NA0153, Cost Benefit Analysis of Agricultural and Environmental Projects, 7.5 Hp
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Syllabus

Level

Second cycle (A1N)

Main field of study

Environmental Science, Economics

Grading Scale

The grade requirements within the course grading system are set out in specific criteria. These criteria must be available by the course start at the latest.

Course language

English

Entry Requirements

Objectives

Many decisions regarding cost and benefits of different tasks are made in everyday life. For example, a household compares costs and benefits from buying a new environmentally friendly car. The cost benefit tests are also carried out for much larger projects such as changes in national transport systems. Common to most projects is the need for attaching costs and benefits to different items which can be difficult to assess such as the value of life or cost of the risk for future catastrophic events from, e.g., nuclear power works. The purpose of this course is to give theoretical and empirical knowledge on design of cost benefit studies applied mainly on environmentally related projects. After passing the course, the students will

• be able to determine whether or not a project is suitable for cost benefit analysis
• analyse the concept of social cost
• have knowledge on different techniques for cost and benefit estimates
• give account of what factors can have dramatic impacts on the estimated cost and benefits
• know how to account for intangible costs or benefits of a project
• describe the impact of time perspective on the outcome of a project
• know how to account for distributional impacts of a project on for example different households and regions
• analyse the possibilities and limitations of CBA

Content

Topics described and analysed are:

• comparison of different cost and benefit estimation techniques
• the role and choice of appropriate discount rate
• considerations of distributional incidences of projects (for example among household groups, regions, or different production sectors)
• financial analysis techniques such as break even analysis, option value, net present value and internal rate of return
• cost effectiveness and computable general equilibrium analyses
• development of own CBA case studies

Examination Formats and Requirements for Passing the Course

Project task and exercises. Passed project task and exercises.

Responsible Department/Equivalent

Department of Economics

Supplementary information

Module set