Agricultural opportunity costs assessment based on planting suitability:a case study in a mountain county in southwest China

Payment for ecosystem services(PES) has become an increasingly popular means of ecosystem conservation. Opportunity cost is an important factor to increase the investment efficiency of PES projects.However, the distribution of opportunity cost is usually unclear in mountainous regions due to the obvious environment changes. In this study, we developed a framework to assess the distribution of agricultural opportunity costs in mountainous regions and applied this method to Baoxing County, a typical mountainous county in Sichuan Province of southwest China. Planting suitability of 17 crops was assessed based on agricultural statistics and natural conditions data within a GIS environment.Agricultural opportunity cost was quantified with a weighted summation of farmers' willingness to cultivate and each crop's opportunity cost. Finally,specific agricultural opportunity cost was obtained according to the spatial areas of the protection programs and land use status. The results showed that agricultural opportunity costs of PES in Baoxing County were estimated to be more than $30 million,with a mean of 400.85 $/ha. Agricultural opportunity costs in mountainous regions displayed some obvious spatial variation and areas with lower agricultural opportunity costs could be selected as priority areas for PES. Our findings revealed that the planting suitability evaluation can make agricultural opportunity costs mapping more reasonable. It will be helpful for the PES programs implementation in mountainous regions.

Estimating the opportunity costs of avoiding oil palm-based deforestation in Indonesia:Implications for REDD

Reducing emissions due to deforestation is considered a low-cost option for mitigating climate change.However,the recent literature suggests higher opportunity costs because of specific deforestation drivers,which render reducing emissions from deforestation and forest degradation(REDD+)for mitigating climate change an uncertain,less attractive,and controversial option.Indonesia is one of the largest greenhouse gas emitters.Since 1989,53.80%of its oil palm expansion has come from forestlands,which has generated a significant amount of carbon emissions.This study uses official data and results from the relevant literature to estimate the costs of oil palm-based deforestation under various scenario assumptions,including different output prices,yields,time horizons,and discount rates.We also calculate the additional cost to preserve a 1-ha forest.We demonstrate that the average opportunity cost from avoiding oil palm-based deforestation is 24.42 USD/tCO_(2)eq in Indonesia,approximately 1.3 times the 2011 EUA carbon price.Additional sums of around 5,466.90–11,042.96 USD/ha should be provided to landowners for the deforestation avoidance caused by oil palm expansion.Special attention should be given to the extensive oil palm expansion in Indonesia and the resulting high opportunity costs for achieving the REDD+​target.

Multi-QoS Guaranteed Resource Allocation for Multi-Services Based on Opportunity Costs

To meet the booming development of diversified services and new applications in the future, the fifth-generation mobile conmmnication system （5G） has arisen. Resources are increasingly scarce in the @namic time-varying of 5G networks. Allocating resources effectively and ensuring quality of service （QoS） requirements of multi-seiwices come to be a research focus. In this paper, we utilize effective capacity to build a utility function with multi-QoS metrics, including rate, delay bound and packet loss ratio. Taking advantage of opportunity cost （OC）, we also propose a multi-QoS guaranteed resource allocation algm＇ithm for multi-services to consider the future condition of system. In the algorithm, according to different business characteristics and the theory of OC, we propose different selection conditions for QoS users and best effort （BE） users to choose more reasonable resources. Finally, simulation results show that our proposed algorithm achieves superior system utility and relatively better fairness in multi-service scenarios.

Agricultural Land Use Responses to the Rising Labor Opportunity Cost in Sui County,China

Rising labor opportunity cost is one of the most important characteristics of farmers' economic environment in present China,and brings great agricultural land use changes correspondingly.Based on the stratified random sample of rural households in Sui County,this paper estimates the opportunity cost of farm labors,and then analyzes its effect on farmers' agricultural land use decisions.The findings show that the households with higher labor opportunity cost are more likely to reduce labor intensity and increase labor-saving input in their land use decisions.From the descriptive analysis,we also find these households always prefer grain crop planting,reduce yield-raising input or even rent out their cultivated land.As labor and yield-raising input are two essential positive factors for grain production,continuous declining of labor input and yield-raising input caused by rising labor opportunity cost may influence the grain yield per unit area in the future.

Strategies for Prioritizing Ecological Construction with Consideration of Agricultural Industry Development in Northern China’s Agro- pastoral Ecotone : A Perspective of Opportunity Cost

In northern China’s agro-pastoral ecotone,there are conflicts between agricultural industry and ecological construction resource competition,and also problems urgently to be solved for economic growth and sustainable ecological improvement.Taking the development concept of"lucid waters and lush mountains being mountains of gold and silver"as the guiding principle of prioritizing ecological and green development,this paper studied the strategies for prioritizing ecological construction with consideration of economic development of agricultural industry from the perspective of opportunity cost.Through the analysis of opportunity cost,externality,and Pareto optimal theory,and using the calculation method of the unit equivalent factor value of terrestrial ecological service function,this paper calculated the ecological service value of forest,grassland,and farmland.It found that the ecological value of forest and grassland per unit area was greater than the ecological value of agricultural industry.This indicates that the opportunity cost of farmland for ecological construction was less than that of agricultural industry.Based on the theoretical and quantitative analysis,it came up with recommendations for establishing a comprehensive system for prioritizing ecological construction with consideration of agricultural industry development and establishing and improving the incentive mechanism of ecological construction.

The Analysis and Modification of Opportunity Cost of Investment

We think we should use basic return rate of industry to measure the opportunity cost of capital and use the rule of Maximum NPV （Net Present Value） to modify the wrong solution in the book.

Modeling Biodiversity Benefits and External Costs from a Keystone Predator Reintroduction Policy

In this paper, an economic model was constructed to determine the optimal wolf population and distribution across the Northern Rocky Mountains. Both ecological and economic concepts were incorporated in an implicitly spatial social welfare maximization problem. This interdisciplinary model relies on multiple data sources, including current wolf population and distribution information, opportunity cost to local landowners, and contingent valuation studies to determine willingness-to-pay for wolves. Economic models tend to externalize ecological concerns and ecological models often omit the complex human dimensions of conservation policy. Accordingly, this model can serve as a guide for integrating best practices from both fields. The model presented here is sufficiently general to apply to wolves in other ecosystems and to other highly interacting species such as beavers and bison. The Northern Rocky Mountain wolf was used as an example of how this economic model works, but this model can be applied far more broadly.

The Optimizing Method of Equipment Renewal Opportunity Based on Dynamic Sunk Cost

This article brings forward a new conception of dynamic sunk cost, and then constructs a systematic model that could be used in analyzing equipment renewal opportunity. This model will do much help in solving problems refer to optimizing equipment renewal opportunity in right way.

Economic Impact of Clinical Research to Research Centers and Opportunity Cost for the Reimbursement System in Turkey

Introduction: Clinical research is a key component of drug development with a significant economic value. It has been reported that the development of a new molecule requires 10 - 15 years and costs almost $1.3 billion. Around 75% of the cost is spent on the Phase I-IV clinical research process. This study aimed to show the economic value of clinical research in Turkey. Methods: Clinical trial budgets were estimated from the raw data of the Report of Istanbul Medical Faculty Clinical Research (ITFKAR). In the research, the estimated cost of drugs used in the clinical trials for the Turkish reimbursement agency (SGK) was calculated to show the cost of medicines acquired through clinical research. Results: The total budget for sponsored pharmaceutical research was $107 million in Turkey, and the government saved close to $311,096,130 during 2006-2010, due to not reimbursing the patients for the drugs in the clinical trials. Conclusion: Despite the limitations of the study, the findings are unique for Turkey. The results can lead to revisiting the importance and economic value of clinical trials in Turkey.

A comprehensive approach for assessing the economic contribution of forage and livestock improvement options to smallholder farming enterprises

The importance of livestock production activities to improving the livelihoods of smallholder farming households and the efficiency of their underlying farming systems is increasingly recognized.A rapid increase in livestock numbers, especially beef cattle, and special purpose forages is being promoted for smallholder farms which have traditionally undertaken subsistence cropping activities or simple livestock rearing activities using low quality feedstuffs.Because limited plantings of specialized forages combined with a poor knowledge of animal nutrition are a challenge to establishing sustainable livestock enterprises, much public policy and research is now being focused on the use of new forages and improved feeding practices.A number of economic studies have suggested that specialized forage growing and livestock feeding activities can make a positive contribution to smallholder welfare.The studies have typically compared the total level of farm or household income with and without livestock activities.Little attention is given to how much the new forage or livestock activities actually contribute to or draw resources from other farm activities to assess their real economic contribution to the enterprise, and the availability of simple tools to assist in making such assessments are limited.This paper describes a simple modelling approach that was developed for an Australian Centre for International Agricultural Research（ACIAR）-supported project to explore the real as opposed to apparent economic impact of integrating improved forages and livestock within smallholder farming systems in the Red Soils region of south-central China.Application of the model is demonstrated using a simple case study of a smallholder enterprise that plans to introduce a new beef cattle rearing activity to its existing farm activity mix.The case study highlights the importance of explicitly valuing transfers of resources between different farm activities to gauge the real contribution of those activities to economic returns.

An integrated method for estimating compensations for environmental services of forests

The values of non-marketable forest products have largely been ignored, which made the conservation of the natural resources increasingly more economically difficult. Based on the previous studies, compensation subsidy for the values of non-marketable forest products was computed with a method of compensation coefficient that combines the Engel Coefficient and Logistic Curve. The method was applied in Changbai Mountain area. The total value of the compensation subsidy in 1999 was supposed to 637.93 Yuan·hm-2, of which 70% would be paid directly to the local stakeholders and is much higher than the compensation subsidy previously computed (75Yuan·hm-2·year-1). It is currently impossible for the central government to bear all the costs and investment of natural forest protection. A practical solution is that the local government should invest in forest and put the compensation subsidy into the current revenue.

Cost of postoperative complications:How to avoid calculation errors

Postoperative complications(PC)are a basic health outcome,but no surgery service in the world records and/or audits the PC associated with all the surgical procedures it performs.Most studies that have assessed the cost of PC suffer from poor quality and a lack of transparency and consistency.The payment system in place often rewards the volume of services provided rather than the quality of patients’clinical outcomes.Without a thorough registration of PC,the economic costs involved cannot be determined.An accurate,reliable appraisal would help identify areas for investment in order to reduce the incidence of PC,improve surgical results,and bring down the economic costs.This article describes how to quantify and classify PC using the Clavien-Dindo classification and the comprehensive complication index,discusses the perspectives from which economic evaluations are performed and the minimum postoperative follow-up established,and makes various recommendations.The availability of accurate and impartially audited data on PC will help reduce their incidence and bring down costs.Patients,the health authorities,and society as a whole are sure to benefit.

A model of supplying poplar wood for Iranian paper & wood factories

The objective of this research is to design a method for an appropriate alternative to supply poplar wood as raw material for wood and paper factories in Iran. Due to the destruction of the forests and lack of proper plantation, replacement of the forest wood by the fast growing wood is vital to satisfy all requirements of these factories. A hierarchy was used to prioritize benefits, opportunities, costs and risks （BOCR） using the Analytic Hierarchy Process （AHP） ratings approach. To evaluate the ＂control criteria＂ of the system, a control hierarchy was also created and prioritized by applying the Analytic Network Process （ANP）. A total of four major control criteria in the system are prioritized where each one controls a network structure evaluated by using ANE The final synthesis results of the system showed that internal poplar tree farming supplied by the forest product factories was the best choice among three potential alternatives （factory procurement, external procurement and mix procurement）.

An Effective Approach to Determine an Initial Basic Feasible Solution: A TOCM-MEDM Approach

Transportation of products from sources to destinations with minimal total cost plays an important role in logistics and supply chain management. In this article, a new and effective algorithm is introduced for finding an initial basic feasible solution of a balanced transportation problem. Number of numerical illustration is introduced and optimality of the result is also checked. Comparison of findings obtained by the new heuristic and the existing heuristics show that the method presented herein gives a better result.

Determination of Optimal Cash Position of Mutual Fund

Cash position, held by mutual fund with purpose to satisfy investors′ redemption, will inevitably generate certain amount of cost. In this paper, the total cost caused by cash position is divided into opportunity cost and shortage cost, and a model is constructed to describe the relationship between total cost and cash position along with investors′ purchase and redemption, from which the formula of optimal cash position is deduced. Finally, the adjustment of optimal cash position in different market situations is discussed.

Economic Impact of Mutant Cassava （Manihot Species） for Agricultural Improvement in Ghana

The importance of agricultural innovations for raising the living standards of farmers has received substantial attention from the economic and political communities. In Ghana, cassava serves as an important source of calorie and cash crop. Production constraints such as the cassava mosaic disease caused by virus have limit farmers access to productivity potentials and marketing. Breeding efforts attempting to address this constraints have had some success such as the mutant Tech Bankye virus resistant variety. This research, therefore, analysed the impact of some production input on mutant cassava productivity growth in Ghana with the use of Cobb-Douglas production function. Results show that farmers cultivate the mutant variety in addition to other traditional varieties to averse risking in marketing and income. The average cost of production of the mutant variety is higher compared to that of the traditional variety. Eighty percent of the farmers complained difficulty in accessing market for the mutant variety because it could not replace the traditional variety in terms of its texture for the local native ＂fufu＂ production and ＂ampesi＂ and also deteriorate quickly in storage. However, for industrial production of ＂gari＂ and starch, the mutant is the best. Both the mutant cassava and the traditional varieties showed increasing returns to scale, however, the returns to scale of the mutant variety were lower compared to that of the traditional variety. Also, the opportunity cost of forgoing the traditional varieties to cultivating the mutant variety was very high making adopted farmers hesitant to continue it cultivation.

Study on the discontinuance evalution theory of the minerals resource construction item

The period of the minerals resource construction items is very long,which af- fected largely by the changeable market.The discontinuance evalution theory and content of construction item about the resource used up and economic evalution theories of the invest were brought forward from the two aspects of the resource using value and the in- come rate.

The Nash Equilibrium Research of the Enterprise＇s Income and the Total Social Welfare under the CRM System

Through establishing point-to-point enterprise-customer relationship and cultivating this relationship, the enterprise endeavors to maximize the enterprise＇s income under the driver of CRM system. But this requires the enterprise invest the additional marketing cost on the customers. Our research shows, if the income from the CRM system can＇t make up the opportunity cost of the additional marketing cost, the CRM system is invalid. And in order to reach the Nash equilibrium of the enterprise＇s income and the total social welfare, we must adjust the marketing strategy according to the opportunity cost of the resource.

A Simplified Approach for Implementing Capital Gain Tax in Stock Marketing

The sustainability of a country inevitably depends on proper taxation system. To date, there are many taxes implemented by the ruling authorities of a country. The taxes that are sourced from stock markets or share markets are paramount to better govern a country. The capital gain tax (CGT), which is incurred in disposing the shares or stocks owned by an investor or an institution, is one of the taxes implemented in stock markets. Though in the past many attempts have been made to properly streamline the CGT, the methodologies or the approaches used in the implementation of CGT, even in the United States, are not well-grounded from a scientific point of view. Therefore, in this paper, a simplified approach based on the assumption that the CGT is implemented on a yearly basis is proposed. The CGT is calculated for each stock owned by an investor or an institution. The approach is implemented using an open access platform: AMP (Apache-MySQL-PHP). Subsequently, the proposed approach is tested using some hypothetical data. The proposed approach, which is easy-to-use, practical and un-biased, is of use to any country that is willing to progress towards the sustainability. Moreover, the proposed approach with the current technology will enhance the developing nations which have large size of informal economy, on designing and implementing effective tax policies and administrations.

Quantitative standard of eco-compensation for the water source area in the middle route of the South-to-North Water Transfer Project in China

The Middle Route Project(MRP)of the Southto-North Water Transfer Scheme(SNWT)in China will require a very large financial expenditure to ensure the water supply and the associated water quality to northern China.An eco-compensation mechanism between the water service source areas and its beneficiaries is essential.This paper establishes an analytic framework of ecocompensation standard for the protection of the water source area,including both the calculation of ecocompensation based on opportunity cost method(OCM)and calculation of the burden sharing of eco-compensation between the water source area and the external water reception area based on the deviation square method(DSM).Taking Shiyan City,Hubei Province in China as a case study,our results show that the eco-compensation in the first-phase of MRP for the water source area in Shiyan,Hubei Province should be 1.63×10^(10) CNY,about four times of planned eco-construction investment budget(4.33×10^(9) CNY).In addition,the burden sharing of eco-compensation varied greatly in terms of different methods.It would be better to integrate the results of different single-factor burden sharing methods by determining the corresponding weighting coefficient with DSM and form one unanimous consent result by the interested parties.