A semi-Markov model and its application for designing and sizing swine facilities are presented. Swine production is becoming more and more specialised. Hence the sizing of a farm producing piglets is the main strategic decision of farmers who invest in sow production, since a farm comprises different facilities with different possible sizes. The classical approach is simple but the resulting d...

This paper analyses the relationship between net farm incomes and market values of cane land within the South African sugar industry. A comparison is drawn between market values represented by actual sales, and productive land values, which relate more specifically to net farm incomes. The aim of the paper is therefore to estimate the degree of correlation between net farm incomes and land mark...

Nearly one in three security practitioners believe that the organization they work for under-funds information security efforts. Rational choice and economic models have been developed to help decision makers determine the optimal amount they should spend to protect a set of information assets. These models presume investment decisions are rationally made, despite long-standing behavioral and d...

The security of the transportation system depends on that of any of its components and how they are interlinked. But the securing of each component is oftentimes in the hand of the agency in whose jurisdiction it falls. Literature on reliability and security economics suggests that when security is defined by the weakest link in an interlinked system, then its level is determined by the agent w...

The need to maintain national security while deriving the benefits of global economic liberalization presents a significant challenge for governments attempting to privatize critical infrastructure assets. In the post September 11, 2001 world, the notion that foreign direct investment positively contributes to an economy is being tempered by the realization that it can pose a threat to national...

The need to maintain national security while deriving the benefits of global economic liberalization presents a significant challenge for governments attempting to privatize critical infrastructure assets. In the post September 11, 2001 world, the notion that foreign direct investment positively contributes to an economy is being tempered by the realization that it can pose a threat to national...

In the 1990’s, the World Agroforestry Centre (ICRAF) initiated a domestication programme of indigenous fruit trees (IFTs) in Southern Africa to increase farmhousehold income through farmer-led tree planting and thus conserve bio-diversity. From the farmer's point of view planting domesticated IFTs is an investment under uncertainty and irreversibility. As timing of planting is flexible, real op...

Agricultural income volatility has become a major hurdle for Irish farmers and policymakers to overcome in their drive to increase investment, production and ultimately income in the sector. This paper studies data from 927 farms in the Teagasc National Farm Survey between 2005 and 2013, the first 9 years of the decoupled subsidy era. The primary income support for European farmers, the single ...

This paper uses real options analysis, specifically a hybrid Monte Carlo simulation – decision tree analysis as well as a binomial tree analysis, to look at optimal decisionmaking for investment by a small community wind farm under uncertainty. In particular, the uncertainty due to forecasting of electricity prices and the potential for carbon pricing are considered. Two options are considered:...

BACKGROUND This paper examines the cost and benefits, both financial and environmental, of two leading forms of solar power generation, grid-tied photovoltaic cells and Dish Stirling Systems, using conventional carbon-based fuel as a benchmark. METHODS First we define how these solar technologies will be implemented and why. Then we delineate a model city and its characteristics, which will b...