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This paper provides an assessment of the Polish funded pension system and the quality of the regulatory framework for the accumulation phase. There are two elements that distinguish the Polish pension fund portfolios from other reforming countries: the relatively high component of domestic equity, and the negligible component on international securities. Although this asset allocation has provided relatively high real rates of return in the past, it may not be the case in the future, as further portfolio diversification to other instruments will become necessary to ensure sustainable rates of return. The paper provides a number of recommendations to expand the opportunities of investments to pension funds. Pension fund management companies have been able to exploit scale economies in certain areas of the business, such as collection of revenues. This study proposes mechanisms to enhance them even more by centralizing also the account management system, which may also help to increase portfolio efficiency and competition. With the payout phase starting in 2009, broad definitions in areas such as the role of the public and private sector need to be established. The paper examines products and options that authorities may consider for the design of the payout phase.

What transforms a desirable project on a government wish list to an attractive investment opportunity in the eyes of a potential private sector partner? This guide seeks to enhance the chances of developing effective partnerships between the public and the private sectors by addressing one of the main obstacles to the effective delivery of public-private partnership (PPP) projects: having the right information on the right project for the right partners at the right time. Data from the World Bank and the Public-Private Infrastructure Advisory Facility (PPIAF) private participation in infrastructure (PPI) project database indicate that private sector investment in infrastructure in developing economies grew steadily over the past decade. By 2007 the levels had finally surpassed the peak levels seen in 1997, the end of the previous growth spurt. This guide focuses specifically on what should be done, and when, in order to prepare projects to attract the right long-term private partners, procure their involvement, and manage the partnership. This guide is not a detailed project preparation manual; rather, it seeks to provide an overview of the process and what is involved so that greater realism can be applied to this challenging task and adequate resource plans can be developed.

Most aspects of South Africa's investment climate - the location-specific factors that shape opportunities and incentives for firms to invest productively, create jobs, and grow - are favorable. The majority of large, registered firms believe that the legal system is able to protect their property rights. Infrastructure is reliable. Tax rates are relatively low. The burden of regulation is comparable to other middle-income countrries. Few firms pay bribes. And most firms have adequate access to credit. In many dimensions, South Africa has a good investment climate.Consistent with this, large South African firms are very productive. Labor productivity is far higher than in the most productive low-income countries in Sub-Saharan Africa and compares favorably with other middle-income countries such as Brazil, Lithuania, Malaysia, and Poland. And although labor productivity in South Africa is slightly lower than in the most productive cities in China, it is over three times higher than in China as a whole.So, why hasn't South Africa been growing faster? As this title explores, while the investment climate is generally favorable, some problems remain. Firms appear to be particularly concerned about four areas: difficulty hiring skilled and educated workers, rigid labor regulations, exchange rate instability, and crime. Using rigorous statistical information on these and related topics, the book aims to assist policy makers and private sector stakeholders in developing reforms that will improve firm performance and growth.

The development of information technology, in an online context, has expanded into collective consumption, e.g., crowdfunding projects. Moreover, people feel a sense of psychological ownership (“it is mine”) toward projects they invest in, even if their attributes are immaterial or intangible. This research focuses on changes in psychological ownership based on the characteristics of crowdfunding projects, which are collectively invested in with others, and the attributes of objects (tangible/intangible). Specifically, this research seeks to determine how psychological ownership is affected by information about the amount of money invested by others in a shared project. Additionally, this research investigates whether psychological ownership changes based on others’ investment (less/more) and the attributes (tangible/intangible) of the project. The findings from the empirical analysis indicate that psychological ownership changes based on information regarding other people’s investment in a shared crowdfunding project. The results also show that, in projects with tangible attributes, psychological ownership changes based on investment information; however, no changes were observed in projects with intangible attributes.

This study aims to help governments design sustainable Public-Private Partnership (PPP) strategies and projects in the context of the changed circumstances brought on by the global financial and economic crisis that began in the fall of 2008. The study analyses the impact and implication of the crisis on PPP infrastructure projects across the Europe and Central Asia (ECA) region. In the research undertaken for this study, it appears that most crisis-specific issues are cross-sectoral, therefore requiring cross-sectoral responses. The intended audience for this report includes national government stakeholders involved in infrastructure financing, including Ministries in charge of infrastructure, especially transport, energy, and water; state-owned enterprises with operational responsibilities, such as road directorates; and Ministries of Finance and development banks involved in PPP. This report reviewed the region's experience in PPPs in infrastructure before and during the financial crisis period (from late 2006 to 2010). Since not all ECA countries have had successful or ongoing PPP projects during this time, the report draws on lessons from Brazil, India, Spain, and the United Kingdom, countries with established PPP project pipelines to draw on cross-sectoral lessons. The findings can be used by countries wishing to start or re-start their PPP program following the impact of the recent crisis. However, beyond the crisis and its effects, the report can also guide future development of sustainable and crisis-resilient PPP programs. Most of the analysis supporting the report recommendations was undertaken for the highway sector and was financed through from a grant from the transport research support program. Initially, the highway sector was the focus of this study but the scope was later widened to include all infrastructure sectors because most issues facing highway PPP projects are common to other sectors requiring a cross-sectoral approach to PPP. Sector-specific strategies for highways have been documented in a recent World Bank study.

The implementation of network codes within the framework of European Transmission System Operators (TSOs), involves redesigning the process of executing remedial actions aimed at maintaining the power system on a daily basis. One of the key elements of this redesign is the co-optimisation of all accessible measures, bringing a cost-optimal result and providing network security for the entire Capacity Calculation Region (CCR). This specifically means that the currently installed Phase Shifting Transformers (PSTs) are expected to be utilised for the benefit of the whole CCR, with no special priority to any issues incurred by the owner. Therefore, this paper addresses any questions regarding the rules of financing (investment shares per TSO) to be applied for future PST installations. The investment shares are calculated based on the exemplary implementation of a new European procedure – cost-sharing of remedial actions. Consequently, another long-term application of this process is postulated. In order to support the claims with numerical evidence, two scenarios with new PST investments are analysed. The conclusions drawn show that the largest investment burden can be imposed upon zones different from the area of which the new PST installation has taken place. As a result, joint TSOs’ investments may be a potential solution to financing new devices used for future coordination of remedial actions.

PurposeBecause of chronic financial crises experienced during past several decades repeatedly and a failure to protect investors’ rights as a result, the world is looking for an alternative form of stock market for quite some time so that interests of all relevant stakeholders can be safeguarded. At the same time, from the perspectives of devout Muslims, the current form of stock market restricts a Muslim to make investments in the market because of several unsatisfying provisions from the viewpoint of the Islamic law known as Shariah. This study aims to provide the criteria under which conditions of the Islamic Shariah permit making investments in the stock market. Hand in hand with that primary discussion, it has been eluded briefly why the Islamic Shariah principles offer a better alternative against conventional practices of the stock market. Design/methodology/approachThis is a descriptive study based on the literature review. FindingsThis study explores the basic Islamic principles of investment in the stock market by revisiting the norms laid down by Shariah and current global practices of Islamic stock market and indexes. Originality/valueThis study will work as a guideline for investors and market authorities to understand the original Shariah rulings and the benchmark rulings for investment or establishing full-fledged Islamic stock markets, indexes and mutual funds.

Secularly declining GDP investment shares are often explained by the widespread fall in the relative price of investment goods. Granger non-causality tests applied to longer-term time series for a large number of industrial countries tend to reject that explanation.

Following the COVID-19 breakout, investment in shares, mutual funds, and life insurance are witnessing a growing trend in India. Hence, examining the determinants of investor preferences is necessary to maintain a positive trend. This study analyzes the impact of investor motives and awareness on investor preferences using the data collected from 753 Indian investors in 2020. Factor analysis grouped the investment motives into six categories, namely Nature of investments, Future financial needs, Investor personal characteristics, Safety and stability of investments, Investor behavioral aspects, and Investor’s options. The regression model used to find the impact of the investment motives and the awareness on the investor preferences explains 52.3% of changes in investor preference. Investment factors like Nature of investments, Investor personal characteristics, Investor behavior, Investor options, Awareness of mutual funds, and shares have a significant impact on investor preferences. Further, the awareness level of mutual funds and the stock market are the major variables contributing to Investors’ preference rather than identified investment factors. Investors’ personal characteristics like knowledge, confidence, ability, responsibility, and belief negatively influence investor preferences. This study adds to the existing literature by analyzing investment motives and preferences during the pandemic.

The purpose of this book is to provide policy insights to decision-makers, academics and researchers on investment flows and patterns in Southeast Europe. The report explores some of the determinants of private investment, such as: the financing sources for investment, the contribution of FDI and the role of public investment. It finds that investment rates in Southeast Europe are substantially lower than among the EU-8 and the fast growing East Asian economies, which could explain partly the slower economic growth in Southeast Europe.