The railway system is often considered to be an industry where a monopoly occurs “naturally”, which can explain the public ownership and the use of regulations. However, railways in Europe have been subject to reforms during the last three decades. The use of tendering has increased, which is a way of introducing competition for the market in absence of competition within the market. Still, contracting out services previously produced in-house places a heavy burden on the client, where contract design and its incentive structures can be decisive for the outcome of the reform. This dissertation provides empirical evidence on costs and incentives in a publicly owned monopoly that is subject to reforms, namely the provision of railway maintenance in Sweden. Essay 1 estimates the effect of exposing rail infrastructure maintenance to competitive tendering. The results show that this reform reduced maintenance costs in Sweden by around 11 per cent over the period 1999-2011, without any associated fall in the available measures of quality. Essay 2 estimates the relative cost efficiency between and within maintenance regions in Sweden. The results indicate considerable efficiency gaps together with economies of scale not being fully exploited. Essay 3 analyses the effect of incentive structures in railway maintenance contracts. An increase in the power of the incentive scheme reduces the number of infrastructure failures according to the results. In addition, the estimated effect of the performance incentive schemes suggests that more effort towards preventing train delays is made at the expense of preventing other failures. Essay 4 comprises an estimation of marginal costs of rail maintenance. The static model produces slightly lower marginal costs compared to previous estimates on Swedish data. The results from the dynamic model show that an increase in maintenance costs in year t - 1 predicts an increase in maintenance costs in year t. Indeed, there is an intertemporal effect that depends on the performed maintenance activities (governed by the contract design).

The subject of the thesis is evaluation of a biogas station activity and its impact on the entire economy. The theoretical part describes the basics of biogas station functioning and legislation to construct and operate biogas station. Then it focuses on investment theory where basic methods of evaluation of economy efficiency and chosen ratio indexes of financial analysis for company´s evaluation are summerized. In practical part, the methods analyzed in the theoretical part are employed for specific details found in AGROSPOL STARÝ PELHŘIMOV Inc. The outcome of the thesis is a complex summary of impacts of a biogas station construction. Key words: biogas plant, company´s economy, economic efficiency of investment.

Especially in the last decades human society became aware of the negative impacts of their activities on environment quality. Charges or fees are one of the regulatory instruments of environmental politics. The major function of fees or charges is the incentive to change behaviour of human society. The small stationary sources reduce significantly local air quality. Therefore, it is necessary to regulate these sources. The objective of this thesis is to prove, that collecting of existing charges or fees for small stationary sources is economically uneffective. There will be applied Cost Benefit Analysis for comparison of the administrative costs to the fiscal incomes.

Characteristics of a feasibility study focused on deciding on an investment project in the form of property acquisition and subsequent application of the proposed procedure for the preparation, evaluation of economic efficiency and risk analysis of buying an apartment building.

The aim of the thesis is to survey the economic conditions of the establishment, management and other operations of plantations of fast growing trees (FGT). Based on the assessment factors significantly affecting FGT projects and their economic profitability, business success is evaluate. In the theoretical part is processed use of wood biomass and the practical part is compiled on research ,calculation of firewood from FGT and production process of FGT. As a practical example of efficient use of biomass activities of Slovakian company Biomas is described.

The purpose of this study is to examine the factors of economic efficiency embodied in the modern personal airplane and its related services in the United States, with a view to ascertaining the significance of such transportation as a technological factor in the American national economy.

The diploma thesis is divided into two parts. The first part deals with problems of development projects, individual phases of the project and their risks. It also describes different ways of financing and examines indicators for assessing the economic efficiency of investments. The second part is a feasibility study that solves a particular development project. The study is based on the theoretical part and examines the various options of the project solution - its financing, cash flow, economic indicators, schedule and budget of the project. The study defines the conditions under which the project is realizable. The data obtained from the feasibility study can therefore be used as a basis for a possible investment.

Thesis (M.Sc. (Agricultural Economics)) -- University of Limpopo, 2020 / Table grape production plays an important role in the economy of many countries in Africa. It serves as a source of income for people who are engaged in its production and being one of the fields that is labour-intensive, thereby providing employment for many people. The aim of this study was to analyse economic efficiency of table grape production in Waterberg and Sekhukhune districts of Limpopo Province, South Africa. The study used primary data collected from semi-structured questionnaires. A sampling technique called snowball, was used in the study as this method assisted in getting those farmers that were not easily accessible. The analytical tools employed to analyse data included descriptive statistics and Stochastic Frontier Model. Findings from the study revealed that the average age of table grape farmers was 47 years. On average, household size for table grape farmers was found to be 5 members. Also, findings revealed that table grape farmers on average had a farming experience of 16 years. Average household income was found to be R47 600, 00. Furthermore, the study revealed that the average years of schooling for the table grape farmers was 15 years and only 67% of these farmers have acquired a tertiary educational level, while 33% have acquired secondary educational level. In terms of efficiency, farming experience (P<0,00), educational level (P<0,05) household size (P<0,10) and age of farmer (P<0,10) were associated with increased efficiency as they were found to be significant at 1%, 5% and 10% confidence level. The findings also revealed that quantity of grapes produced was positively influenced by Farm size (P<0,00), labour (P<0,00), pesticides used (P<0,05) , extension services (P<0,05) and fertilisers (P<0,05). Technical efficiency among farmers was found to range from 0.8 to 1, with a mean of 0.89, thus this indicated possibility of improvement in production. However, the allocative efficiency was found to range from 0.47 to 1, with a mean of 0.68, this clearly indicated that some farmers were finding it difficult to allocate their resources efficiently. On the other hand, it was found that economic efficiency ranged from 0.56 to 1, with a mean of 0.73, this indicated that most of the farmers were economically efficient. Meanwhile, some of the constraints faced by the table grape farmers included high electricity bills and labour costs, as such the introduction of prepaid electricity in the farms could reduce the strain they go through. Based on the findings from the study, it was recommended that, since the production of grapes is a male-dominated enterprise, women and youth should also participate. Participation could be encouraged through provision of learnership skills on the farms.

The main objective of this thesis is a business plan - buying a new machine. The operational objective is to design a variety of financing options and choose the best of them, and then assess the efficiency of investment. The theoretical part is focused on the definition of basic concepts relating to the company and its surroundings, business plan, risk assessment and evaluation of economic efficiency of investment. In the practical part deals with specific business purpose and the purchase of a new machine in the company. I'm thinking here of various financing alternatives and then choosing the best of them while judging whether the investment is acceptable for the company or not.

This thesis deals with the determination of economic efficiency of business project, whose subject is the reconstruction of outbuildings at the hospital. The theoretical part is devoted to the business plan and its affiliates. There are also characterized by cash flows, the discount rate. The practical part describes the chosen project, determining cash flows, the assessment of economic efficiency and sensitivity to potential risks.