Green national accounts are a complement to the more traditional GDP measure which includes natural capital and the depreciation and regeneration of natural capital. The United Nations have developed an international standard model, the System of Environmental-Economic Accounting, for valuing natural resources within the green national accounts. The method is based on forecasts of future streams of expected incomes from the resource. This study aims to find out whether the valuation method used to forecast future incomes from iron ore and timber according to the international standard is consistent with the actual outcomes. In Sweden, previous studies have been made to develop green national accounts from the 1800s onward. By using the United Nations’ current and previous valuation methods and performing calculations on historical resource rents it is possible to evaluate how well the methods can estimate true future values. This study shows that both valuation methods systematically misestimate the future income streams from both resources. / Gröna nationalräkenskaper är ett komplement till det mer traditionella BNP-måttet som även tar hänsyn till bland annat naturkapitalet och dess förslitning. FN har utvecklat en internationell standardmodell för gröna nationalräkenskaper, System of Environmental-Economic Accounting (SEEA), där en rekommenderad värderingsmetod för naturkapital finns angiven. Värderingsmetoden är baserad på framtida, förväntade, inkomstflöden från naturresursen. Den här studiens syfte är att ta reda på om värderingsmetoden för att förutse framtida intäkter för järnmalm och skog enligt den internationella standarden stämmer överens med de faktiska utfallen. I Sverige har tidigare studier gjorts för att utveckla gröna nationalräkenskaper från 1800-talet och framåt. Genom att använda FN:s nuvarande och tidigare rekommenderade värderingsmetoder för naturresurser och göra beräkningar på historiska vinster från naturresursen kan man se hur väl värderingsmetoderna fungerar i praktiken. Den här studien visar att bägge värderingsmetoderna systematiskt felskattar de framtida intäktsflödena från bägge resurser.

Master of Agribusiness / Department of Agricultural Economics / Allen M. Featherstone / Crop insurance, in recent years, has displaced U.S. federal farm program payments as the most important safety net for net farm income. The business climate that crop insurance purchasers and providers face in the future is one of increasing premiums for producers and decreasing commissions for crop insurance companies and agents. The primary objective of this thesis is to assess the desirability of crop insurance agency acquisitions to increase market share for Farm Credit Services of America, considering the significant uncertainties in the future subsidy levels and commission levels for these products. Financial analysis and modeling crop insurance agency acquisitions is completed under a wide range of future economic and political scenarios. The wide range of assumptions, however, does contribute to a wide range of potential purchase prices and rates of return on crop insurance agency acquisitions. The crop insurance industry faces uncertainty in the future and general industry profitability will likely decline. However, an expansion strategy in a period of reduced commissions can be profitable if acquisitions are priced appropriately and can be made in locations where existing support services can be leveraged to support the acquisition.

This thesis provides a means to estimate the physical and performance characteristics of a preliminary cruise ship design. The techniques utilized to estimate these characteristics are showcased in the user-friendly interface known as the Cruise Ship Analysis Tool (CSAT). Using the CSAT, the implications that design feature decisions in the preliminary design stage have on a cruise ship’s profitability is analyzed. Then, the most profitable design feature assemblage among a finite number of varying design feature combinations is estimated and compared among cruise ship designs with different passenger carrying capacities. Profitability is analyzed using the measure of merit (MOM) known as net present value (NPV). If a preliminary cruise ship design has a positive NPV at a reliable rate of return and ship operating life, the design is considered to be a profitable investment if implemented. The greater the NPV, the more profitable the investment is considered to be.

Os modelos de crescimento econômico mostram que a única forma de promover o crescimento sustentado da economia é por meio do progresso tecnológico. Porém, a manutenção de um fluxo crescente de inovações tecnológicas requer uma forte estrutura de pesquisa e desenvolvimento (P&D), o que implica em uma série de gastos por parte de ambos os setores, público e privado. Conseqüentemente, as instituições de pesquisa são crescentemente cobradas quanto aos resultados dos recursos nelas investidos, o que torna interessante a realização de estudos que procurem avaliar os retornos de tais investimentos e determinar quão proveitosos estes vêm-se revelando para a sociedade. Encontram-se na literatura diversos estudos objetivando medir os retornos econômicos provenientes dos investimentos em P&D na agricultura em geral, porém, existem poucos trabalhos para setores específicos. Desta forma, o presente estudo teve como principal objetivo medir o retorno econômico dos investimentos em pesquisa na citricultura paulista. A justificativa para a escolha do setor analisado é que o Brasil, além de representar sozinho cerca de 80% do total de suco de laranja concentrado e congelado comercializado no mercado internacional, responde por 28% da produção mundial de laranja. O Estado de São Paulo, por sua vez, responde por cerca de 80% da produção nacional de laranja e 98% das exportações brasileiras de suco concentrado. A relevância econômica dessa atividade no Estado tem estimulado inúmeras pesquisas, especialmente em relação aos aspectos fitossanitários, uma vez que a citricultura paulista é fortemente atacada por uma série de pragas e doenças, desde o seu surgimento. A metodologia utilizada para a estimativa do retorno aos investimentos na pesquisa citrícola foi o cálculo da produtividade total dos fatores (PTF), através do Índice de Tornqüist, para posterior comparação com os gastos em pesquisa. Além disso, utilizou-se o método do valor presente líquido (VPL) para comparação entre diferentes cenários com relação à contaminação dos pomares, de modo a estimar o dano econômico evitado pela descoberta e pelo controle das doenças. Dentre os principais resultados encontrados verificou-se que para cada R$1,00 investido na pesquisa citrícola obtém-se um aumento de R$ 13,67 no valor da produção de laranja no Estado de São Paulo. Com relação às perdas de produtividade evitadas graças ao controle das principais doenças, verificou-se que se o cancro cítrico não fosse rigorosamente controlado através da erradicação, o prejuízo teria sido ao redor de R$ 2 bilhões nos últimos 35 anos. Finalmente, a partir da simulação de diferentes níveis de contaminação pelo greening os resultados sugeriram que o prejuízo causado pela possível disseminação desta doença nos pomares paulistas seria bastante significativo nos próximos 20 anos, especialmente se estiverem associados a um cenário de manejo integrado do cancro cítrico, ao invés da erradicação. Em outras palavras, os resultados do estudo corroboram a importância dos investimentos em P&D na citricultura paulista. / The economic growth models show that the only way to promote a sustained growth of the economy is through technological progress. However, keeping a growing technological innovation flow requires a strong research and development - R&D structure, demanding expenses from both public and private sectors. Consequently, the research institutions have been increasingly charged about the outcomes from applied funds, which turn necessary to conceptualize and evaluate such R&D investment returns, as well as to highlight what benefits they can reveal to society. There are several studies aiming to assess the whole agriculture R&D investments returns, whereas only few studies has been doing towards to specific sectors. Thus, the general objective of this study is to assess the economic return from R&D investments in São Paulo State's citrus sector over the last 35 years. Brazil represents 80% of the total frozen concentrated orange juice - FCOJ commercialized in the international market, and 28% of the world orange production. São Paulo State is responsible by 80% of national orange production and 98% of Brazilian FCOJ exportation. The economic importance of this industry has been stimulating several research activities, especially related to plant disease aspects, given that São Paulo's citrus sector is strongly threatened by pests and diseases. It was used the Tornqüist Index Method to estimate the citrus industry total productivity of factors - TPF, in order to compare the outcomes with citrus R&D investments. In addition, the net present value - NPV method was used to compare different scenarios, in relation to citrus canker and greening outbreak in São Paulo's groves, to estimate the economic losses avoided due to diseases control. For every R$1 invested in the citrus industry R&D, it was found that R$13,67 is risen on the São Paulo State orange production value. In relation to avoided economic losses due to diseases control, if the citrus canker had not been controlled through tree eradication, the economic losses would have been approximately R$2 billion throughout the past 35 years. Finally, from different levels of citrus greening outbreak simulation, the results suggest that the damage caused by the possible citrus greening outbreak in São Paulo's orchards would be quite significant for the next 20 years, especially if the levels are associated with canker integrated management, regardless of eradication program. Summarizing, the results achieved from this work reinforces the remarkable importance of São Paulo's citrus sector R&D investments.

A comprehensive process intensification analysis was performed for the integration of the Pd-based membrane reactor technology into IGCC power plants by designing effective process control strategies as well as identifying and optimally characterizing inherently safe operational conditions to achieve the most favorable economic outcomes. Experimental results indicated that Pd-based composite membranes supported on porous stainless steel tubes, fabricated with H2 permeance values as high as ~50 m3/[m2.h.atm0.5] at 450°C were capable of extra purity H2 production (≥99.99%). Two illustrative process control and performance monitoring cases namely, process regulation and servo mechanism, were considered and quite satisfactory process control was attained by maintaining CO conversion at levels higher than 95% so that the retentate stream could become suitable for high pressure CO2 sequestration. From a process safety standpoint, process parameters and operating conditions were identified and optimized to achieve the target performance level of 98% CO conversion and 95% H2 recovery and at the same time to prevent conditions which could potentially induce hazards and thus compromise process system safety. Furthermore, the average total product cost of a water-gas shift membrane reactor module including manufacturing costs and general expenses was carefully estimated by taking into account the full cost structure and found to be 1464 $/ft2. Moreover, a comprehensive economic assessment was performed for composite Pd/Alloy membrane reactor technology options integrated into IGCC power plants in the presence of market and regulatory uncertainty (possible regulatory action on CO2 emissions) as well as technology risks with the aid of Monte-Carlo simulation techniques. Within such a context, it was demonstrated that an IGCC plant with embedded Pd-based membrane reactors and a stream of revenues coming from electricity and H2 selling (IGCC co-production mode), represented an economically attractive and advantageous option when comparatively assessed against its main competitors namely, an IGCC plant with shift reactors and double stage Selexol units as well as the more traditional supercritical pulverized coal power plant option with an Econamine unit installed for CO2 capture purposes.

This diploma thesis based on a result of the European Union's intention to increase the share of electricity produced from renewable energy sources in the total production, Slovak Republic currently subsidises building gasifier power plants (high efficiency combined production) to produce electricity and thermal energy from the biomass. Therefore, this thesis aims to build a financial plan of gasifier, which will be used for the evaluation of the investment from the point of view of an investor. Valuation depends mainly on the economic benefits of the project with regards to the assessment of business environment. The work contains a sensitivity analysis to determine what impact on the value of the cash flows will make a percentage change in one variable.

The purpose of fisheries management is to achieve a sustainable development of the activity, so that future generations can also benefit from the resource. However, the optimal harvesting strategy usually maximizes an economically important objective function formed by the harvester which can lead to the extinction of the resource population. Therefore, sustainability has been far more difficult to achieve than is commonly thought; fish populations are becoming increasingly limited and catches are declining due to overexploitation. The aim of this research is to determine an optimal harvesting strategy which fulfills the economic objective of the harvester while maintaining the population density over a pre-specified minimum viable level throughout the harvest. We develop and investigate the harvesting model in both deterministic and stochastic settings. We first employ the Expected Net Present Value approach and determine the optimal harvesting policy using various optimization techniques including optimal control theory and dynamic programming. Next we use real options theory, model fish harvesting as a real option, and compute the value of the harvesting opportunity which also yields the optimal harvesting strategy. We further extend the stochastic problem to include price elasticity of demand and present results for di¤erent values of the coefficient of elasticity.

Thesis (M.Ing. (Development and Management))--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2007.

In this thesis, capacity-constrained aspects of multi-level, multi-stage productionplanning are investigated. The aim has been to extend Material Requirements Planning Theory (MRP Theory) to cover more general problems dealing with capacity constraints, in particular when non-zero lead times are present and the processes take place in continuous time. MRP Theory deals with multi-level production systems with multiple items taking place either within a discrete or continuous time framework. External demand is considered either deterministic or stochastic. Lead times are assumed to be given constants, and the Net Present Value Principle has been applied as the objective function. The Bill-of-Materials, capturing component as well as capacity requirements, in volume as well as in advanced timing due to lead times, has been described using a generalised input matrix involving Laplace transforms or z transforms. In order to be able to apply Dynamic Programming as a solution method, the system state has been defined and designed in terms of a matrix, in which historical values of cumulative production and cumulative demand are given state variables. A high power computer has been used to calculate solutions to numerical examples. Moreover, this thesis examines the fundamental equations of MRP Theory in order to analyse the possibility to obtain closed-form expressions for the time development of the system, when standard ordering rules of MRP are applied. In addition, capacity-constrained production planning problems and procedures in a paper mill have been surveyed and are presented in the form of a case study.

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.