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In recent years, there have been a growing number of references to social capital, in debates about higher education (HE), by policy makers, senior institutional leaders and academics. This chapter highlights the value of social capital to both students and institutions alike, as a contributing factor to the transformational effect of HE; and as an important tool to explain the value of HE to policy makers and the public. We draw on empirical data from students articulating the value of social capital. Their voices demonstrate that social capital has a significant role to play in institutional endeavours to maximise student success.

The study makes an attempt to understand the regional state of depletion of natural capital stock based on the World Bank's recent data on natural resource depletion by following comparative growth analysis using growth accounting method and exploratory econometric approach. The study also considers two regions namely South Asia and sub-Saharan Africa for comparative analysis. Although the extent of protected areas is increasing in different regions of the world, the extent of forest land areas is declining in different regions. The study also intends to determine the role of deforestation and land-use change, habitat fragmentation, encroachment, rapid population growth, and urbanization in explaining cross-country variations of natural resource depletion. Besides, it assesses the temporal movement of this natural resource depletion for the most vulnerable countries, namely low-income economies. Results show that the two major regions of low-income countries do exhibit depletion of natural capital stock such as agricultural land, forests, and subsoil assets in per capita terms. These results have important implications for poverty reduction and fulfillment of Sustainable development goals (SDGs) of low-income countries.

With this chapter, the authors reveal the content of the concept of economic capital, explore approaches to its evaluation, assess the implementation of the concept of economic capital in the national banking system, and identify problems and possible directions for development and convergence of the Russian approach with international requirements. As a result, the need to apply the model of economic capital in assessing bank capital is substantiated. A concept (from Latin “conception” – understanding a system) is a specific way of understanding (interpreting) an object, phenomenon, or process; that is, the main point of view on the subject and the guiding idea for its systematic coverage. This term is also used to refer to a leading idea and a constructive principle in scientific activity.

Initially, since 1988, under prudential supervision – a direct, quantitative-oriented approach, there existed a concept of regulatory capital, reflected in the document “International Convergence of Measurement Methods and Capital Standards” (Basel I). Regulatory capital was calculated to meet regulatory oversight standards. It was intended to cover unforeseen losses and reserves already identified; thereafter, expected losses were created.

The concept of regulatory capital proceeds from the premise that if capital must cover unexpected losses, it should be borne in mind that a surprise approximates uncertainty. Consequently, the theoretical possibility of occurrence of certain events is excluded and, hence, the methodical and practical ground of the concept of economic capital disappears, which is based on the assessment of default probability and the magnitude of its negative consequences for creditors.

The change in trends in banking regulation (the actions of supervisory authorities in matters of capital adequacy acquired a risk-oriented nature that takes into account the risks assumed by each bank and the quality of their management) led to the emergence of the concept of economic capital in 2004, which is reflected in the document “International Convergence of Capital Measurement and Standards of Capital: New Approaches” (Basel II).

According to this concept, commercial banks must have sufficient capital to cover not only credit and market, but also the operational risks. Thus, economic capital takes into account all the risky circumstances that a banking institution may encounter. The need to apply the method of economic capital in assessing the capital of a bank is justified and significant.

This research investigates (1) the impacts of working capital investment policy and working capital financing policy on firms’ performances (profitability and market value) and (2) the impact of profitability on market value. Data are gathered from 68 companies listed in the Stock Exchange of Thailand covering production sector. Data collected from 2012 to 2016 are analyzed using path analysis to measure the impacts of working capital policy on performances and examine the consistency of the model and the empirical data.

The model is found to be consistent with the empirical data; the probability level is 0.085, χ ²/df is 2.96, CFI is 0.951, GFI is 0.979, IFI is 0.957, and RMR is 0.004. The result reveals a statistically significant positive relationship between working capital investment policy and profitability. In addition, working capital investment policy affects market value through profitability as a mediator variable. However, there are significant negative impacts of working capital financing policy on profitability and market value. Overall, it can be implied that companies which adopt conservative working capital investment policy and conservative working capital financing policy can increase their profitability and market value.