Private hydropower operations across the United States are utilizing a public resource, rivers, for power production benefits. The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission regulates river use through a relicensing procedure that occurs every thirty or fifty years through a cost-benefit analysis framework to determine the best public use of the river. This thesis explores the structure of the current cost-benefit analysis and the effects of timing, public participation and valuation of ecosystem services in the final relicensing decision, and recommends the use of a social cost-benefit framework to distribute the natural resource benefits rivers provide more equally and give fair weight to ecosystem benefits in a market-driven process.

There are three broad areas of public administration that require valuation for public goods. One of these areas is concerned with value for cost benefit analysis. The concept here is quantitative, in money terms, and the purpose is to aid decision making. Planners and economists either calculate, or estimate total costs and total benefits of programs or projects as an aid to decision making. The second broad area involves justifying, or allocating public resources. Benefits bestowed by intangibles such as the arts, or questions that affect the environment are difficult to quantify as value may involve concepts the beneficiaries find difficult to identify or describe. The concept of value involves total costs, but also may involve perceptions of the community about value. Valuation costs may be calculated from the aggregate demand, but estimating demand can be difficult. The third broad area involves estimating demand for government services such as those provided by the Bureau of Statistics, and the Department of Administrative Services, as well as many others, who are being required to charge fees for services previously provided without direct charge. This development is part of the trend called corporatisation now occurring in many countries, including Australia. Economists and planners have a range of approaches available to assist them in the estimation of value, whether it be for the purpose of comparing costs with benefits, or for estimating the demand for tangible or intangible items like the arts or statistics. Surveys have been used for many years to assist a wide range of decisions by private enterprise. The use of surveys by government in Australia has been limited, but is increasing. US and European governments have used surveys to value both more and less tangible public goods since 1970. Surveys have also proved useful to assist many other decisions, including policy making, developing the means for implementing policies, monitoring and adjusting programs, and evaluation. This paper is primarily concerned with surveys. A particular type of survey, known as contingent valuation (CV), has been developed to assist the estimation of value for intangible public goods. Also discussed are other applications of surveys for government decision making, and other ways of imputing or estimating values, largely developed by economists and planners to assist cost benefit analysis. Three examples of surveys used to estimate values are discussed. These include a survey of Sydney households to help estimate the value of clean water; an Australia wide survey to help estimate the value of the arts; and a survey of Australians to help estimate the value of Coronation Hill without mining development. While the paper suggests that surveys have potential to assist a range of government decisions, examples also demonstrate the care required to obtain results that are reasonably precise and reliable.

<p>This thesis comprises two papers exploring aspects of public finance and environmental economics in Namibia.</p><p>Paper [I] estimates the shadow prices of capital, labour and foreign exchange for the Namibian economy. The results suggest that the shadow price of capital for Namibia is 8%. The economic costs of Namibian labour, as a share of financial costs, are 32% for urban semi- and unskilled labour, and 54% for rural semi- and unskilled labour. The economic cost of foreign labour as a share of financial costs is 59%. The estimated range for the shadow exchange rate factor is between 7% and 14% for the Namibian economy.</p><p>Paper [II] studies the determinants of property prices in the township areas of Windhoek, the capital of Namibia. The study reveals that properties located close to an environmental hazard, such as a garbage dump, sell at considerable discounts. On the other hand properties located near an environmentally favourable location, such as recreational open space, sell at a premium. These results provide evidence of the importance of environmental quality in lower income property markets in developing countries. It is therefore important for Namibian urban planners to incorporate environmental quality within the planning framework for lower income areas.</p>

<p>Bensinpriset i Sverige har den senaste tiden stigit kraftigt och åsikterna går isär om huruvida detta ska uppfattas som positivt eller negativt för samhället.</p><p>Denna studie kartlägger de samhällsekonomiska effekterna av ett högre bensinpris och studerar skillnaden i resultat mellan en oljeprisbaserad bensinprisökning och en bensinprisökning som grundar sig på en högre bensinskatt.</p><p>I en cost-benefit kalkyl har effekter av ett högre bensinpris identifierats och värderats. Resultatet visar att en oljeprisbaserad bensinprishöjning är att uppfatta som negativ för samhället. Även en skattebaserad bensinprishöjning är dock negativ för samhället. En oljeprisbaserad bensinprishöjning åsamkar emellertid samhället en betydligt större nettoförlust än en skattebaserad bensinprishöjning.</p><p>En marginalkostnadsberäkning har utförts som ett alternativt beräkningssätt av det samhällsekonomiska resultatet av de två olika bensinprishöjningarna. Marginalkostnadsberäkningen uppskattar den samhälleliga marginalkostnaden av en liter bensin till cirka 9,31 kr och att marginalkostnaden ligger under prisnivån bekräftar slutsatsen att ett högre bensinpris är negativt för samhället, då det, vid en bensinskattehöjning, leder till en situation där bensinpriset hamnar längre från det pris som är optimalt för samhället. Vid en oljeprishöjning stiger både pris och marginalkostnad för samhället och att detta scenario är att uppfatta som negativt för samhället beror på att den ökade kostnaden för bensin som betalas av svenska bilister går till utländska oljeproducenter.</p><p>Slutligen har centrala faktorer i beräkningarna analyserats och diskuterats. Denna diskussion mynnar ut i en rekommendation till vidare forskning mot beräkningsfaktorer som baserar sig på fordonskilometer.</p> / <p>Recently the Swedish gasoline price has risen considerable and the opinions are divided however this should be perceived as positive or negative for society.</p><p>In this study, the influences of a higher gasoline price on society and the differences between a scenario with a higher oil price and a higher gasoline tax as ground for the rise of prices are studied.</p><p>Within the frames of a cost-benefit analysis the effects of a higher gasoline price have been identified and valued. The results show that a higher gasoline price based on a higher oil price is negative for a society. A higher gasoline tax causing a higher gasoline price also has negative effects. The latter type of price increase however, causes far less damage than the former.</p><p>An estimation of marginal cost has been conducted as an alternative calculation of the results. The marginal cost has been estimated to 9,31 SEK and the fact that the marginal cost is below the price level confirms the conclusion that a higher gasoline price, disregarded the cause, is negative for society, since a tax increase will bring a situation where the gasoline price now is situated further from its optimum price. In the case of an increase in oil price, both the marginal cost and the gasoline price increase and that this scenario is negative for society is due to the increasing payments of the Swedish motorists to foreign oil producers.</p><p>Finally, central factors in the calculations have been discussed and analysed. The discussion has ended in a recommendation of further research with vehicle kilometers as basis of calculation.</p>

<p>Uppsatsen utreder ifall det finns en möjlighet till kostnadsbesparingar genom att erbjuda en stor andel av den äldre befolkningen hjälpmedel. Dessa hjälpmedel är tänkta att ha i förebyggande syfte för att minska antalet höftfrakturer. Perspektivet för analysen är samhällsekonomiskt, det vill säga alla möjligheter till kostnadsbesparingar antas tillkomma samma aktör. En uppdelning mellan landsting och kommun görs med andra ord inte. I en cost-benefit kalkyl görs en uträkning på vilken nettoeffekt som uppnås på den samhälleliga välfärden genom att antalet höftfrakturer minskar.</p><p>En makroundersökning ligger till grund för de hjälpmedel som studeras. De två hjälpmedel som tas upp i rapporten är höftskyddsbyxan och rollatorn.</p><p>Resultatet visar att man vid en viss minskning av olycksfallsfrekvensen kan uppnå en positiv nettoeffekt på den samhälleliga välfärden. Utifrån undersökningar som har gjorts på reduceringen av olycksfall som användningen av hjälpmedel bidrar till, visar kalkylerna resultat på vilka kostnadsbesparingar som kan göras. I framräkningarna för de kommande 45 åren visas det hur dessa kostnadsbesparingar kontinuerligt kommer att öka i och med att den äldre andelen av befolkningen ökar.</p><p>Uppsatsen kan utgöra underlag för diskussion om huruvida vårdens organisation tjänar på att byta perspektiv från suboptimering av olika områden till mer långsiktiga samarbeten.</p>

This thesis concerns two topics related to policy effects of hillside and ridgeline development in Knox County, TN and attempts to quantify the values of different aspects of forest land in the area, particularly how the amenity values of forest land affect the prices of surrounding houses. The first essay conducts a cost-benefit analysis to determine the willingness of individual landowners for reforestation given explicitly stated costs and benefits of reforestation. A sequence of hedonic models was used to estimate differences in non-use values attributable to deforested and to forested areas, allowing the establishment of an overall price-distance relationship between the amenity values attributable to both areas and their proximities to housing locations. The results showed that the benefits from reforestation were greater than the opportunity costs of barren/grassland replaced and the houses with the greatest gains from reforestation were within one mile of the target site. Amenity value benefits for reforestation vary between sites but the sites with the greatest gains were those with the largest area, the lowest land cost, and the most houses within one mile. The second essay examined the effects of forest views on house prices and also the effect that the economy had on consumers’ value of those views. This study applied a sales hedonic model to two time periods with markedly different economic climates, the housing boom of 2002-2006 and the recession of 2008. Amenity value gains from forest views were then mapped out for the county for both periods to find those areas that had the highest gains in both periods. The results showed that while the views of forest land increase house values in both periods, the average marginal implicit price gain decreased over 13 percent from the boom period to the recession. Maps of the value gains highlighted the south-western, eastern and northern parts of the county, which contain high income suburban communities, with consistent value gains in excess of $70 per acre.

This thesis comprises two papers exploring aspects of public finance and environmental economics in Namibia. Paper [I] estimates the shadow prices of capital, labour and foreign exchange for the Namibian economy. The results suggest that the shadow price of capital for Namibia is 8%. The economic costs of Namibian labour, as a share of financial costs, are 32% for urban semi- and unskilled labour, and 54% for rural semi- and unskilled labour. The economic cost of foreign labour as a share of financial costs is 59%. The estimated range for the shadow exchange rate factor is between 7% and 14% for the Namibian economy. Paper [II] studies the determinants of property prices in the township areas of Windhoek, the capital of Namibia. The study reveals that properties located close to an environmental hazard, such as a garbage dump, sell at considerable discounts. On the other hand properties located near an environmentally favourable location, such as recreational open space, sell at a premium. These results provide evidence of the importance of environmental quality in lower income property markets in developing countries. It is therefore important for Namibian urban planners to incorporate environmental quality within the planning framework for lower income areas.

Uppsatsen utreder ifall det finns en möjlighet till kostnadsbesparingar genom att erbjuda en stor andel av den äldre befolkningen hjälpmedel. Dessa hjälpmedel är tänkta att ha i förebyggande syfte för att minska antalet höftfrakturer. Perspektivet för analysen är samhällsekonomiskt, det vill säga alla möjligheter till kostnadsbesparingar antas tillkomma samma aktör. En uppdelning mellan landsting och kommun görs med andra ord inte. I en cost-benefit kalkyl görs en uträkning på vilken nettoeffekt som uppnås på den samhälleliga välfärden genom att antalet höftfrakturer minskar. En makroundersökning ligger till grund för de hjälpmedel som studeras. De två hjälpmedel som tas upp i rapporten är höftskyddsbyxan och rollatorn. Resultatet visar att man vid en viss minskning av olycksfallsfrekvensen kan uppnå en positiv nettoeffekt på den samhälleliga välfärden. Utifrån undersökningar som har gjorts på reduceringen av olycksfall som användningen av hjälpmedel bidrar till, visar kalkylerna resultat på vilka kostnadsbesparingar som kan göras. I framräkningarna för de kommande 45 åren visas det hur dessa kostnadsbesparingar kontinuerligt kommer att öka i och med att den äldre andelen av befolkningen ökar. Uppsatsen kan utgöra underlag för diskussion om huruvida vårdens organisation tjänar på att byta perspektiv från suboptimering av olika områden till mer långsiktiga samarbeten.

Global warming is an international problem which has led to that many corporations today has an increased environmental awareness. This thesis includes a Cost Benefit Analysis (CBA) approach which evaluates whether carbon offsetting is a profitable alternative for corporations and society wide. The study is predominately focusing on the emissions of the greenhouse gas . The calculations of CBA show the difference between the scenarios with or without the carbon offsetting. In the CBA approach effects are divided into benefits and costs. The study includes a case study of Husqvarna AB and is carried through with aim to get a decision support whether or not to make the corporation carbon neutral. Basic data from Husqvarna AB has been used.

he subject of this thesis is ethical aspects of decision-making concerning social risks. It is argued that a model for risk management must acknowledge several ethical aspects and, most crucial among these, the individual’s right not to be unfairly exposed to risks. Article I takes as its starting point the demand frequently expressed in the risk literature for consistent risk management. It is maintained that a model focusing on cost-benefit analysis does not respect the rights of the individual. Two alternative models are outlined. They evolve around the separateness of individuals, rights, and fair risk taking. It is claimed that a model that focuses on a fair procedure for risk decisions seems most fruitful to develop. Article II discusses the NIMBY (Not In My Backyard) conflict. The ethical premises behind the negative characterization of the NIMBY concept are investigated. It is argued that a collective weighing of risks and benefits ignores individuals’ rights not to be unfairly exposed to risks in siting scenarios. Article III presents a three-party model tool for ethical risk analysis. The focus in such analysis is a discussion of three parties that are involved in risk decisions: the risk-exposed, the beneficiary, and the decision-maker. Seven crucial ethical questions are discerned by combining these parties pairwise. Article IV discusses a model for procedural justice for risk decisions. Two theories of deliberative democracy are explored. The first focuses on a hypothetical contract, the second argues for the actual inclusion of affected parties. It is maintained that hypothetical reasoning should mainly serve as a guide concerning risk issues that affect people who cannot be included in the decision-making process. Otherwise an interactive dialogical reasoning is to be preferred. Article V explores the claim that there are no real, objective risks – only subjective descriptions of them. It is argued that even though every risk can be described in different ways, involve value judgements and emotions, the ideal of objectivity should not be abandoned. / QC 20100714