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This thesis is, to its nature, somewhat wide in scope. The common denominator for theincluded essays is regional economics. Within this very wide area of research, the thesis isdivided rather sharply between one part regarding trading of emission permits in theinternational aviation sector and another part concerned with real estate markets. The basis ofthis thesis is five essays all written for the purpose of peer reviewed publication.The first topic includes three essays; the first provides an overview of previous emissionstrading schemes which allow us to learn for future policy designs when including new sectorsor creating new trading schemes. The second essay aims at estimating elasticities for domesticair travel in Sweden. The third essay, takes an analytical approach to scrutinizing theproposed barrier of trade between the international aviation sector and the stationary sourceswithin the EU ETS.The second topic is motivated by the structural relocations that two municipalities in thenorthern part of Sweden are currently undergoing. The first essay on this topic, the fourthessay of this thesis, concerns redistributions of wealth that occur when moving a city center.The fifth and final essay approaches the problem of measuring an effect of information onhouse values with small quantities of data, such as is the case for Gällivare municipality. ; QC 20131024

Designing an emissions trading scheme requires in-depth knowledge regarding several aspects. This paper attempts to clarify some important design points of the forthcoming emissions trading scheme for aviation under the EU ETS. Five general key points of system design are acknowledged and comparisons are made to previous and current emission trading schemes. While it is not meant to be exhaustive it helps to create an understanding of what design elements should be handled with caution. Discussion is provided in regard to the recent implementation of aviation in the EU ETS. Above all, it is argued that initial allocations of emission permits and the trade barrier between the aviation sector and EU ETS need to be carefully examined. ; QC 20121112. Updated from manuscript to article in journal.

Starting on January 1 st, 2012, the international aviation sector will be included into the already existing EU ETS. All air crafts departing and arriving within the European Union will be obliged to hold permits corresponding to their total emissions of CO 2for those routes. Since emissions from the international aviation sector are not included under the Kyoto Protocol, the European Commission has decided to introduce a trading barrier between the sectors in order not to jeopardize the Kyoto targets. The purpose of this paper is to analyse the potential loss in cost-effectiveness of introducing such a trading barrier between two sectors taking into account that damage from emissions is not necessarily uniform. A theoretical model is developed to address the question and it is found that, at least for the case with linking the international aviation sector to the stationary sources within the EU ETS, the trading barrier might be unwarranted as it might lead to higher damage from emissions as compared to alternative ways to link the trading sectors. However, it should be stressed that this finding is not general and caution should be taken in the future when linking emission trading schemes as, depending on the heterogeneity of emission damage, a trading barrier might very well be justified.

Are there option values for transport services? A few studies have tried to answer this question through various stated preference methods, but we do not know much about its magnitude in different contexts. In this paper, we summarize the theory on option value, present previous empirical work concerning transport, and discuss its links to accessibility. Accessibility can be seen as the end product of the transport system, and the argument we pursue is that option value is a component of accessibility. Therefore, estimations of the option value ought to be connected to the marginal accessibility change of an optional transport mode. The concept of substitutability has the potential to meet this criterion. It is the degree to which an alternative trip can replace an initially preferred trip, or, put differently, how accessibility at a location is composed. We conduct an empirical application to test whether the variation in housing transaction prices is associated with substitutability. We find that housing prices are higher where the accessibility is built up by several transport modes, given any level of total accessibility. We interpret this as households, on average, are willing to pay a risk premium to keep optional transport modes available.

Rental markets hold an important role for a functioning housing market as a whole. Households with shorter time horizons, as well as households with little private equity and difficulties acquiring capital can see their housing needs met on the rental market. A functioning rental market does however require some sort of legislation. In this paper we argue that legislation must adapt to changing rental markets. We do so from the specific case of Iceland. The Icelandic rental market has, since the financial crisis, undergone noticeable structural change, evident from a number of perspectives. By applying a framework based in the role of rental market legislation, we provide a comparison between legislation in the Nordic countries. We conclude, based both in the presented structural change of the Icelandic rental market, and in aspects of Nordic rent legislation, that there is a case to be made for changes to the Icelandic legislation.