Orientador: Renato Parsekian Martins / Resumo: Introdução: O ortodontista necessita ponderar entre a melhor evidência científica disponível, a sua experiência profissional e as preferências do paciente para a tomada de decisão clínica. A decisão entre bráquetes autoligáveis (BA) ou convencionais (BC) pode ser fundamentada com estudos comparando sua eficiência clínica e aspectos profissionais de manuseio dos bráquetes, mas poucos estudos abordam as percepções do paciente e nenhum compara e quantifica a preferência e a percepção de desconforto dos pacientes, distinguindo-a da sensibilidade dolorosa. Um estudo clínico randomizado e controlado split-mouth de centro único foi conduzido com esse objetivo. Métodos: Vinte e seis participantes com média de 28,8(11,5) anos, com má oclusão simétrica, foram convocados para participar da pesquisa. Cada paciente teve um hemiarco superior randomizado para instalação de BA, enquanto o hemiarco contralateral era instalado os BC, ao mesmo tempo (T0). O cegamento apenas foi possível para o pesquisador. A preferência foi consultada após 30 dias e quantificada pela técnica willigness-to-pay (WTP), enquanto o nível de desconforto foi medido por escala visual analógica (EVA) antes da instalação(T0), imediatamente após a instalação (T1), 7 dias após a instalação (T2) e 30 dias após a instalação e com fio amarrado (T3). Índices de placa (IP) e gengival(IG) foram feitos em T0 e T3. Resultados: Os pacientes percebem diferença entre os modelos usados. Ao final, 17 pacientes preferiram os bráquetes c... (Resumo completo, clicar acesso eletrônico abaixo) / Abstract: ABSTRACT Introduction: The orthodontist needs to balance between the best available scientific evidence, his professional experience and the patient's preferences for clinical decision-making. The decision between self-ligating (SLB) or conventional (CB) brackets can be based on studies comparing their clinical efficiency and professional aspects of bracket manipulation, but few studies address the patient's perceptions and none compares and quantifies preference and perception of discomfort of patients, distinguishing it from pain sensitivity. A single-center, randomized, controlled split-mouth trial was conducted with this goal. Methods: Twenty-six participants with a mean age of 28.8 (11.5) years with symmetric malocclusion were invited to participate in the study. Each patient had a superior hemiarch randomized to bonding SLB, while the contralateral hemiarch had CB bonded at the same time (T0). Blinding was only possible for the researcher. The preference was consulted after 30 days and quantified by the willigness-to-pay (WTP) technique, while the level of discomfort was measured by visual analogue scale (VAS) before bonding (T0), immediately after bonding (T1), 7 days after bonding (T2) and 30 days after bonding and with wire tied (T3). Plaque and gingival index were made in T0 and T3. Results: Patients perceive difference between the models used. In the end, 17 patients preferred the conventional, while 9 preferred the self-ligation brackets. Patients who chose CBs we... (Complete abstract click electronic access below) / Doutor

With theoretical foundations in welfare theory, the cost benefit analysis (CBA) technique is a powerful tool for assessing benefits particularly where markets do not exist or would fail (for example due to the existence of public goods) or have become potentially politically excluded (such as the health sector). Unlike other economic evaluation techniques, costs and benefits are measured in monetary terms allowing for comparisons within and between different sectors of the economy for resource allocation decisions. Using contingent valuation (CV) techniques, people's preferences for goods are determined by finding out what they would be willing to pay (WTP) for specified benefits or improvements; or accept (WTA), as compensation for withdrawal or loss of benefit. While the use of WTP methods has grown in other sectors, the uptake in health has been limited. A long-standing criticism is that stated WTP estimates may be poor indicators of actual WTP, calling into question their validity and the use of such estimates for welfare valuation. The aim of this thesis is to investigate the criterion validity of CV-WTP studies. A four-pronged approach including critical appraisals of the available literature and evidence on criterion validity and empirical analyses was adopted. The thesis established the scarcity in criterion validity assessments, particularly in the health sector and that evidence on the criterion validity of CV-WTP is more varied than authors are presenting. The variety in the methods used to assess and report criterion validity assessments is demonstrated. Further, the impact of the analysis of hypothetical WTP on criterion validity assessments and conclusions thereof is demonstrated. The empirical analyses further demonstrate the differences in predictions and predictors of WTP analyses, discussing the effect of these on criterion validity assessments and conclusions. Finally, the thesis offers suggestions for the reporting of criterion validity assessments, in efforts to improve the method.

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>

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.

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.

The purpose of this dissertation is to analyze land degradation from an economic perspective in order to assess its significance, understand its causes and design possible remedies. The physical extent and economic significance of land degradation is not well known, but it is indisputable that declining land productivity is a significant problem in many areas of the developing world. Past efforts to combat land degradation have shown a discouraging rate of failure. This work suggests that they have not gone to the root of the problem. The underlying forces of market and government failures are systematically discussed in the chapters which deal with the macroeconomic aspects of land degradation. This analytical framework is applied to a case study of the nation of Lesotho, Southern Africa. An attempt to estimate the economic significance of soil loss on crop land is made, and market and government failures relating to land use are reviewed. In the microeconomic analysis, a comparative review is made of the theory of cost-benefit analysis and its appliction in 20 empirical studies of land improvement projects. This review forms the basis for a new cost-beefit analysis of a specific project in southern Lesotho. The results have important implications for strategic choices in combating land degradation / Diss. Stockholm : Handelshögsk.

The aim of the thesis is to study some of the essential consequences of the location of Algots Ltd in three municipalities (Lycksele, Norsjö and Skellefteå) in Västerbotten County in northern Sweden. The factories were established with huge subsidies from the Swedish Government which considered the location as a major effort to stimulate regional development in Västerbotten County.The study shows that the yearly working time has increased, on average, by 80 per cent for the women who received employment in one of the factories. Both the incomemult i pi i er and the employmentmult i piier effects in Västerbotten County are rather small since the intermediate goods used by the firm are produced outside the region. The study also contain cost-benefit analysis as applied to the whole economy. Primarily due to very poor private profitability, the investment has yielded negative profitability to the whole economy except in the case of the Norsjö factory. / digitalisering@umu