Valid for: 2013/14
Decided by: Education Board B
Date of Decision: 2013-04-10
Compulsory for: RH4-rh
Language of instruction: The course will be given in Swedish
The aim of the course is to apply an economic perspective on various accidental and environmental risks. The identification, quantification and especially valuation of those risks are essential for the dimension and scope of society's investments i security. Economic evaluation methods are an important tool for assessing such investment.
Knowledge and understanding
For a passing grade the student must
Competences and skills
For a passing grade the student must
Judgement and approach
For a passing grade the student must
Show an ability to identify, analyse and evaluate the economic aspects of regulations and proposals regarding accidental and environmental risks in society
Show an insight into the possibilities and limitations of risk evaluation and its role in a decision making situation
What do we mean by an economic perspective? Opportunity cost, value, price and other fundamental economic concepts
Rules of behaviour in decision-making for the agents of society
The principles of risk manegemtn such as diversification and insurance
Management of risk and uncertainty as a game or "lottery"
The use of decision trees in the process of making rational decisions where risk is a factor
The difference between expected value and expected utility and the theory of expected utility
Attitudes towards risk with the central concepts of risk aversion, risk seeking and risk neutrality, the value of risk in itself
Risk aversion premia and certainty equivalents
Prerequisites for being able to use expected values when risk is present in society's decisions
Prospect theory, subjective and objective risk, private and public risk, non-rational individual behaviour
Asymmetric information as a problem for efficient risk sharing in society
The concepts of moral hazard and adverse selcetion and the need för socity to adjust behaviour when those phenomena are present
Cost-benefit analysis, its principles, abilities and limitations
From utility to money and from individual to society
Valuation methods for non-market-priced effects such as risk changes in traffic, the environment and health
The cvalue of a statisical life: definition, interpretation, measurement issues and its use in decision.making
Examples of risk valuation in traffic, envornmental and health issues in Sweden
International comparisons of risk valuations.
Grading scale: TH
Assessment: Tuition consists of lectures, exercises and seminars, where essays are presented and discussed. The essays are written i small groups. Guest lectures are planned for the course. A written exam takes places at the end of the course. Examination is based both on individual performance and on work carried out in groups.
The number of participants is limited to: No
The course overlaps following course/s: MIO120
Course coordinator: Erik Wengström, erik.wengstrom@nek.lu.se
Course homepage: http://www.nek.lu.se