Denna uppsats handlar om hur den särskilda tillåtlighetsregeln i 11 kap. 6 § miljöbalken tillämpas vid tillståndsprövning av vattenverksamheter. Av paragrafen följer att en vattenverksamhet endast får bedrivas om den samlade nyttan av verksamheten överväger de kostnader samt skador och olägenheter som verksamheten medför. Syftet med paragrafen är att hindra vattenverksamheter som inte är samhällsekonomiskt motiverade samt utgöra ett extra skydd för miljön utöver miljöbalkens generella miljökrav. Syftet med studien är undersöka hur denna paragraf tillämpas i praktiken – både i rättspraxis och i ansökningsförfarandet. Studien bygger i första hand på rättsvetenskaplig metod men ger även en mer allmän introduktion till samhällsekonomiska analysmetoder. Studien visar att det är mycket svårt att finna vägledning i praxis för hur en bedömning av samhällsnyttan bör gå till. Praxis visar dock att även faktorer som verksamhetens överensstämmelse med olika miljökvalitetsmål, art- och områdesskydd och estetiska värden kan få betydelse vid samhällsnyttobedömningen. Från sökandenas sida riktas generellt ett för stort fokus mot den privata eller företagsekonomiska nyttan av verksamheten. Sammantaget medför detta en risk för att miljövärden inte värderas på ett korrekt sätt när de vägs mot en mer konkret uttryckt monetär nytta. Ett bredare perspektiv på bedömningen bör därför antas. Vidare diskuteras även hur tillämpningen av bestämmelsen skulle kunna förbättras mot bakgrund av olika värderingsmetoder. / The subject matter of this Bachelor’s thesis is the special permit condition applying to water operations in accordance with chapter 11 section 6 of the Swedish Environmental Code. The article states that water operations may only be undertaken if the benefits, from the point of view of public and private interests, are greater than the costs and damages associated with them. The purpose of the regulation is to prevent water operations that are not socially efficient and to provide an additional protection for the environment, in excess of the general rules of consideration in the Code. The purpose of this study is to look into how this particular article is applied in practice. This is done by analysing the legal usage as practiced by the court as well as by the applicants. The general rule is that the applicant has to show that the operation, for which the permit is being sought, is in compliance with the obligations associated with the activity. The study shows that it is very difficult to find guidance from case law on how an assessment of the social efficiency is to be carried out. Court practice indicates that circumstances such as whether the operation is in compliance with certain environmental objectives can be used to weight different aspects in the social efficiency assessment. However, the assessments carried out by the applicants are in general focused on the economic benefits for the applicant. This practice might entail a risk for environmental values not being properly valued when weighted against more tangible monetary benefits. A broader perspective is therefore called for. Potential improvements on the practice of the article are discussed against different valuation methods.

The purpose of this thesis is to present an approach for good practice with regards to using cost benefit analysis (CBA) as a value-adding activity in the information security investment process for large enterprises. The approach is supported by empirical data. From a MIO model perspective, this report is focused on the phase of strategic choices regarding organization, i.e. trying to find optimal investments for efficient operations. To assess, improve and monitor the operational effectiveness and management’s internal control environment is essential in today’s business execution. Executive management and boards are increasingly looking for an information security governance framework that encompasses information technology and information security: a single framework through which all information assets and activities within the organisation can be governed, to provide the optimum capability for meeting the organisation’s objectives, in terms of functionality and security. The investment decision is one of the most visible and controversial key decisions in an enterprise. Some projects are approved, others are bounced, and the rest enter the organisational equivalent of suspended animation with the dreaded request from the decision makers to “redo the business case” or “provide more information.” The concept of cost benefit analyses of information security helps management to make decisions on which initiatives to fund with how much, as there needs to be an approach for measuring and comparing different alternatives and how they meet business objectives of the enterprise. Non-financial metrics are identified using different approaches: governance effectiveness, risk analysis, business case analysis or game theory. The financial performance metrics are driven by the main value disciplines of an enterprise. These lead to the use of formulas enabling the measurement of asset utilisation, profit or growth: ROI (ROIC), NPV, IRR (MIRR), FCF, DCF, Payback Period, TCO, TBO, EVA, and ROSI. The author shows research in the field of good corporate governance and the investment approval process, as well as case studies from two multinational enterprises. The case from Motorola demonstrates how IT governance principles are equally applicable to information security governance, while the case from Ericsson demonstrates how an information security investment decision can be supported by performing a cost benefit analysis using traditional marketing approaches of business case analysis (BCA) and standard financial calculations. The suggested good practice presented in this thesis is summarised in four steps: 1. Understand main rationale for the security investment 2. Identify stakeholders and strategic goals 3. Perform Cost Benefit Analysis (non-financial and financial performance metrics) 4. Validate that the results are relevant to stakeholders and strategic goals DISCLAIMER This report is intended for academic training only and should not be used for any other purposes. The contents are not to be considered legal or otherwise professional advice. No liability is taken, whatsoever, by the author.

Samhället är mer eller mindre konstant utsatt för risker. De flesta av dem är så små, och har kanske till och med så pass obetydande effekter för individen om de realiseras, att vi negligerar dem i våra dagliga beslut. Vid vissa tillfällen står vid dock inför beslut som är betydligt svårare, t.ex. i vilken mån vi ska handla kostsamma försäkringar för stora olyckor som högst osannolikt inträffar men skulle få katastrofala konsekvenser. Liknande situationer uppstår för centrala beslutsfattare där man fattar beslut att genomföra riskreducerande åtgärder i samband med potentiella katastrofer. Sådana åtgärder finansieras genom skattemedel och kanske kan man då kräva att myndigheter åtminstone försöker redovisa de förväntade kostnaderna och fördelarna som följs av besluten. För detta ändamål kan man använda kostnads-nyttoanalys, vilket vanligtvis rekommenderas för riskhantering inom t.ex. vägtrafik, eller i viss mån den mindre avancerade kostnads-effektanalysen. Riskanalysens utformning är bl.a. beroende av om man hanterar risk (man kan tilldela utfallen sannolikheter) eller osäkerhet (man känner till utfallen men kan inte tilldela dem sannolikheter) och begränsas vanligtvis av en mängd ovissheter, såsom värden för olika ingående parametrar (t.ex. värdet på ett statistiskt liv). Detta arbete tar upp teori angående värdering ex ante av kostnader i samband med potentiella katastrofer och hur dessa värden kan användas under risk eller osäkerhet i en kvantitativ riskanalys. Med hjälp av det försöker jag beskriva i stora drag hur man skulle kunna värdera den ekonomiska nyttan av riskreducerande åtgärder i samband med den s.k. fågelinfluensan. Mina slutsatser är att en probabilistisk ansats och en kvantitativ riskanalys försvåras av bl.a. ett knapphändigt material för sannolikhetstolkningar, förekomsten av kollektiv risk och svårigheter i att värdera t.ex. statistiska liv. Socialstyrelsen är nationell samordnare av arbetet med förebyggande åtgärder i samband med potentiella pandemier men varken använder eller rekommenderar andra myndigheter att använda nyttobaserade beslutskriterier som en del av beslutsunderlaget i samband med den s.k. fågelinfluensan (i detta fall). Kanske borde det tillhöra deras uppgifter att se över möjligheterna att använda samhällsekonomiska utredningar vid sådana situationer. Istället använder de vad som liknar en försiktighetsprincip, vilket också kan försvaras under förutsättningen att riskerna är påtagliga. För stora och långsiktiga beslut borde man istället införa en snävare anti-katastrof-princip innefattande en prioriteringsordning för när man, baserat på om det är möjligt och utredningsekonomiskt motiverat, ska genomföra kostnads-nyttoanalyser och när man istället ska genomföra kostnads-effektanalyser. De kan sedan vara en del av ett större beslutsunderlag. / Our society is constantly exposed to risks. Most of them are so small, and maybe even have so little effect if they occur, that we disregard them in our daily decisions. Quite often, however, we face decisions that are harder for us to make, as whether or not to buy expensive insurance to cover for accidents that have only a small probability to occur but also catastrophic consequences. Similar situations appear for central decision makers when they decide whether or not to reduce a certain catastrophic risk for the society as a whole. Those actions are financed through taxes and therefore it might be fair to say that the authorities should at least try to account for the possible benefits and costs associated with a risk reducing programme. For this you may use Cost-Benefit Analysis (CBA), which is usually recommended for use in, for example, risk management for traffic risks, or the less advanced Cost-Effectiveness Analysis (CEA). The shape and form of the risk analysis is to a great deal dependent of whether you are dealing with risk (it’s possible to assign the predicted states probabilities) or uncertainty (it’s not possible to assign the predicted states probabilities) and is also usually limited by a number of other uncertainties, say in value parameters (e.g. the value of a statistical life, VSL). This paper deals with theories regarding how to value (ex ante) the costs of potential catastrophes and how these values could be used in dealing with risk or uncertainty in a quantitative risk analysis. From there I try to describe how, possibly, you could value the benefits from programmes reducing risks of an avian influenza. My conclusions are that a probabilistic approach in a quantitative analysis is complicated by, among other things, the short amount of data necessary to compute objective probabilities, the existence of collective risks and for example difficulties in measuring VSL. The Swedish National Board of Health and Welfare (Socialstyrelsen) is the national coordinator for all work regarding risk reducing actions for potential pandemics, but the board neither uses nor recommends other authorities to use utility-based criteria as a part of their decision material when dealing with, in this case, the bird flue. Quite possibly it should be a part of their work to look into the possibilities of using economic evaluations in these situations. Instead they use what resembles a Precautionary Principle, which also can be used on justified grounds as long as the risks are highly present. What should be done for large and long term decision making, though, is to define a narrower Anti-Catastrophe Principle containing orders of priorities for when, based on if its possible and financially motivated, to use CBA and when to use CEA. Those analyses could then be used along with any other decision material.

This thesis examines the evaluation of the economic, environmental and social effects of dams, and lessons learned from previous dams. It then focuses on cost benefit analysis as a decision-making tool pre-project for evaluating the potential gains and losses of building a dam; and as a framework for evaluating dams in operation. It reviews the basic assumptions required for a legitimate cost benefit analysis, and the inherent limitations of this method. It uses the Sardar Sarovar dam as a case study for the use and abuse of cost benefit analysis in decision-making, interstate politics, propaganda and activism. It also illustrates the difficulties in dividing costs and benefits in an equitable manner at national, state, and grassroots levels.

Climate change tests the limits of human understanding of complexity and uncertainty. It challenges assumptions about our presumed power of control over this planet. This paper examines the theory of how governmental executive branch agencies make regulation decisions about climate change using the decision-making methodologies of cost-benefit analysis and the precautionary principle, and as influenced by perceptions of the bounds of human rationality and ability to deal with risk and uncertainty.

Ett företag som ska välja mellan olika investeringsalternativ kan använda sig av nettonuvärdesmetoden för att beräkna vilken investering som anses mest lönsam. För att genomföra uträkningen prognostiseras framtida positiva kassaflöden som investeringen förväntas generera. Nettonuvärdesmetoden kan även användas vid bedömningar av infrastrukturinvesteringar men för den offentliga sektorn är de positiva kassaflödena inte lika frekventa i investeringsprocessen. För den offentliga sektorn är det istället befolkningens nytta av en investering som värderas. Nyttan är från början kvalitativ och värderas monetärt med hjälp av kalkylvärden, kalkylprinciper, trafikprognoser och andra verktyg. En monetär värdering av nytta gör att en nettonuvärdesuträkning blir möjlig. För att genomföra omformuleringen används en metod som kallas Cost-Benefit Analysis. Genom metoden identifieras de kvalitativa effekterna av en investering för att de sedan ska kunna kvantifieras. Studiens undersökningsenhet är Trafikverket som utvecklar och underhåller det Svenska transportsystemet. Studien har identifierat vilka värden Trafikverket kvantifierar i sin nettonuvärdesuträkning, vilka faktorer som ligger bakom värderingen och hur kvantifieringen går till. Det är nyttan i form av sparad tid, trafiksäkerhet och konsekvenser för miljö som kvantifieras. Undersökningen har skett genom insamling av teori i form av vetenskapliga artiklar samt rapporter och den empiriska utgångspunkten har varit de rekommendationer och den beräkningsmetodik som Trafikverket använder sig av vid den monetära värderingen. Värderingen av nytta som genereras av en investering är beroende av befolkningens betalningsvilja för ökad nytta. Det är den betalningsviljan som är grunden för de rekommendationer som Trafikverket följer. Resultatet har visat de faktorer som är grunden för värderingen, vilka värden som kvantifieras och hur kvantifieringen är möjlig, för att Trafikverket ska kunna använda nettonuvärdesmetoden för att göra en bedömning angående ett investeringsalternativ. / When a company decides which project to invest in among different alternatives they can use the net present value method. The method uses the expected generation of cash flow from the different investments in order to determine which investment would generate the most profit for the company. The net present value method can also be used by the public sector to decide between different projects. The public sector does not consider the same aspects with regards to cash flows as companies. The public sector calculates future cash flows in terms of benefits and costs for the countries population. The benefits from an investment are qualitative from the start and need to be monetized in order to be used in the net present value calculation. The quantification of the qualitative effects is accomplished though calculation values, calculation principles, traffic forecasts and other applications. To be able to facilitate the transformation the public sector can use a method called Cost-Benefit Analysis. The method makes it possible to identify the qualitative effects of an investment and then translate the effects to quantity values. A case study has been made with the Swedish Transport Administration as investigation unit, which is the organization that develops and maintains the Swedish transportation system. The case study has resulted in an identification of which values the Swedish Transport Administration decides to monetize, which aspects the values depends on and how the monetization is made. It is the benefits of saved travel time, value of a statistical life and environmental effects that are monetized. The theoretical part of the study is composed of scientific journals and reports. The empirical part of the study has been founded in the different recommendations and calculation methods which the Swedish Transport Administration uses to perform the monetization. The valuation of the benefits generated from a project is dependent on the populations’ willingness to pay for it. It is the willingness to pay which is the foundation of the recommendations which the Swedish Transport Administration adhere to. The results have shown the different aspects which are the foundation for the valuation. The results have also shown which values are quantified and how the quantification is possible to enable the Swedish Transport Administration to use the net present value method in order to judge different investment alternatives.

The stockholm county proposed legislation in 2010 on the use of studded tires in the city. The aim of the policy was to reduce the use of studded tires by 50 percent. The research question investigates the authenticity of the policy where it was hypothesized that the net social benefits for the imposition of this charge was less than or equal to zero. Emperical literatures were chosen systematically and with the help of theories on welfare economics, a meta analysis was employed quantifying cost and benefits of all outcomes. The findings shows that the NSB is less than zero meaning that it was a wise decision to reject the proposal.

The first paper examines the value of a statistical life (VSL) for out-of-hospital cardiac arrest (OHCA) victims. We found VSL values to be higher for OHCA victims than for people who die in road traffic accidents and a lower-bound estimate of VSL for OHCA would be in the range of 20 to 30 million Swedish crowns (SEK). The second paper concerns hypothetical bias in contingent valuation (CV) studies. We investigate the link between the determinants and empirical treatment of uncertainty through certainty calibration and find that the higher the confidence of the respondents the more we can trust that stated WTP is correlated to actual WTP. The third paper investigates the performance of two communication aids (a flexible community analogy and an array of dots) in valuing mortality risk reductions for OHCA. The results do not support the prediction of expected utility theory, i.e. that WTP for a mortality risk reduction increases with the amount of risk reduction (weak scope sensitivity), for any of the communication aids. The fourth paper presents a cost-benefit analysis to evaluate the effects of dual dispatch defibrillation by ambulance and fire services in the County of Stockholm. The intervention had positive economic effects, yielding a benefit-cost ratio of 36, a cost per quality-adjusted life-year (QALY) of € 13 000 and the cost per saved life was € 60 000. The fifth paper explores how different response times from OHCA to defibrillation affect patients’ survival rates by using geographic information systems (GIS). The model predicted a baseline survival rate of 3.9% and reducing the ambulance response time by 1 minute increased survival to 4.6%. The sixth paper analyzes demographic determinants of incident experience and risk perception, and the relationship between the two, for eight different risk domains. Males and highly educated respondents perceive their risks lower than what is expected compared to actual incident experience.

Currently several disparate and incomplete approaches are being used to analyse and make decisions on the complex methodology of carbon capture and storage (CCS). A literature review revealed that, as CCS is a new and complex technology, there is no agreed-upon thorough assessment method for high-level CCS decisions. Therefore, a risk model addressing these weaknesses was created for assessing complex CCS decisions using a multi-criteria decision analysis approach (MCDA). The model is aimed at transparently and comprehensively assessing a wide variety of heterogeneous CCS criteria to provide insights into and to aid decision makers in making CCS-specific decisions. The risk model includes a variety of tools to assess heterogeneous CCS criteria from the environmental, social, economic and engineering fields. The model uses decision trees, sensitivity analysis and Monte Carlo simulation in combination with utility curves and decision makers’ weights to assess decisions based on data and situational uncertainties. Elements in the model have been used elsewhere but are combined here in a novel way to address CCS decisions. Three case studies were developed to run the model in scenarios using expert opinion, project-specific data, literature reviews, and engineering reports from Alberta, Saskatchewan and Europe. In collaboration with Alberta Innovates Technology Futures, a pilot study was conducted with CCS experts in Alberta to assess how they would rank the importance of CCS criteria to a project selection decision. The MCDA model was run using experts’ criteria weights to determine how CCS projects were ranked by different experts. The model was well received by the CCS experts who believed that it could be adapted and commercialized to meet many CCS decision problems. The survey revealed a wide range in experts’ understanding of CCS criteria. Experts also placed more emphasis on criteria from within their field of expertise, although economic criteria dominated weights overall. The results highlight the benefit of a model that clearly demonstrates the trade-offs between projects under uncertain conditions. The survey results also revealed how simple decision analyses can be improved by including more transparent methods, interdisciplinary criteria and sensitivity analysis to produce more comprehensive assessments.

Viešojo ir privataus sektorių bendradarbiavimas yra kontraversiškas dalykas. Iš vienos pusės, į rinką pritraukiama naujovių, tobulinamas viešojo sektoriaus darbas, skatinamas verslo ir regionų konkurencingumas, tačiau tokia partnerystė gali turėti ir neigiamų pasekmių, tokių kaip politiniai ir demokratiniai kaštai, iškreipta viešojo administravimo reikšmė visuomenėje ir neracionalūs ar neskaidrūs sprendimai. Todėl svarbu, kad visi partnerystės dalyviai teisingai suprastų projektų tikslus, norus, ar kiekvienas partneris pajėgus investuoti į partnerystę tiek materialinius, tiek ir nematerialinius resursus bei atliktų projektų vertinimą. Magistro baigiamojo darbo tikslas - išanalizuoti viešojo ir privataus sektoriaus partnerystės raidą, privalumus bei trūkumus ir įvertinti partnerystės projekto naudą visoms viešojo ir privataus sektorių partnerystės pusėms. Teorinėje dalyje išanalizuota mokslinė literatūra ir įvertinta viešojo ir privataus sektorių partnerystės raida, privalumai, trūkumai, efektyvumas ir nauda visoms pusėms: viešajam sektoriui, privačiam sektoriui ir visuomenei bei pateikti pasiūlymai kaip spręsti iškilusias problemas. Teoriniu aspektu analizuojama viešojo ir privataus sektorių partnerystės samprata, akcentuojant tokios formos bendradarbiavimo atsiradimo priežastis, išskiriami privalumai ir trūkumai, galimybės ir grėsmės. Pateikiami partnerystės projektų pavyzdžiai, apibendrinti statistiniai duomenis apie projektų raidą, pokyčius ir tendencijas bei pateikiamos... [toliau žr. visą tekstą] / The collaboration between public and private sectors is a controversial object. On one hand, there are innovations that are being attracted to the market, and the work process in the public sector is improved, as well as the competitive ability between the business and regions is motivated, on the other hand such partnership may have negative results like political and democratic costs, distorted authority of the public administration in the society, and unreasonable or ambiguous decisions. Therefore, it is essential, that not only all the parties involved in the partnership would take the aims and intentions of the projects properly, but also each partner is able to invest into the partnership tangible and intangible resources, and could make the estimation of the projects. The aim of the Master's thesis is to analyze the development, as well as the pros and cons of the public - private sectors, and to estimate the advantage of the partnership projects in regard to all the parties of private and public sectors. The theoretical part of final thesis deals with the analyzed scientific literature and the estimated development, pros and cons, efficiency of the partnership with respect of the public and private sectors, as well as the advantage to all the parties including public - private sectors and the society, additionally the potential suggestions and the occurrence of possible problems is given. The conception of public and private sectors is analyzed from the theoretical... [to full text]