Dissertations / Theses on the topic 'Cost benefit analysis'

"Submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Business Administration from the Naval Postgraduate School, December 2007."
Advisor(s): Gates, William R. ; Franck, Raymond E. "December 2007." "MBA professional report"--Cover. Description based on title screen as viewed on January 11, 2008. Includes bibliographical references (p. 51). Also available in print.

MBA Professional Report
Investing for one's future is a concern for the majority of military retirees. Service members have more choices than their civilian counterparts when planning for retirement. One alternative available to military members is the Survivor Benefit Plan (SBP), which allows retirees to provide for their family's welfare in the event of their untimely death. The purpose of this paper is to analyze the cost effectiveness of SBP in comparison to other insurance or investment options. This paper provides an overview of SBP and possible alternatives. Additionally, a mathematical model has been constructed that conducts a cost-benefit analysis of SBP and alternatives to determine the most beneficial course of action for future retirees. Our major conclusion is that SBP is the most attractive available option only if the military member expects to live for a sufficiently long period and also expects his (or her) spouse to outlive him by a significant amount. However, this result is sensitive to rate of inflation.

Thesis (M.S.)--West Virginia University, 1999.
Title from document title page. Document formatted into pages; contains xii, 152 p. : ill. (some col.) Includes abstract. Includes bibliographical references (p. 110-113).

The Cooperative Extension System has focused on nutrition education for low-income families for approximately 29 years via the Expanded Food and Nutrition Education Program (EFNEP). In response to the need for a comprehensive economic evaluation of EFNEP, Virginia Cooperative Extension (VCE) was awarded a grant from the Cooperative State Research, Education and Extension Services, United States Department of Agriculture (CSREES, USDA) to conduct a cost benefit analysis (CBA) of nutrition education programs, with emphasis on EFNEP. Virginia EFNEP served as the pilot program to test the evaluation procedure. This study is a part of the CBA of Virginia EFNEP. The purpose is to calculate the indirect tangible benefits derived from participation in EFNEP. The indirect tangible benefits are classified as 1) delaying productivity loss due to mortality and 2) avoiding productivity loss due to morbidity. This study also uses sensitivity analysis to evaluate the effects of two critical assumptions pertaining to retention of dietary behaviors and to incidence rate of diseases in the low-income population. Finally, the discount rate is analyzed via sensitivity calculations. There were two major conclusions drawn from this study. First, the indirect benefits accounted for more than $1 million of the total benefit generate by EFNEP. Second, the sensitivity analyses support the positive outcome (i. e., positive return on every dollar invested) derived from the CBA of Virginia EFNEP.
Master of Science

Thesis (M.S. in Management) Naval Postgraduate School, December 1996.
Thesis advisor(s): Gordon Louvau, David F. Matthews, D. Moses. "December 1996." Includes bibliographical references (p. 129-131). Also available online.

Bedside terminals are an approach to data entry that is maximally effective, due to capture at the point of care, to meet the challenges facing nursing today in relation to information documentation. The purpose of this evaluation research study was to determine if bedside terminals are justifiable though a cost-benefit analysis.The General Systems Theory, which was formulated by Ludwig von Bertalanffy in the late 1920's, was the theoretical framework used for this study (Putt, 1978).A non-standardized checklist of factors was developed by the researcher to evaluate the associated costs. related to bedside terminals. The factors included patient census, acuity, lost charges, reimbursement denials, and medication errors.A convenience sample of one surgical nursing unit from a large midwestern metropolitan hospital was chosen for data collection. Based on the literature, monetary values werearbitrarily assigned to the factors. Costs were assigned based on projected figures for bedside terminal implementation in 1993 obtained from the literature. All participants were notified of rights as human subjects and the confidentiality of this study.This study was significant because the results will be added to the limited information on the justification of bedside terminals using a cost-benefit analysis available in the current literature.Projections of bedside terminal costs were limited due to the unwillingness of bedside terminal vendors to provide current costs to compare against the quantitative benefits collected in this study. Reimbursement denials were not obtained due to the accounting practices of the institution. Due to these limitations, a prospective rather than the retrospective approach used in this study for data collection would be recommended to ensure obtaining information on all data elements. The results of this study should be considered when contemplating purchase of bedside terminals. Based on the results of this cost-benefit analysis study, the purchase of bedside terminals is cost-justified. A favorable return on investment of a one year payback was obtained.
School of Nursing

Bedside computer terminals are an approach to data entry that is maximally effective to meet the challenges facing nursing today and process hospital information. The purpose of this evaluation research study was to determine if bedside computers are justifiable through a cost-benefit analysis. Costbenefit analysis was done to determine whether the benefits outweigh the costs involved in implementing a bedside computer system.The General Systems Theory formulated by Ludwig von Betalanaffy was the theoretical framework utilized for this project. A non-standardized checklist of factors was developed from the literature review. The factors included were patient census, acuity, lost charges, reimbursement denials, and medicine errors. Interrater reliability was established by a panel ofthree experts on cost-benefit analysis.A convenience sample of one 42 bed nursing unit from a large metropolitan Midwestern hospital was chosen for data retrieval. One month of financial data was analyzed for this study. The procedures for the protection of human subjects were followed.The study showed that bedside computers are costjustified.-based on the results of the cost-benefit analysis. The projection of cost versus benefits realized from the bedside terminals was limited due to the unwillingness of vendors to share actual cost information. Reimbursement denials were unable to be retrieved because of the financial accounting practices of the institution chosen.A prospective approach rather than the retrospective approach utilized in this study may produce the data necessary for reimbursement denials. Recognizing its limitations, the results of this study should be considered when contemplating the purchase of bedside terminals or the increasingly more advanced technology of hand-held and voice activated computers.
School of Nursing

This study examined if physician assistants (PAs) are cost-beneficial to employers. In an era of cost accountability, questions arise about whether a visit to a PA for an episode of care differs from a visit to a physician, and if PAs erode their cost-effectiveness by the manner in which they manage patients. Four common acute medical conditions seen by PAs and physicians within a large health maintenance organization were identified to study. An episode approach was undertaken to identify all laboratory, imaging, medication and provider costs for these diagnoses. Over 12,700 medical office visits were analyzed and assigned to each type of provider and medical department. Patient variables included age, gender, and health status. A multivariate analysis identified significant cost differences in each cohort of patients. In every condition managed by PAs, the total cost of the visit was less than that of a physician in the same department. This was significant for episodes of shoulder tendinitis, otitis media, and urinary tract infections. In no instance were PAs statistically different from physicians in use of laboratory and imaging costs. In each instance the total cost of the episode was less when treated by a PA. Sometimes PAs ordered fewer laboratory tests than physicians. There were no differences in the rate of return visits for a diagnosis between physicians and PAs. Patient differences were held constant for age, gender, and health status. This study affirms that PAs are not only cost-effective from a labor standpoint but are also cost-beneficial to those who employ them. In most cases, they order resources for diagnosis and treatment in a manner similar to physicians for an episode of care, but the cost of an episode of an illness is more economical overall when the P A delivers the care. This study validates the federal policy of support for primary care P A education and suggests that PA employment should be expanded in many sectors of the health care system. These findings and the results of this cost-benefit model are evidence of its validity in predicting health care costs.

Over the last decade, six major earthquakes that occurred in Turkey dramatically demonstrated the poor performance of the buildings that were designed and constructed far from Turkish seismic code&rsquo
s requirements. The Marmara region, where most of the population and industry is located, is in the active seismic zone. With the rising cost of damages due to earthquakes, the necessity of the cost-benefit analysis for various rehabilitation strategies used in existing buildings has become a major concern for the decision makers who are in the position of making decisions on the building rehabilitation This study evaluates the performance of two different rehabilitation strategies applied to two five-story reinforced concrete buildings and assesses their cost-benefit analyses. These buildings were chosen to be representative of the typical residential To carry out the structural analysis of the buildings, three-dimensional models of the buildings were developed using SAP2000 [6]. Two alternative strengthening methods, insertion of reinforced concrete shear walls and application of Carbon Fiber Reinforced Polymers (CFRP) on hallow clay tile infill walls, were used for both of the buildings. While modeling infill walls strengthened with CFRP, two specific modeling attempts proposed by the researchers at Middle East Technical University were used. Pushover analyses were performed to evaluate seismic performance of the buildings. The Life Safety criterion was chosen as the rehabilitation objective. The global and component response acceptability limits were checked and the cost-benefit analysis was performed in order to determine the most attractive rehabilitation alternative. The results and comparisons given here illustrated that strengthening with shear wall had the most significant improvement on the seismic performance and cost effectiveness of the case study buildings. Outcomes of this study are only applicable to the buildings employed here and are bound by the assumptions made, approximations used and parameters considered in this study. The findings cannot be generalized for the buildings rehabilitated with CFRP due to lack of the consistent models for CFRP application. More research needs to be conducted to provide solid guidelines and reliable models applicable to the CFRP rehabilitated infill walls.

Cost-benefit analysis is an economic analysis tool that can be used to support public decision making, when there are several mutually exclusive alternatives being considered. It compares the monetary value of the benefits resulting from a specific project or policy with the costs accrued by it. However, it would appear that it is currently used mainly for investment projects, and not for analyzing public services. This thesis is a literature study on the use of cost-benefit analysis in the public sector, with a focus on public service provision. The main objective of this study is to either verify or falsify the research gap regarding the initial assumption that there seems to be no existing research on how common the use of cost-benefit analysis is in public service provision. Other objectives include finding out how cost-benefit analysis can be used in evaluating the socio-economic impact of public decision making, and what kind of examples can be found on its applications in the public sector. The thesis presents the theoretical framework of cost-benefit analysis, including the basic steps in the typical cost-benefit analysis process, as well as its historical background and criticism regarding it. The alternative methods of cost-effectiveness analysis, cost-utility analysis and cost-minimization analysis are discussed briefly as well. Some of the leading institutions regarding the research and development of cost-benefit analysis methods are also presented. The Society for Benefit-Cost Analysis is one such institution. It publishes the Journal of Benefit-Cost Analysis, which is the only journal devoted exclusively to cost-benefit analysis. In addition, the European Commission’s Guide to Cost-Benefit Analysis applies the international best practice on the use of cost-benefit analysis in investment-type projects. Some comments in various publications state that cost-benefit analysis is indeed underused and often even misused in public decision making, and that society would benefit if it was used to a greater extent. The literature study concludes with the analysis of two case studies. In the first study, a cost-benefit analysis was performed on the services of the Finnish Meteorological Institute, and it was found to produce approximately five times as much benefits to the society compared to its costs. The second study examined the use of cost-benefit analysis in Finnish place-making policies, and discovered that it was applied incorrectly by public officials in this case. The research gap is verified, as there does not seem to be any comprehensive research on how common the use of cost-benefit analysis is in public service provision as a whole. However, some publications do hint that it is underused in public decision making. Thus, there is a need for further research on its use in public service provision
Kustannus-hyötyanalyysi on taloustieteellinen työkalu, jota voidaan käyttää tukemaan julkista päätöksentekoa, kun arvioitavana on useita toisensa poissulkevia vaihtoehtoja. Siinä vertaillaan jonkin projektin tai politiikan seurauksena syntyviä rahassa mitattuja hyötyjä sen aiheuttamiin kustannuksiin nähden. Tällä hetkellä sitä tosin ilmeisesti käytetään lähinnä vain investointiprojekteihin, eikä julkisten palveluiden analysointiin. Tämä kandidaatintyö on kirjallisuuskatsaus kustannus-hyötyanalyysin käytöstä julkisella sektorilla, keskittyen julkisiin palveluihin. Tutkimuksen päätavoitteena on osoittaa joko todeksi tai vääräksi tutkimusaukko koskien sitä alkuolettamusta, että kustannus-hyötyanalyysin käytön yleisyydestä julkisen sektorin palvelutuotannossa ei vaikuta olevan olemassaolevaa tutkimusta. Muihin tavoitteisiin kuuluu selvittää, että miten kustannus-hyötyanalyysiä voidaan käyttää julkisen päätöksenteon sosioekonomisen vaikuttavaan arviointiin, ja että minkälaisia esimerkkejä sen käytöstä löytyy julkiseen sektoriin liittyen. Kandidaatintyössä esitetään kustannus-hyötyanalyysin teoreettinen viitekehys, sisältäen tyypillisen kustannus-hyötyanalyysiprosessin vaiheet, sekä sen historiallista taustaa ja kritiikkiä. Kustannus-hyötyanalyysin vaihtoehtoisista menetelmistä esitellään lyhyesti kustannus-vaikuttavuusanalyysi, kustannus-utiliteettianalyysi ja kustannusten minimointianalyysi. Työssä käsitellään myös joitakin johtavia instituutioita kustannus-hyötyanalyysin menetelmien tutkimukseen ja kehitykseen liittyen. Society for Benefit-Cost Analysis -järjestö on yksi tällainen instituutio. Se julkaisee Journal of Benefit-Cost Analysis -nimistä lehteä, joka on ainoa täysin kustannus-hyötyanalyysille omistettu lehti. Tämän lisäksi Euroopan komissio on julkaissut kustannus-hyötyanalyysiä koskevan oppaan, joka hyödyntää parhaita kansainvälisiä käytäntöjä kustannus-hyötyanalyysin soveltamisesta investointityyppisissä projekteissa. Erinäisissä julkaisuissa esitettyjen kommenttien mukaan kustannus-hyötyanalyysiä käytetään liian vähän julkisessa päätöksenteossa, ja joskus sitä on sovellettu siinä myös väärin. Näiden kommenttien mukaan yhteiskunta hyötyisi, jos sitä käytettäisiin laajemmin. Kirjallisuuskatsaus päätetään kahden case-tutkimuksen analyysillä. Ensimmäisessä tutkimuksessa oli suoritettu kustannus-hyötyanalyysi Ilmatieteen laitoksen palveluihin liittyen, ja niiden oli todettu tuovan yhteiskunnalle noin viisinkertaisen hyödyn niiden kustannuksiin nähden. Toinen tutkimus oli käsitellyt kustannus-hyötyanalyysin käyttöä Suomen alueellistamispolitiikassa, ja siinä oli selvinnyt, että virkamiehet olivat soveltaneet kustannus-hyötyanalyysiä väärin tässä tapauksessa. Tutkimusaukko on vahvistettu, sillä kustannus-hyötyanalyysin käytön yleisyydestä julkisessa palvelutuotannossa ei vaikuta olevan mitään kattavaa tutkimusta. Jotkin julkaisut kuitenkin vihjaavat, että se olisi alikäytetty julkisessa päätöksenteossa. Näin ollen on vielä tarvetta lisätutkimukselle sen käytöstä julkisessa palvelutuotannossa

This study’s purpose is to examine academic partnerships between universities in the United Kingdom and Korea. It aims to examine both partnership fundamentals and what leads to a mutually successful partnership. The fundamentals are the why, who and where. It aims to examine partnership formation and the relationships between partners, and the impacts of the partnership on the university. This study uses qualitative interviews mixed with a cost-benefit analysis. The interviews serve two main purposes. The first is to gain a fine-grained analysis of why universities create partnerships and how they go about it. The second is to understand the partnership factors that impact universities. These impact factors are then used to create cost-benefit analyses of three different UK-Korea university partnerships, differentiated by intensity of partnerships, to illustrate the partnerships’ impacts on the individual universities. Through thematic analysis, the qualitative results show that different types of partnerships are created in different parts of the university. The central offices create development co-operation and exchange partnerships, whereas the academic units create more exchange and commercial trade partnerships. However, in each of these partnerships, funding and international rankings are key motivations. The cost-benefit analysis shows that partnerships are beneficial to universities with commercial trade partnerships the most beneficial. The implications are that the academic units should work to create academic partnerships, with the central office helping in terms of standardisation and with the pastoral aspects of student services.

Cost-benefit analysis plays a significant role in the process of siting hazardous waste facilities throughout the United States. Controversy regarding definitively disparate, albeit unintentional, racist practices in reaching these siting decisions abounds, yet cost-benefit analysis stands incapable of commenting on normative topics. This thesis traces the developments of both cost-benefit analysis and its normative cousin utilitarianism by focusing on the impacts they have had on the contemporary environmental justice discourse and highlighting valid claims, misunderstandings, and sedimented ideas surrounding the popularity of cost-benefit analysis. This analysis ultimately leads to an alternative means of realizing environmental justice that both acknowledges the need for greater democratic interactions and attempts to work with, rather than against, the prevailing paradigm of reaching siting decisions.

The goal of the diploma thesis Evaluation of the effectiveness of public projects Cost Benefit Analysis is an application of obtained theoretical knowledge from analysis of costs and benefits on specific public project the construction of water supply and sewerage system in the city Kamenice. The introduction of the theoretical part begins with the definition of public sector, public finance, public project and describes methods of evaluation of public projects. In the next chapter of the theoretical part is dedicated in detail process of Cost Benefit Analysis. The practical part of thesis is about applying Cost Benefit analysis on a specific project from area of environment Kamenice: Water supply and sewerage system. On this real project will be analyzed the costs and benefits and after this analyse it will be possible to say if applicant held a methodology of CBA and if project is beneficial for public. The methods used in developing the topic of this diploma thesis is a literary review, descriptions, analysis, interviews, results of empirical investigations and an imperical synthesis of learned facts.

Thesis (M.S. in Management) Naval Postgraduate School, December 1997.
"December 1997." Thesis advisor(s): Cynthia J. Levy, Gordon E. .Louvau. Includes bibliographical references (p. 67-68). Also available online.

This purpose of this paper is to assess the effects of increased accounting regulations on financial reporting practices. Specifically, this paper provides an in-depth look into two specific regulations, The Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 (SOX) and the Dodd-Frank Act of 2010. SOX was enacted as a result of the many accounting scandals that occurred in the late 1990s, and its main intention was to reduce the likelihood that fraud would occur by establishing additional oversight and increasing the number of regulations for public accounting firms. This paper examines the costs associated with specific provisions within SOX and the effects that they have on public companies. Ultimately, this paper finds that SOX imposes an unfair burden to smaller public companies. Secondly, this paper examines the effect that regulations in the 2010 Dodd-Frank Act had on the financial services industry. The 2008 financial crisis was caused by poor regulations of large financial institutions, which failed to prevent these institutions from engaging in behavior that would later have a negative impact on many Americans. In order to prevent this type of behavior from affecting the stability of the entire U.S. economy, Congress enacted the Dodd-Frank Act. Due to the recent enactment of this act, and because most of its provisions are still being implemented, this paper focuses on identifying and presenting valid arguments for and against some of the act’s most important provisions.

Approved for public release; distribution is unlimited.
Army Aviation is considering pursuing the development of a future vertical lift (FVL) aircraft to replace its aging medium variant helicopters, which are the UH-60 Blackhawk and AH-64 Apache. The medium variant platforms comprise about 75 percent of the current Army fleet. Although its current fleet is over 30 years in age, to date, the Army is unsure if the fleet should be replaced based upon cost, material condition, and technological capability. The critical issue is that the Army lacks objective research data to support the decision to either pursue a new aircraft or retain the current fleet. The intent of our research is to determine exactly how much any individual medium variant platform costs, per flight hour, and project its cost behavior over time. That information will then be compared to a cost benefit analysis of a new build platform to help Army Aviation leadership with its FVL ambitions.

Effektivare transporter i stadskärnorna är något som citylogistik har som huvudsyfte då det är många godstransporter inne i städerna som bidrar till trängsel. Ett förslag för förbättrad citylogistik är att flera distribuerande företag skickar sitt gods till en omlastningscentral där godset sorteras och lastas om innan leverans in till city. Genom att flera företag använder sig av en omlastningscentral minskar behovet av fordon då fyllnadsgraden, som ofta är låg vid transport inne i city, ökar vid samlastning av varor och fordonsbehovet minskar. Syftet är att utföra en kostnads- och nyttoanalys, cost-benefit analysis, detta för att kunna undersöka vilka effekter det finns av att införa samdistribution av varor inne i city men även att föra en diskussion kring vad denna typ av distribution kan leda till för de medverkande företagen och dess logistikkedja. Det kommer även en diskussion kring hur kostnads- och nyttoanalys kan användas för att fungera i andra städer, då stor del av data till detta arbete kommer från tidigare rapporter om samdistribution i Linköping city. I en kostnads- och nyttoanalys vägs kostnaderna och nyttorna mot varandra för att på så sätt se vilken av dessa som väger tyngst. Om nyttorna väger tyngre än kostnaderna så kommer projektet som är tänkt att genomföras att gynna samhället och det är då av intresse för de flesta parter att genomföra förändringen eller projektet. Rapporten ger en tydlig bild av vilka de stora kostnaderna samt nyttorna är med att genomföra samdistribution i city och vad detta kan leda till längre bak i logistikkedjan för de distribuerande företagen.

The purpose of this study was to propose and field test a cost-benefit analysis model to determine the profitability of secondary vocational education programs. The model consisted of costs, process, and benefits components. Instructional personnel, building, equipment, materials and supplies, administration, travel, services, utilities, and maintenance were the major components of the costs. Process implied the actual conduct of the program. Increased earnings from graduates' employment, earnings from cooperative placement, provision of services, and noneconomic benefits obtained by the graduates were the components of the benefits. Costs and benefits data for field testing the model were obtained from four programs from the four vocational service areas of trade and industrial, occupational home economics, business education, and marketing and distributive education selected from both a comprehensive high school and an area vocational education center in the Roanoke County School Division, Virginia. All graduates of 1983/84 of the four programs were surveyed to gather data on them. A 73.9% return was obtained from the survey. The difference between the graduates' current earnings and earnings determined by using the Federal minimum wage for the same number of work hours by employed graduates was considered as an income benefit. Actual differences between discounted benefits and the gross costs were used to determine the profitability of programs. The following conclusions were drawn from the findings of this study: 1. The trade and industrial, business education, and marketing and distributive education programs were economically profitable. 2. The occupational home economics program was not economically profitable. 3. Graduates in each program have obtained several noneconomic benefits. 4. The proposed cost-benefit analysis model was determined useable and transportable to other vocational education settings. Based on the findings and conclusions of this study, the following recommendations were drawn: 1. That local vocational administrative units use the concept of cost-benefit analysis as an evaluation technique for secondary vocational education programs. 2. That a research study be conducted to determine what other costs and benefits should be considered in the model. 3. That a research study be conducted to determine the economic value of noneconomic benefits. 4. That a longitudinal cost-benefit analysis is needed to determine economic earning and type of jobs held by graduates after graduation. 5. That a study be conducted using cost-benefit analysis with an appropriate comparison group to vocational graduates. 6. That an annual cost-benefit analysis of vocational programs be conducted for each school system to make comparative judgement of their programs. 7. That post-secondary vocational programs explore the possibility of using cost-benefit analysis for evaluating programs.
Ed. D.

As offshore installations in the North Sea near the end of their economically viable life they will be decommissioned. There is limited experience of decommissioning the structures in the Northern North Sea. When decommissioning is being considered studies are undertaken to assess each option on such criteria as: environmental impact, technical feasibility, cost, health and safety and public acceptability. This thesis aims to explore the contribution that economics can make to the debate surrounding decommissioning with the introduction of a cost benefit analysis framework within which to compare each decommissioning option. Cost Benefit Analysis (CBA) considers the economic costs and benefits from any change in resource allocation within an economy. This would provide a structured assessment of all the impacts of decommissioning in monetary terms. CBA also allows social desirability to be considered. The CBA framework involves valuing costs and benefits. Whilst estimating costs raises important questions, the identification, measurement and valuation of (dis)benefits represents one the greatest challenges facing economists. This thesis will focus on how economics can be applied to this problem to obtain monetary valuations of the benefits of decommissioning. Two methods of valuing the (dis)benefits of decommissioning are considered - Contingent Valuation Method (CVM) and Discrete Choice Experiments (DCE). These are applied to valuing of one impact of decommissioning (drill cuttings) and the value of alternative decommissioning policies. As well as addressing the issue of decommissioning, these experiments also consider methodological issues in the application of CVM (dealing with Don't Know and Protest responses) and DCE (testing for compensatory decision making). Following this the costs of decommissioning are estimated using an existing financial simulation model developed for oil industry use. Recommendations are made for policy and future methodological work.

Public projects are still subject of heated discussions, especially with the respect to their efficiency that is usually not sufficient enough. In spite of existence of many ways how to increase their efficiency, it is readily possible to identify one fundamental criterion which is high-quality information for decision-making. It is important to deliver high-quality information to those who make decision in order to reduce wastage of the public funds on not efficient public projects. All substantial information about effects incurred by project's realization can be offered by the Cost-Benefit analysis. The Cost Benefit analysis should be prepared for each significant public project to prevent from realization of ineffective ones. It is essential to process each Cost-Benefit analysis in required qualitative level for making right decision. Purpose of this thesis is appraisal of usefulness of the Cost-Benefit analysis for specific purposes of the public sector and assessment of indexes used in the Analysis. In the thesis will be introduced public projects, related public sector and evaluation of public projects. Subsequently, the Cost-Benefit analysis itself will be presented as well as steps for processing high-quality Cost-Benefit analysis. The emphasis will be focused at discount rate and its determination, since I consider it as the critical issue of the Cost-Benefit analysis. A practical example of the Cost-Benefit analysis will be presented at the end of this thesis.

Cost benefit analysis is the conventional method of evaluating automobile transportation improvements. This study examined traditional automobile evaluation methods and applied the same techniques to bicycle transportation projects. Cost data from recent research is summarized and eleven costs (five internal and six external) were estimated. The cost estimates are used to calculate automobile and bicycle costs per mile of travel. A case study of a hypothetical corridor is used to demonstrate how the transportation costs can be applied to specific planning problems. The case study explores what effect shifts in modal distribution would have on the cost effectiveness of automobile and bicycle alternatives. The findings of the study begin to question the underlying premises of traditional cost benefit analysis in transportation projects. The study suggests that conventional analysis is fundamentally flawed and biased toward automobile transportation.
Department of Urban Planning

Different cost effective design methods have been developed to reduce the cost of buildings, of which structural optimum design methods and cost effective designs methods using estimating data, are the most common. However, there is no record of the use of cost effective design methods in practice. Consequently, potential benefits of such methods remain untapped. This research evaluated the cost savings through cost effective design methods, identified difficulties involved in their use and examined favourable conditions for the implementation of such methods in design practice. The research aimed at investigating whether or not the opinion among practising designers, (structural engineers and architects) that "cost benefits through cost effective designs are insignificant and methods are not practical" is justified. Previous researchers have developed cost effective design methods, but very little has been done to change the opinion of building designers regarding these methods. A proper evaluation of cost effective design methods and a study of the design process are therefore necessary to gain the attention of designers in practice. The opinion among practising designers is that cost savings through optimum methods are less than 10% of elemental cost and 1% of total building cost. The analysis of cost savings of 22 historical buildings have shown that this is not the case. Optimum design methods using the computer to find the minimum cost from a set of feasible designs were developed for reinforced concrete elements; slabs, beams, columns and independent footing foundations. These optimum methods were applied to the design of 22 historical buildings. More than 10% of elemental cost savings were observed. 2.91% of total building cost can be saved using optimum methods for design of reinforced concrete elements, which is more than 45% of the total design fee of a building. The study proved that for a given building, probabilities of total building cost saving exceeding 1%, 2% and 3% are 0.96, 0.79 and 0.47 respectively. Design and build contracts provide not only a facility but also an incentive, to designers to use cost effective design methods. On the contrary, percentage fee contracts act as a disincentive. Therefore, the legal procedures in design practice, may sometimes serve as obstacles for the use of cost effective design methods. Furthermore, current design practice lacks motivating factors to designers to use cost effective design methods. Therefore building construction industry may need to pay additional fee to get benefits from cost effective design methods.

The basis of scientific forest management in India has been the principle of maximum physical sustained yield of timber and other highvalued products in the interest of posterity. This leads to long rotations, slow turnover of the crop, and slow conversion of existing forest into more productive crops. The needs of the local population have generally been given a lower priority. The community is thus often not in sympathy with the forest departments. This makes the job of protecting and managing the forests as envisaged more difficult. It would therefore be desirable to compare the relative merits of alternative management regimes: maximizing long-term flow of physical product as professed by foresters, maximizing economic efficiency as demanded by neo-classical economists, or maximizing net social value to the current generation, as suggested by modern welfare economists. One framework for such an analysis is afforded by social cost benefit analysis (SCBA). The Little-Mirrlees methodology of SCBA has been used for a study of the teak-bearing forests of North Kanara in Karnataka State, India. Generally, applying economic criteria hastens the liquidation of existing crops, and shortens the optimal rotations of future plantations. Teak plantation as an investment activity is seen to be highly sensitive to the discount rate chosen. This is ultimately a subjective parameter. Hence there is no objective case against long rotations. The social value of maintaining basic needs supplies may, under some conditions, compensate for the loss due to postponement of exploitation of the existing crop. This would support a slow pace of conversion. On the other hand, fuelwood plantations may be more valuable socially than commercial timber crops, thus favouring faster turnover of short rotation smallwood crops in place of timber crops on long rotations. There is thus no inherent social advantage to maximizing physical yield. In conclusion, it is suggested that forestry can serve the interests of posterity better by being more responsive to social needs. On the other hand, economists might make a better contribution to forest management by clearly pointing out the subjective elements in their 'objective' prescriptions.

The subject of the thesis: “Evaluating Public Policies - Normative Models Beyond Cost Benefit Analysis” arise from the interest in the public policies and their construction, and in particular from the problem of how to evaluate them. The thesis, after a preliminary study of tools and mechanisms for European Public Policy founds distributions, has dealt with the Evidence-Based Policy-Making (EBPM). Thus, studying EBPM’s objectives and concepts, we studied the characteristics that make legitimate policies, but also those features that make public policies “unique” investment decisions, or better that make such decisions different from all other types of decisions. These feature were then analyzed and summarized in four points: - medium or long-term time horizon; - several different source of uncertainty related with the policy-maker; - great importance of the economic aspect; - great importance of the flexibility. The study of these has pushed the research and our thesis towards the study of the tools and the mechanisms necessary for the public policies creation, management and monitoring. Therefore, from this broad framework the thesis is focused on the study of the normative tools currently available to the policy-maker, that are: - Cost-Benefit Analysis (CBA); - Decision Theory (DT); - Real Options Theory (ROT). In the first part of the thesis we presented these three tools in relation to public policies and policy-makers decision. From that it became clear the inadequacy of the existent tools in addressing the different aspects that characterize public policies. The CBA, despite being the tool in absolute more used and recognized as legitimate, fails to take account and manage one of the four fundamental policies features, namely the policy-maker flexibility to manage the policy in all its time horizon. On the other hand, the study of DT has highlighted the inadequacy of the decision tree analysis to consider and manage public policies in real time horizons. Finally, the ROT study has made clear that despite such tool represents an important evolution from the CBA, since it is closely related to finance, it fails to take into account the policy-makers subjectivity. In the second part of the thesis, starting from the conclusions about the relevance of the use of CBA, DT and ROT in the field of public policies, we propose a “new instrument”. Such tool could be considered an evolution of the decision tree, because although it is built like a normal decision tree it take into account the time in practical terms: not only through a policy construction and decision-making over the time, but also through the inclusion of a subjective discount rate. The subjective discount rate, derived by the utility function of the policy-makers, is able to take account their personal time and uncertainty preferences. The thesis ends with a critical comparison between the new temporal decision tree proposed and the real options theory. The critical comparison show that the two tools are different in two main aspects: 1. The real options are based on the existence of an underlying asset, which allows many simplification. Assuming that the underlying asset perfectly replicate the investment and the investment decision, it is legitimate to use the risk-free discount rate and the risk neutral probabilities, then it is always on the existence of the underlying asset that it is based the probability conditioning. 2. Temporal decision trees on the contrary do not make any of these hypothesis. There is nothing that can replicate the investment, the decision and the policy-maker. The conditional probabilities depend only on the oracle choose, and all formal construction revolve around the subjectivity and preferences of policy-makers. In conclusion we can say that, starting from the study of public policies and their characteristics, the assessment tools currently available to the policy-makers (CBA, DT, and ROT) are incomplete. In other words, they are not able to adequately considered and managed the four key characteristics. Overcoming this problem is essential to give at the policy-makers a comprehensive assess and decision aiding tool, thus we decide to build a decision tree ad hoc for the public policies. Such decision tree was constructed following the traditional model, but it is adding both the temporal dimension and the economic concept of costs and benefits. Moreover, we have also revised and integrated some ideas related to managerial flexibility arising from the ROT. In this way, the resulting “temporal decision tree” is able to consider and manage the specific needs of the public decision-making, remaining both in the normative rationality field through the economic evaluation concepts, and in the constructive rationality field, because the tool incorporates and revolves around the subjective preference of the policy-makers and those who legitimately represent
Il soggetto della tesi “Evaluating Public Policies: Normative Models Beyond Cost Benefit Analysis” nasce dall’interesse verso le politiche pubbliche e la loro costruzione; e più precisamente dal problema di come valutare tali politiche pubbliche. La tesi, dopo un preliminare studio degli strumenti e dei meccanismi distributivi dei fondi relativi alle politiche pubbliche europee (App. A), si è avvicinata al tema dell’Evidence-Based Policy-Making (EBPM). Tale avvicinamento ha portato allo studio dei concetti e degli obiettivi dell’EBPM (Cap. 2) e pertanto alla ricerca delle caratteristiche che rendono una politica legittima, ma anche quelle caratteristiche che rendono una politica pubblica una decisione di investimento “unica”, ovvero diversa rispetto a tutte le altre tipologie di decisione. Tali peculiarità sono state quindi analizzate e sintetizzate in 4 punti: - orizzonti temporali medio-lunghi o molto lunghi; - fonti di incertezza numerose e di diversa natura legate al decisore; - grande importanza dell’aspetto economico; - grande importanza della flessibilità. Lo studio di queste caratteristiche ha spinto la tesi e la nostra ricerca verso lo studio degli strumenti e dei meccanismi necessari alla loro formazione, gestione e monitoraggio. Da questo ampio quadro di riferimento la tesi si è quindi focalizzata sullo studio degli strumenti normativi di valutazione e gestione a disposizione del legislatore, ovvero: - l’Analisi Costi Benefici (CBA); - la Teoria Decisionale e dell’Utilità attesa (DT); - la Teoria delle Opzioni Reali. (ROT). Nella prima parte della tesi abbiamo quindi presentato lo studio di questi tre strumenti in relazione alle politiche pubbliche e alle decisioni del legislatore. Da questo studio è emersa chiaramente l’inadeguatezza dei tre strumenti nel fronteggiare i vari aspetti caratterizzanti le politiche pubbliche. La CBA, nonostante sia lo strumento in assoluto più utilizzato e riconosciuto come legittimo, non riesce a tener conto e gestire uno dei quattro aspetti fondamentali, ovvero la flessibilità del legislatore nel gestire la politica in tutto il suo orizzonte temporale (Cap. 3). Dall’altro lato, lo studio della DT ha messo in evidenza l’inadeguatezza dello strumento principe di questo settore, ovvero gli alberi decisionali, di considerare e gestire le politiche pubbliche negli orizzonti temporali concreti (Cap. 4). Infine, lo studio della ROT ha esplicitato come nonostante lo strumento sia un’importante evoluzione della CBA, essendo fortemente legato alla finanza, non riesca a tener conto della soggettività del decisore (legislatore) (Cap. 5). Nella seconda parte della tesi, partendo dalle conclusioni a cui siamo giunti in merito alla pertinenza dell’uso della CBA, DT e ROT nel campo delle politiche pubbliche, proponiamo e mostriamo un “nuovo strumento” (Cap. 6). Tale strumento può essere considerato un’evoluzione degli alberi decisionali, in quanto pur essendo costruito come un normale albero tiene conto del tempo in maniera concreta: non solamente attraverso una costruzione della politica e della decisione nel tempo, ma anche attraverso l’inserimento di un tasso di sconto soggettivo. Il tasso di sconto soggettivo ricavato mediante la funzione di utilità del decisore (legislatore) è in grado di tener conto delle sue personali preferenze sia sul tempo che sull’incertezza. La tesi termina poi con un confronto critico tra il nuovo albero decisionale temporale proposto e la teoria delle opzioni reali. Tale confronto critico mostra che i due strumenti si differenziano sotto il profilo formale per vari aspetti: 1. Le opzioni reali si basano sull’esistenza di un asset sottostante, che permette una serie di semplificazioni. Partendo dall’ipotesi che l’asset sottostante replichi perfettamente l’investimento e la decisione d’investimento, si passa poi all’utilizzo del tasso di sconto risk free e quindi all’uso di probabilità neutrali al rischio, ed è sempre sull’esistenza dell’asset sottostante che si basa il condizionamento delle probabilità successive. 2. Gli alberi decisionali temporali al contrario non fanno nessuna di queste ipotesi. Non esiste nulla che possa replicare l’investimento, la decisione ed il decisore, le probabilità condizionate dipendono dall’oracolo e tutta la costruzione formale ruota attorno alla soggettività e alle preferenze del decisore. Concludendo possiamo dire che, partendo dallo studio delle politiche pubbliche e delle loro caratteristiche intrinseche, gli strumenti di valutazione attualmente a disposizione del legislatore (CBA, DT, ROT) sono incompleti. Ovvero, non riescono a considerare e gestire adeguatamente e contemporaneamente le 4 caratteristiche fondamentali considerate. Superare questo problema è fondamentale per dotare il legislatore di uno strumento completo di valutazione e di aiuto alla decisione, pertanto abbiamo pensato di costruire un albero decisionale ad hoc per le politiche pubbliche. Tale albero decisionale è stato quindi costruito seguendo il modello del tradizionale, ma aggiungendo sia la dimensione temporale sia il concetto economico di costi e benefici. Inoltre, sono state anche rielaborate ed integrate alcune idee legate alla flessibilità manageriale provenienti dalla teoria delle opzioni reali. In questo modo, il risultante “albero decisionale temporale” è in grado di considerare e gestire le specifiche esigenze della decisione pubblica, rimanendo sia nell’ambito della razionalità normativa attraverso i concetti di valutazione economica, sia nell’ambito della razionalità costruttiva, poiché lo strumento ingloba e ruota attorno alle preferenze soggettive del decisore e di coloro che legittimamente rappresenta

Approved for public release; distribution is unlimited.
This thesis is a cost-benefit analysis of the Enhanced Transportation Service (ETS) Program, which is a proposed initiative under the Marine Corps' 'Precision Logistics' concept. The general focus of 'Precision Logistics' is to provide the warfighter with the right thing, at the right place, at the right time, with the least amount of effort and cost. (Hamilton, 1996) The specific focus of the ETS Program is to utilize premium transportation service (i.e., next day air) to reduce order ship time (OST), which will result in lower stockage levels. The intent of this study was to determine if the benefit derived from reduced stockage levels outweighs the additional cost of air shipment. This is intended to be the first in a series of studies of the ETS program. The study was based on the requisitioning objective (RO) stockage level. A computer spreadsheet model of the RO formula was built and two Monte Carlo simulation runs conducted to determine if the ETS Program is cost effective. Results of the analysis suggest that the cost of premium transportation service is significantly less than the cost of additional inventory that would have to be carried if premium transportation were not utilized. Therefore, further research of the ETS Program is warranted. Recommendations on the direction of future studies are provided

EMBA Project Report
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY: The project was designed to provide an assessment of the best practices used in payroll management by a variety of Navy commands. The project aimed to benchmark the average cost of payroll execution processing at the various Navy commands to determine if Navy Installation Command (NIC) is expending resources effectively. A secondary analysis determined institutional cost-effectiveness and cost-benefits of payroll tracking, reporting, and reconciliation practices with a goal of improving the accuracy of financial reporting. This report provides an assessment of data collected on the best practices and related costs of similar functions performed at a selection of Navy commands. A variety of cost ratios are provided to determine if other Navy commands are providing similar services more effectively and efficiently. The scope of the project was limited to assessment and comparison of US direct hire civilians and related hours consumed by each command to produce a variety of monthly and annual reports that are required from each command, regardless of the echelon or reporting hierarchy of the command. Effectiveness ratings are based on command opinions of the systems used in the production of the monthly and annual reports. The team recognizes the ratings are subjective and is unable to validate the responses. Results of the analysis indicate internally-developed systems are preferred over Navy-provided systems by commands. Internally-developed systems provide better management flexibility and easier report generation than Navy-provided systems. Internally-developed systems are least cost efficient although more effective in areas of reporting and tracking costs. The number of unit identification codes (UICs) managed by a command is a main cost driver in the cost of providing the service. Fewer UICs require less tracking and reporting regardless of the number of full-time equivalent (FTE) reported in each UIC. The team recommends the client coordinate with Military Sealift Command (MSC) to review their processes and reporting. MSC is the most cost efficient of the participants and reports the highest effectiveness through a combined use of Work Years Personnel Costs (WYPC) and Financial Management System (FMS), an internally developed system.

EMBA Project Report
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY: At the request of the Intelligence, Surveillance, and Reconnaissance Task Force, the Naval Air Systems Command‘s program office for Multi-Mission Tactical Unmanned Aerial Systems (UAS)—also known as PMA-266, began MQ-8B flight operations in Afghanistan. Due to the importance and short notice of this request, the initial manning and support measures for the Fire Scout detachment has relied heavily on contractors. In an effort to refine and redirect the future manning of Fire Scout detachments, PMA-266 asked the Washington DC Naval Postgraduate School Consulting Group to evaluate three different courses of action (COAs) detailing manning options for deployment of the MQ-8B Fire Scout for the next year. The three COAs were: 1) Manning with a military component 2) Manning with NGC contract services 3) Manning through a third party contractor. This report recommends that PMA-266 use the military component COA to the maximum extent possible. In addition to annual cost savings of over $10M, a military component provides greater mission-focus and flexibility inherent in a military chain of command as compared to a contract manning structure. The Navy would also benefit by obtaining operational UAS experience as it looks to develop an unmanned aviation community. The experience gained could be used to develop Navy instructors for operator and maintenance training instead of continuing to rely on contract support for these requirements.

The UK domestic building sector accounts for a substantial amount of the final energy demand and greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. To this extent, the sector can play an important role in GHG abatement and energy demand reduction, essential objectives of a more ‘sustainable energy system’. Microgeneration, or production of electricity or heat from small-scale sources, have been advocated by some, including the Supergen ‘Highly Distributed Power Systems Consortium’ to which this thesis contributes, as important means towards achieving these objectives. In this thesis, three assessed microgenerators; specifically a 600W microwind system, 2.1 kWp photovoltaic (PV) and building-integrated photovoltaic (BIPV) systems, and a 2.8m2 solar hot water (SHW) system have been analysed through an ‘integrated appraisal toolkit’ in order to assess their respective economic and financial performance in current UK context. A cost-benefit analysis (CBA) is applied, based on outputs and results from energy analysis and life-cycle assessment (LCA), and other tools such as financial appraisal, cost-effective analysis (CEA), and simple multi-attribute ranking technique (SMART) are also performed in order to asses how these systems perform on an individual household level or when compared to other energy technologies. The CBA, which included environmental impacts quantified through the LCA, obtained negative net present values (NPVs) for all the assessed microgenerators with the exception of microwind in a high-wind resourced ‘open’ area with lower end capital costs. The NPVs in the financial appraisal, which excluded environmental impacts, yielded relatively poorer results still. Only with the proposed feed-in tariffs would the systems all achieve positive NPVs. Given that the CBA included a substantial qualitative part, alternative tools, such as CEA and multi-criteria evaluation were applied (in brief) in order to place the assessed systems in the context of other energy generating sources in the UK, and to enable a more confident decision with respect to whether these systems should be advocated or rejected.

Thesis (S.M.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Aeronautics and Astronautics, 2010.
Cataloged from PDF version of thesis.
Includes bibliographical references (p. 118-122).
The growth of aviation has spurred increased study of its environmental impacts and the possible mitigation thereof. One emissions reduction option is the introduction of an Ultra Low Sulfur (ULS) jet fuel standard for global commercial aviation. A full cost-benefit analysis, including impacts on air quality, climate, operations, and lifecycle costs is necessary to justify such a policy. The cost of a ULS jet fuel policy is well-characterized by the adoption of ULS diesel fuel, similar to jet fuel, for ground transportation in the US and elsewhere. The cost of hydrodesulfurization (HDS), the process used to remove sulfur from fuel, is projected to be between 4 and 7 cents per gallon of jet fuel. With 2006 levels of domestic fuel consumption, this translates to a yearly cost of HDS of $540-$940 million within the US. The climate and air quality benefits are characterized by several earth-atmosphere models, which isolate the perturbation of aviation emissions. Comparisons among models, which employ different modeling methods and assumptions as well as different spatial resolution, provide some cross-validation, as well as characterizing the degree of uncertainty in the state of the science. This thesis focuses in detail on the CMAQ (Community Multi-scale Air Quality) model, used by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to support regulatory impact assessment. Other models, their results, and efforts at inter-model comparison are also discussed. Benefits are monetized through valuing the reduction in premature mortality from reduced concentrations of ground-level particulate matter (PM). The central finding from CMAQ is that with nominal health impact parameters, a global ULS jet fuel policy is predicted to save 110 lives per year in the US when considering full flight emissions, a 14% reduction in aviation-attributable mortality resulting in an estimated monetary benefit of $800 million.
by Stephen Kuhn.
S.M.

This dissertation studies a firm’s decision to voluntarily disclose that it is seeking “strategic alternatives,” effectively setting out to explore the potential sale or merger of the company. Firms appear to use these voluntary disclosures to maximize shareholder value and credibly convey private information. Voluntary disclosures of strategic alternatives are associated with a three-day return of +5.8 percent on average. Compared to an entropy-balanced control group with similar characteristics in expectation, disclosing firms that are subsequently acquired experience positive abnormal takeover returns (reflecting benefits from a more favorable sale process and improved information), whereas disclosing firms that are not subsequently acquired experience negative abnormal returns (reflecting costs from more dysfunction). The existence of economically significant costs and benefits is consistent with a general voluntary disclosure framework resulting in a threshold equilibrium. The decision to seek strategic alternatives appears to be prompted by poor performance, poor information environment, and the presence of corporate governance catalysts, namely, blockholders, activists, and golden parachutes.

To manage credit risk and improve working capital, many power utility companies have moved consumers from conventional post-payment for electricity to prepayment. Despite the growing use of this prepayment system, the welfare implications of this strategy are unclear and contested. The Zimbabwean utility company, Zimbabwe Electricity Transmission and Distribution Company (ZETDC), introduced prepaid meters in August 2012 and installed over 550,000 prepaid meters by the 31st of December 2015. This thesis' objective was to quantitatively assess the societal costs and benefits of introducing prepaid electricity to Zimbabwe, by calculating the net present value of the estimated annual costs and benefits over time. A qualitative analysis was also conducted, based on a consumer survey of 100 consumers who had switched from the post-paid to the prepaid system. The survey captured consumers' perceptions of the prepaid system's costs and benefits. Results of the study showed that both consumers and the utility company have benefited from the prepaid system. The average net benefit per user under the prepaid system was estimated at US$58.93 per annum. 74% of consumers surveyed confirmed having benefited from the switch to the prepaid system. The main policy recommendation, based on the results of the study, is for ZETDC to continue with its roll out of the prepaid system. However, as the research was limited to the current ZETDC prepaid consumer base of only domestic and small business users, a recommendation for future research would be to evaluate the costs and benefits for larger industrial consumers as well.

Thesis (M.S. in Mechanical Engineering)--Naval Postgraduate School, September 2009.
Thesis Advisor(s): Papoulias, Fotis ; Gordis, Joshua. "September 2009." Description based on title screen as viewed on November 5, 2009. Author(s) subject terms: Sea-Base, logistical connector, surface connector, air connector. Includes bibliographical references (p. 57-58). Also available in print.

La thèse a été originé par l’intérêt vers les politiques publiques (PP); plus précisément par la question de l’évaluation. Les décisions publiques ont été analysées et synthétisées en 4 éléments: horizons temporels; sources d’incertitude; aspect économique; flexibilité. La recherche a été dirigés vers l’étude des instruments nécessaires à la formation, gestion, monitorage des PP. La thèse s’est concentré sur l’étude des instruments normatifs: l’Analyse Coût Bénéfice; la Théorie Décisionnelle; la Théorie des Options Réelles. Dans la première partie nous avons présente l’étude de ces instruments par rapports aux PP et aux décisions du législateur. Cette étude a montré que les instruments sont inconvenables d’aborder les aspects caractérisant les PP. Dans la deuxième partie, nous proposons un nouveau instrument”. Cet instrument peut etre considéré une évolution des arbres décisionnels vu qu’il tien compte du temps de manière concrète: pas seulement par une construction de la politique et de la décision dans le temps, mais aussi à travers l’insertion d’un taux de remise subjectif
The thesis arise from the interest in the public policies (PP), and in particular from the problem of how to evaluate them. Public decisions can be analyzed and summarized in four elements: time horizons; sources of uncertainty; economics; flexibility. The study of these has pushed the research towards the study of the tools and the mechanisms necessary for the PP creation, management and monitoring. Therefore, the thesis is focused on the study of the normative tools: the Cost Benefit Analysis; Decision Theory, and Real Options Theory. In the first part we presented these tools in relation to PP and policy-makers decision. From that it became clear the inadequacy of the existent tools in addressing the different aspects that characterize PP. Thus in the second part we propose a "new instrument". Such tool could be considered an evolution of the decision tree, because it take into account the time in practical terms: not only through a policy construction and decision-making over the time, but also through the inclusion of a subjective discount rate

The work describes problems of creating CBA. The theoretical part of the work defines the CBA, its drawbacks and strengths. An important part of it is a different view of economic orientations to the CBA. The work also deals with the current institutional situation that determines the obligation of drawing up the CBA for the selected projects seeking public support. The aim of this work is to evaluate the production of any obligation of the CBA. For this purpose, will be used as well interviews with experts.

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.

Organisations managing recreational sites commonly need to understand the factors influencing visitation choices made by the public and the impact they have on the value of their sites. This need is particularly pertinent with an increasing societal reliance on cost benefit analysis for project appraisal. Whilst on-site visitor surveys can provide information on preferences and values, the potential to transfer findings to predict visitor numbers and values at unsurveyed sites provides an attractive policy option. Indeed, the demand for these benefit transfer methodologies is increasing as more Government emphasis is placed on evaluating the economic potential of rural outdoor recreation. This research concerns the development of benefit transfer models to estimate visitor numbers from outset zones to British Waterways and Forestry Commission sites. Employing a GIS, the research uses multilevel statistical modelling techniques to quantify the impacts of the proximity to competing recreation sites, resource accessibility and quality, and the characteristics of visiting populations. The models are constructed using visitor survey data and applied to unsurveyed sites, testing their use in benefit transfer. Methods are also developed that allow their output to be used to estimate the non-market value of the recreational opportunities afforded by the resources. The findings show some robust relationships determined visit patterns, with travel times from outset zones being a consistent predictor of visitor numbers. A range of other indicators were also significant including socio-demographic measures, site characteristics and substitute availability values. Nevertheless, when individual sites were compared, considerable variability was detected in the strength and direction of these relationships. The methodology developed explicitly addresses the frequently ignored spatial dimension of benefit transfer. Here the GIS provides the functionality to produce a range of measures of the underlying determinants of recreational visits. Although further refinements are needed, the future for spatial benefit transfer models appears promising.

The purpose of this thesis was to explore the use of cost effectiveness for interventions in orthopaedics. This was done through three cost effectiveness articles that have been published by the author. In each of these articles, similar methodologies were used. Decision models were constructed for cost-effectiveness analyses of competing orthopaedic interventions. Outcome probabilities and effectiveness values were derived from the literature. Effectiveness was expressed in quality adjusted life years gained. Cost data were compiled and verified from either hospital cost data or from Medicare data. Costs and utilities were discounted in accord with the United States Panel on Cost Effectiveness in Health and Medicine. Principal outcome measures were average incremental costs, incremental effectiveness, incremental quality-adjusted life years, and, in the case of one article, net health benefits. In particular the articles compared the following: 1. Core decompression versus conservative management for osteonecrosis of the hip as a way to delay hip replacement; 2. Total knee arthroplasty versus unicompartmental knee arthroplasty; and 3. Periacetabular osteotomy versus total hip arthroplasty for a young adult with developmental dysplasia of the hip. The more cost effective intervention was identified in each case, along with implications of the results for clinical and operative decision-making. Cost effectiveness was found to be a useful tool in orthopaedic surgery under limited circumstances of either scarce data on new interventions or the need to use more resources to achieve greater effectiveness. It also can provide excellent insight into ways to direct future clinical research.