'Economic Analysis of Agricultural Projects', by J. Price Gittinger--referred to throughout this volume as Gittinger (1982). ISBN10:0-8213-1751-2 ISBN13:978-0-8213-1751-8

This book discusses the rationale for correcting market prices in the evaluation of public investments. It also aims at covering techniques of project appraisals, such as the effects method, cost efficiency techniques, multicriteria analysis, and related logical frameworks.

Analytical Methods and Approaches for Water Resources Project Planningis part of a larger study that was conducted in response to a request from the U.S. Congress in the Water Resources Development Act of 2000 for the National Academy of Sciences to review the U.S. Army Corps of Engineer's peer review methods and analytical approaches. This report reviews the Corps' analytical procedures and planning methods, largely in the context of the federal Economic and Environmental Principles and Guidelines for Water and Related Land Resources Implementation Studies, also known as the Principles and Guidelines or "P and G" (P&G), as well as the Corps' Planning Guidance Notebook (PGN).

Research Basics: Design to Data Analysis in Six Steps offers a fresh and creative approach to the research process based on author James V. Spickard’s decades of teaching experience. Using an intuitive six-step model, readers learn how to craft a research question and then identify a logical process for answering it. Conversational writing and multi-disciplinary examples illuminate the model’s simplicity and power, effectively connecting the “hows” and “whys” behind social science research. Students using this book will learn how to turn their research questions into results.