Although numerous theoretical traditions postulate that human fairness depends on the ratio of costs-to-benefits, theory and empirical data remain divided on the direction of the effect. Particularly, answers to the following questions have remained unclear: how cost/benefit ratios affect people’s fairness decision-making during resource allocations, how cost/benefit ratios affect people’s emotions and cognition when they receive fair or unfair treatments, whether people are intuitively selfish or fair, and how cost/benefit ratios of sharing affect it. To address these questions, I conducted three lines of studies in Chapters 2 to 4 of this dissertation. In Chapter 2, I examined how cost/benefit ratios of sharing affect people to make fair or unfair decisions in resource allocations. Results showed that more participants acted fairly when the costs were equal to the benefits as compared to when the costs were higher or lower than the benefits. Shifting from resource dividers to receivers, in Chapter 3 I tested people’s emotional responses and cognitive judgements when they receive fair or unfair treatments at different cost/benefit ratios. My findings revealed that people felt more negative under unfair treatments when the costs were equal to the benefits as compared to when the costs were higher or lower than the benefits. Findings from Chapter 2 and 3 suggested an even-split heuristic: When the costs were equal to the benefits and thus the even-split was fair, more people tended to make fair decisions, and people felt more negative about receiving an unfair offer. Building on these findings, Chapter 4 tested the even-split heuristic using a fast-slow dual process framework and proposed the Value-Heuristic Framework. Results in Chapter 4 showed that people took the shortest time to make the even-and-fair decision (i.e., the even-split was also fair). I also found that people took longer to make the even-but-not-fair decision (i.e., giving an even-split, which results in uneven payoffs), and the longest time to make the not-even-but-fair decision (i.e., giving an uneven-split that results in even payoffs). Based upon the overall findings from my three empirical chapters. I formulated a conceptual framework for explaining and predicting people’s fairness decision-making.

The purpose of this study was to track former remedial students at one of Mississippi’s community colleges in order to examine the investment effectiveness of remedial and developmental programs by conducting a cost-benefit analysis. The approach involved tracking, surveying, and evaluation. The method was selected on the basis of data needs and gaps that could enable the state’s system of community colleges to estimate the economic cost and benefits to the state, the community colleges, and the students. The study used a survey instrument, along with existing institutional data on revenues and expenditures, to ascertain whether funds generated for the support of remedial programs were cost effective and economically viable. A cost-benefit analysis was conducted by defining the purpose of the study, measuring the cost, measuring the benefits, and calculating the benefit-cost ratio. The results of the study indicated that the economic benefits of providing remedial education outweighed the economic cost.

Bribery is a concept which has appeared quite frequently in the media recently, but what constitutes a bribe and what factors can be used in determining if an individual case is actually a bribe? The purpose of this essay is to try and answer these questions through a study in which respondents were presented with different scenarios and were asked to determine whether a bribe had occurred and explain their reasoning. In the study, it was evident that the amount of money involved in a given case had a large impact on respondents’ determination of whether a bribe had occurred or not. The grey area that seems to exist between what is appropriate and inappropriate most likely stems from ambiguousness in Swedish law.

Walking tracks with provision for overnight stays exist in many countries. They are a tourism drawcard and some (e.g. the Milford Track in New Zealand) have icon status. In Australia, long-distance tracks exist in most states but had not until recently been developed in north Queensland. The working hypothesis for this thesis is that a new long-distance walking track in the tropical rainforest environment could be a valuable recreation asset for the region, and a major tourism attractor. Since a long-distance walking track in a natural environment would be situated in a rural region away from major cities, there is potential for tourism expenditure by long-distance hikers to contribute positively to the economy of remote towns. It is proposed that a walking track can be created relatively easily in the rainforests if disused former logging roads are used as the basis. The new walking track on a logging road base could be developed at moderate cost, and with minimal ecological and environmental disturbance. A new track created within a protected natural area is usually regarded as a public good and most associated costs may be considered to be appropriately funded through the taxation system. However, it may be argued that the recreational use of a long-distance walking track provides benefits to those who use it, and that hikers should contribute towards the recovery of managerial costs. An appropriate level of user fee may be obtained from a market model. In this thesis, an annual market model is estimated for the recreation service which provides a short-term efficient price. A long-distance walking track is an investment in recreation infrastructure the benefits of which are intergenerational. Thus efficiency in the long-term is also an important consideration. Both a static analysis and cost-benefit dynamic analysis are presented in this thesis. When a track does not exist (as was the case in north Queensland when this thesis commenced) or when it is under construction (as when the thesis was nearing completion), direct evaluation is not possible and so demand (consumer surplus) and supply (marginal cost of recreation service) estimates for a new track must be obtained from other sources. A key original contribution in this thesis is the application of economic transfer to derive a market model for a proposed recreation service infrastructure item, and a further application of economic transfer involves the use of the benefit level from the market model as an input into the cost-benefit analysis. Demand estimates have been obtained from surveys of visitors on two other walking tracks in north Queensland. Zonal travel cost methodology has been applied to the survey data to develop demand curves for these long-distance hiking opportunities and measures of value in terms of consumer surplus. Zonal rather than individual travel cost was necessary since most respondents were walking the particular track for the first time. Since the Centenary of Federation in Australia in 2001, when seed funding was made available, some new long-distance walking tracks have been developed in the Queensland Wet Tropics World Heritage Area. One of these has been selected as the case study developing track for this thesis. Demand and cost estimates for the new trail have been transferred, with appropriate adjustments, from the studies conducted on the two other trails. An interesting feature in this transfer process is that close substitutes exist for the target walking track but not for either of the two source walking tracks. An innovation in this thesis is the development of a market model for the new track. Two market models are derived, one from each of the source tracks, and are used to determine the socially efficient price and visitation levels. These may be used by management as a basis for the setting of user fees. The equilibrium values obtained from the static analysis have also been incorporated into the dynamic analysis together with the consumer surplus estimates from the travel cost demand curve. The equilibrium quantities provide the basis for an estimate of the visitation level expected for the new track on which many of the continuing management costs depend. Two scenarios (with and without hut infrastructure) have been investigated in cost-benefit analyses. Both scenarios were found to be economically worthwhile.

<p>Bribery is a concept which has appeared quite frequently in the media recently, but what constitutes a bribe and what factors can be used in determining if an individual case is actually a bribe? The purpose of this essay is to try and answer these questions through a study in which respondents were presented with different scenarios and were asked to determine whether a bribe had occurred and explain their reasoning. In the study, it was evident that the amount of money involved in a given case had a large impact on respondents’ determination of whether a bribe had occurred or not. The grey area that seems to exist between what is appropriate and inappropriate most likely stems from ambiguousness in Swedish law.</p>

Yes / The government increased the funding for regional development agencies to £2.3 billion in 2007/8, yet hard evidence on the effectiveness of the spending is difficult to find. Techniques for valuing benefits in difficult areas have existed for many years. They range from the hedonic methods and contingent valuation studies of environmental economists to the estimates of shadow wage rates used by development economists to take account of the economic value of additional employment. The latter have been used for years in some of the poorest developing countries in the world, as well as some countries in the European Union. Meanwhile some attempts to capture the indirect benefits of regeneration spending have surfaced through the United States with the ‘Social Return on Investment’ and Local Multiplier 3, yet the proponents of these approaches do not seem to have come across the abundant literature on the use of shadow pricing in the context of developing countries. This article attempts to explore the extent to which practices used and lessons learned in the economic analysis of environmental impacts and of investments in developing countries can inform the evaluation and appraisal of regeneration projects in the United Kingdom.

The use of contingent valuation (CV) methods to estimate benefits has become increasingly common in project analysis. Ever since the NOAA Blue Ribbon Panel Report in 1993 (NOAA, 1993) recommended the use of the referendum form of CV, it seems to have become the method of choice in practical settings. Referendum-type questions are thought to be easier to answer than the open-ended variety. But there is a downside: econometric techniques must be applied to the referendum data in order to infer the mean or median willingness to pay (WTP) of the sample and, thus, of the population of potential beneficiaries. This is not, however, just a technical point. Its implications are demonstrated with data obtained from a referendum CV study done for a proposed sewer and wastewater treatment project designed to improve water quality in the Tietê River flowing through the city of São Paulo, Brazil. The results show that: A factor of 4 separates lowest from highest central tendency estimates of WTP, ignoring one implausible outlier that is 14 times larger than the largest of the other figures. This variation is ample enough to make a difference in the cost-benefit analysis results for the project under conservative assumptions. Analysts that use referendum CV data must be sensitive to the problems they buy into, and decide how to deal with the resulting benefits uncertainty in their project analysis. If the principal use of CV survey data is to produce a mean or median estimate of WTP for Cost-Benefit analysis rather than to test for the factors influencing referendum choice responses and, by implication, WTP, nonparametric approaches have the advantage of simplicity over parametric approaches. / Master of Arts

The aim of this study was establish operational systems and viable size of community poultry projects versus number of beneficiaries to determine the capacity to sustain itself and serve its purpose as food security projects. Community poultry projects are expected to serve their purpose of securing food to beneficiaries and continue to run sustainably for longer time. The current study uses qualitative method to assess the performance of community poultry projects. The study used questionnaire to collect primary data by interviewing the accessible beneficiaries of existing poultry community. The results of the survey revealed that the majority of community poultry projects are not viable to fulfil purpose of their establishment which is to secure food for beneficiaries and to be self-sustainable. However, the average value of reward was equivalent to R3 a day from both broiler and layer projects. The study further revealed that the reward was paid once a year. The rewards in terms of product were expected to be consumed by household and transferred into cash to buy other types of food required. The food is mainly determined by the size of the household. However the question remains, R3 a day is sufficient to buy food for a family for four members. Based on the outcome of this study, researcher encourages further research into to all agricultural related community food security projects. Research studies may determine if these projects are really aimed at helping economic growth in rural communities or whether they have capacity to secure basic food for beneficiaries while sustaining them self. Agreed minimum value of reward per beneficiaries must be established to ensure a future perfect match on size on all agricultural projects versus number of beneficiaries. / Thesis (MBA) North-West University, Mafikeng Campus, 2011

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