Annals of Public and Cooperative Economics最新文献

(2025), Issue Information. Ann Public Coop Econ., 96: 665–667. https://doi.org/10.1111/apce.70036

In the published version of the issue information cover page of Annals of Public and Cooperative Economics: Volume 96, Issue 4, the name for the co-Editor Dorothea Greiling had been omitted. This has now been updated on the online version of the issue: Special Issue: Gender Approaches of Social Economy: Annals of Public and Cooperative Economics: Vol 96, No 4.

We apologize for this error.

Cost–benefit analysis, and more generally policy evaluation through quantitative methods, provides governments and citizens with insights for decision-making. The Special Issue offers evidence about the relevance of ways to structure analysis with the tools of applied economics. This article is the editorial introduction of this Special Issue, arising from both a European Conference of the Society for Benefit-Cost Analysis, organized by the University of Milan, and an open call for papers by the Annals of Cooperative and Public Economics. The selected papers deal with three main topics: advances in the design of cost–benefit analysis (CBA) for policy and project evaluation; applied welfare economics and the welfare state; and territorial and environmental dimension of welfare analysis. Overall, the Special Issue offers an interesting contribution to the literature on two dimensions: on the one side, roadmaps to embedding CBA in government and policymaking, and on the other, new methodological approaches that allow rigorous empirical analysis.

A government can establish a ‘national benefit–cost analysis (BCA) system’ by (1) mandating through either executive or legislative action that BCA be conducted for some designated set of public investments and regulations and (2) creating an institutional structure to support this legal or administrative requirement for the regular, ongoing evaluation of the benefits and costs of new proposed investments and regulations. This paper describes 12 issues that should be considered in the design and establishment of a national BCA analysis system and 4 approaches for combining these 12 design decisions to craft a strategy for establishing a national BCA system. The literature suggests that the results of ‘standalone’ BCAs are not highly valued or used by decision-makers. This is in part because the quality of BCAs is often poor due to a lack of qualified analysts to conduct BCAs, analysts’ overly optimistic estimates of benefits and underestimates of costs, and analysts’ strategic misrepresentation of results. This paper suggests that a well-designed national BCA system—assisted by generative AI—may be able to overcome some of the problems associated with ‘standalone’ BCAs.

Global political and economic tensions can produce relevant consequences across Europe. This paper provides novel evidence on the costs of geopolitical risk (GPR) in the European Union countries, that of a reduced effectiveness of regional policies. Using cohesion policy data for the period 2007–2020 and adopting a panel-time series heterogeneous coefficient model, we show that the impact of European Union cohesion funds on economic growth is reduced by about 0.45–0.55 percentage points when considering GPR. The adverse effects of GPR vary across European countries depending on specific factors, such as participation to global value chains and internal political risks. Our findings point out the need of coordinating different Union-wide policies to improve the effectiveness of the structural funds.

This paper analyses General Social Survey (United States) data and provides evidence that the advent of Facebook and other social media platforms has widened the gap in scepticism towards science between low-educated Americans and their more highly educated counterparts. The same trend holds true when considering distrust in medicine, the press and television. Overall, the results suggest that education may serve as a protective factor against the influence of fake news, disinformation and misinformation. Additionally, a heterogeneity analysis shows that the increase in distrust is particularly pronounced among young people. Further analyses reveal that political affiliation plays a role in shaping attitudes towards science and that the likelihood of voting for the Republican Party has increased among low-educated individuals. A comprehensive set of robustness and placebo tests supports the reliability of these findings.

Active ageing in place through home sharing programmes has been largely ignored in the literature compared to other models such as senior cohousing. This article seeks to analyse the economic viability of a theoretical proposal for an older people's neighbourhood cooperative. The objective of this cooperative is to facilitate shared housing with the goal of acquiring economic resources through renting housing for remodelling and providing support services. A qualitative methodology is employed to gather the opinions of the older people in focus groups, accompanied by a quantitative methodology involving a cost-benefit economic study. This assessment utilizes parameters such as location, housing type, adaptation level and financing formula. The methodology is applied to two case studies in the cities of Seville and Malaga (Spain). The qualitative results reflect positively on the model and highlight the diversity of care situations for older people. This flexibility allows for the establishment of a cooperative model with varying degrees of self-sufficiency based on adaptation level, services, and conditions for sharing space. Finally, the article discusses the advantages of the model for public policies related to the active ageing of older people and housing. It emphasizes the potential to increase the rental housing supply.

Grassroots entrepreneurship catalyses economic revitalization, innovation and societal transformation. However, microentrepreneurs, especially women, often encounter amplified impediments to obtaining formal finance, hindering their growth. This study proposes a community-based financing model, anchored in informal collectives, such as self-help groups, that provides a conducive entrepreneurial ecosystem, especially for women entrepreneurs, by providing easy access to finance, market knowledge, social capital and capacity-building support for entrepreneurial development. Despite the growing significance, research in this field is scarce. The present study addresses this gap by integrating bibliometric and systematic review employing the SPAR-4SLR protocol. We analysed 180 Social Science Citation Index-indexed articles published up to September 2024 using the Web of Science database. The present endeavour aims to construct a cognitive framework by conducting performance analysis and highlighting prominent themes using science mapping techniques. The seven identified (n = 59) themes include policy advocacy, women's empowerment, financial inclusion, digitalization, sustainable entrepreneurship, social capital, capacity building and socioeconomic impact assessment. Additionally, a TCCM framework utilized 74 highly esteemed articles and offered valuable insights into future research directions. Our findings call for empirical validation of community financing on entrepreneurial performance and sustainability, digital transformation and the realization of sustainable development goals. In conclusion, this study underscores community-based entrepreneurship as a strategic framework for inclusive and sustainable economic development.

To mitigate tax evasion, the use of lottery awards is an important policy. In December 2019, Receita da Sorte a daily and instantaneous lottery was introduced, in a Brazilian state. This article aims to analyse the impact assessment of the new award program and the traditional. The approaches are directed to the taxpayer behaviour awarded and to his municipality, looking for the herd effect. This study uses a difference-in-differences model. The response variables are the number and monthly value of electronic invoices issued to beneficiaries. The database is composed of fiscal invoices issued from January 2021 to May 2023 and contains 47 million observations on 3,4 million taxpayers. The treatment group is made up of the awards citizens. The results show that the Receita da Sorte has 227% more effect in number of invoices and 166% more in value than the traditional monthly lottery. Additionally, a subgroup within Receita da Sorte exhibited behaviour resembling gambling addiction, where the effects appeared amplified. In the municipal-level analysis, the herd effect was observed. For public policy implications, the analysis corroborates the use of the instant lotteries to increase citizen engagement.

The unique nature of agricultural cooperatives determines that their business scope is significantly influenced by individual and organizational operations as well as government intervention. This paper examines various factors affecting the operation of cooperatives at the individual level, the cooperative level and the government level by applying the multivariate ordered probit regression model and marginal probability analysis to the research data of 500 agricultural cooperatives. The results indicate that directors’ practical experience (EXP), demonstration ratings, explicit incentives (EIs), and government-provided training (TRAIN) exert a significant influence on cooperatives’ vertical integration (VI). These findings offer valuable insights for cooperative managers and policymakers, suggesting that the level of VI can be advanced by enhancing directors’ practical EXP, improving demonstration ratings, increasing both the absolute and relative values of EIs, and, at the same time, obtaining and participating in more government-provided TRAINs.

Amidst the escalating impact of climate change, the agricultural sector faces the challenge of maintaining productive capacity while conserving increasingly scarce water resources. Modernizing irrigation systems by replacing inefficient open-channel distribution infrastructures is crucial to address this challenge. Cost–benefit analysis (CBA) offers a valuable tool to assess the effectiveness of such actions, in terms of both financial and socio-environmental impacts. CBA is also valuable for optimizing the allocation of limited financial resources to the most impactful measures and addressing trade-offs within the water-energy-food (WEF) nexus. This study applies CBA to two modernization projects in the ‘Villalar de los Comuneros’ irrigation district in the Duero River Basin, located in northern Spain. The first project focuses on enhancing energy efficiency by installing a photovoltaic system to power irrigation pumps, while the second promotes climate-smart agriculture through the use of soil moisture sensors to improve irrigation precision and facilitate the transition to higher value crops. The results of the CBA demonstrate the financial and economic viability of both projects, highlighting the social and environmental benefits generated, and providing policymakers with a valuable framework for guiding similar future interventions.