DRL007 Cost benefit analysis (Autumn 2022)

About the course

The general objective is to learn about the state of the art in Cost-Benefit Analysis for various sectors. There is an increasing need for evaluation and ranking of projects within constrained public budgets. CBA is one of the methods that are extensively used in economic impact assessment of projects in the public sector.

Originally, CBA was developed and applied within transportation, but has gained increasing attention also within environmental assessment, health care and cultural economics. The course covers fundamental theoretical and empirical issues and applies these to actual case studies.

Topics

• The theoretical and conceptual platform covers topics like consumer and producer surplus measures, efficiency and equity, opportunity costs, imperfect markets, external effects, network effects, public goods, cost-efficiency analysis, constraints based on rights and politics, CBA and decision-making, critique of CBA.
• The discount rate, systematic and unsystematic risks.
• Non-market valuation. Methods like Contingent Valuation and Stated Preferences to measure the economic value of intangibles like travel time, environment impacts, health care effects and traffic safety measures

 

Case studies (adjustments may occur)

• Climate change and environment
• Health care
• Petroleum and energy
• Transport
• Wider Economic Impacts from changes in transport systems

 

The course is connected to the following study programs

• Phd Studies in Logistics for external students
• Philosophiae Doctor in Logistics (PhD)

The student's learning outcomes after completing the course

To learn about the state of the art in Cost-Benefit Analysis for various sectors.

Coursework requirements - conditions for taking the exam

• Mandatory coursework: Attendance for teaching
• Courseworks given:
• Courseworks required:
• Presence: Not required
• Comment: 30 h lectures + student presentations. All lectures are mandatory.

Examination

• Form of assessment: Home assessment
• Proportion: %
• Duration: -
• Grouping: Individual
• Grading scale: Pass/fail
• Supported material:

Syllabus

A list of readings will be provided later, and the papers will be made electronically available two weeks before the course starts.