Armenia’s Economic Rate of Return (ERR) Project Spreadsheets
Spreadsheets
- Rural Road Rehabilitation
- Irrigated Agriculture
These spreadsheets reflect the best information available to MCC at the time of the investment decision, and thus indicate the organization’s estimate of the project’s economic returns.
MCC understands that key parameters will change over time, and project design may be revised during implementation.
Nonetheless, these spreadsheets provide a window into one form of assessment used by MCC in deciding to invest in each project. When project designs or model parameters change significantly, MCC may revise these models; updated information will be posted here as it becomes available.
Technical Info
Contact
Contact us at the Office of the Chief Economist.
MCC is making this information available to the public because we believe in transparency and the importance of this type of analytical work.
We welcome questions, comments, and criticism as part of our continuing effort to improve our products, and are eager to receive suggestions as to how we can make the presentation of this information more user-friendly.
Each compact project has a downloadable spreadsheet file containing:
- A description of the project, including its economic rationale;
- The expected project impacts, including detailed cost and benefit estimates;
- A tool allowing users to modify key assumptions and study the effects of those modifications on the project’s returns.
Some familiarity with cost-benefit analysis will be essential to use these spreadsheets.
Spreadsheet Data
What the spreadsheet data represent:
- An overall impact estimate. The spreadsheets provide MCC’s best pre-investment estimate of the likely economic impact of the project and form the basis for monitoring and evaluation efforts.
- Estimated benefits. The spreadsheets estimate the expected increases in either incomes or value added of individuals, households, firms or sectors of economic activity.
- A counterfactual scenario. Potential benefits are compared against what is likely to happen without the project (e.g., a growing economy would be expected to continue growing, even without the project).
- A snapshot in time. The spreadsheets reflect the best data available to MCC at the time the project was approved for investment.
What the spreadsheet data do not represent:
- The sole reason for an investment decision. Although ERRs are an integral part of MCC’s decision-making process, other factors are taken into account when MCC decides whether or not to undertake a project.
- A detailed beneficiary analysis. The ERR spreadsheets portray the overall economic impact of a project rather than apportioning the income gains along various demographic dimensions.
- Up-to-the-minute information for projects in implementation. Many of the parameters that are used in these pre-investment estimates change over time, so ERRs may not reflect the actual implementation experience. When project designs or model parameters change significantly, MCC may revise these models; updated information will be posted here as it becomes available.