Cost-Benefit Analysis
Cost-Benefit Analysis
Cost-Benefit Analysis
status quo by implementing the alternative with the lowest costbenet ratio can improve Pareto eciency.[4] An
analyst using CBA should recognize that perfect appraisal
of all present and future costs and benets is dicult, and
while CBA can oer a well-educated estimate of the best
alternative, perfection in terms of economic eciency
and social welfare are not guaranteed.[5]
2 Process
2. To provide a basis for comparing projects. It involves comparing the total expected cost of each
option against the total expected benets, to see
whether the benets outweigh the costs, and by how
much.[2]
2. List stakeholders.
3. Select measurement(s) and measure all cost/benet
elements.
4. Predict outcome of cost and benets over relevant
time period.
3 Evaluation
1
Theory
CBA attempts to measure the positive or negative consequences of a project, which may include:
can be diverse. Financial costs tend to be most thoroughly represented in cost-benet analyses due to relatively abundant market data. The net benets of a project
may incorporate cost savings or public willingness to pay
compensation (implying the public has no legal right to
the benets of the policy) or willingness to accept compensation (implying the public has a right to the benets
of the policy) for the welfare change resulting from the
policy. The guiding principle of evaluating benets is to
list all (categories of) parties aected by an intervention
and add the (positive or negative) value, usually monetary, that they ascribe to its eect on their welfare.
The actual compensation an individual would require to
have their welfare unchanged by a policy is inexact at
best. Surveys (stated preference techniques) or market
behavior (revealed preference techniques) are often used
to estimate the compensation associated with a policy;
however, survey respondents often have strong incentives
to misreport their true preferences and market behavior
does not provide any information about important nonmarket welfare impacts.
HISTORY
The choice of discount rate is subjective. A smaller rate CBA was later expanded to address both intangible and
values future generations equally with the current gener- tangible benets of public policies relating to mental
ation. Larger rates (e.g. a market rate of return) reects illness,[18] substance abuse,[19] college education,[20] and
6.3
chemical waste policies.[21] In the US, the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969 rst required the application of CBA for regulatory programs, and since
then, other governments have enacted similar rules.
Government guidebooks for the application of CBA to
public policies include the Canadian guide for regulatory analysis,[22] Australian guide for regulation and
nance,[23] US guide for health care programs,[24] and US
guide for emergency management programs.[25]
6.2
Transportation investment
The increased usage of CBA in the US regulatory process is often associated with President Ronald Reagan's
administration. Though the use of CBA in US policy
making dating back many decades, Reagans Executive
Order 12291 mandated the use of CBA in the regulatory
process. Reagan campaigned on a deregulation platform,
and once he took oce in 1981 quickly issued this EO,
which vested the Oce of Information and Regulatory
Aairs (OIRA) with the authority to review agency regulations and required federal agencies to produce regulatory impact analyses when the annual impact could be
estimated over $100M. Shortly thereafter, in the 1980s,
academic and institutional critiques of CBA started to
emerge. Three main criticisms[35] were:
1. That CBA could be used for political goals. Debates
on the merits of cost and benet comparisons can
be used to sidestep political or philosophical goals,
rules and regulations.
reduction of discrimination or bias as one of the benets to be analyzed. Criticisms of aspects of CBA, including uncertainly valuations, discounting future values,
and the calculation of risk, were used to argue that CBA
should play no part in the regulatory process.[37] The use
of CBA in the regulatory process continues today under the Obama administration, though the debate over its
practical and objective value continues. Some analysts
oppose the use of CBA in policy making, while those in
favor of its use favor improvements to the analysis and
calculations.
REFERENCES
Business case
Opportunity cost
Scarcity
Social impact assessment
Tax choice
There ain't no such thing as a free lunch
Trade-o
9 References
[1] David, Rodreck; Ngulube, Patrick; Dube, Adock (16 July
2013). A cost-benet analysis of document management
strategies used at a nancial institution in Zimbabwe: A
case study. SA Journal of Information Management 15
(2). doi:10.4102/sajim.v15i2.540.
[2] Archived October 16, 2008, at the Wayback Machine.
[3] Cellini, Stephanie Riegg; Kee, James Edwin. CostEectiveness and Cost-Benet Analysis (PDF).
[4] http://www.finance.gov.au/obpr/docs/Decision-Rules.
pdf
[5] Weimer, D.; Vining, A. (2005). Policy Analysis: Concepts
and Practice (Fourth ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Prentice Hall. ISBN 0-13-183001-5.
[6] Boardman, N. E. (2006). Cost-benet Analysis: Concepts
and Practice (3rd ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice
Hall. ISBN 0-13-143583-3.
[7] Campbell, Harry F.; Brown, Richard (2003). Valuing Traded and Non-Traded Commodities in Benet-Cost
Analysis. Benet-Cost Analysis: Financial and Economic
Appraisal using Spreadsheets. Cambridge: Cambridge
University Press. ISBN 0-521-52898-4. Ch. 8 provides
a useful discussion of non-market valuation methods for
CBA.
[8] Dunn, William N. (2009). Public Policy Analysis: An
Introduction. New York: Longman. ISBN 978-0-13615554-6.
[9] Newell, R. G. (2003). Discounting the Distant Future:
How Much Do Uncertain Rates Increase Valuations?".
Journal of Environmental Economics and Management 46
(1): 5271. doi:10.1016/S0095-0696(02)00031-1.
[10] Campbell, Harry F.; Brown, Richard (2003). Incorporating Risk in Benet-Cost Analysis. Benet-Cost Analysis: Financial and Economic Appraisal using Spreadsheets.
Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0-52152898-4. Ch. 9 provides a useful discussion of sensitivity
analysis and risk modelling in CBA.
[11] History of Benet-Cost Analysis (PDF). Proceedings of
the 2006 Cost Benet Conference.
[12] Guess, George M.; Farnham, Paul G. (2000). Cases in
Public Policy Analysis. Washington, DC: Georgetown
University Press. pp. 304308. ISBN 0-87840-768-5.
[13] Eckstein, Otto (1958). Water Resource Development: The
Economics of Project Evaluation. Cambridge: Harvard
University Press.
[14] Kneese, A. V. (1964). The Economics of Regional Water
Quality Management. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins Press.
[15] Clawson, M.; Knetsch, J. L. (1966). Economics of Outdoor Recreation. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins Press.
[16] Krutilla, J. V. (1967). Conservation Reconsidered.
American Economic Review 57 (4): 777786. JSTOR
1815368.
[17] Weisbrod, Burton A. (1964). Collective-Consumption
Services
of
Individual-Consumption
Goods.
Quarterly Journal of Economics 78 (3): 471477.
doi:10.2307/1879478.
[18] Weisbrod, Burton A. (1981). Benet-Cost Analysis
of a Controlled Experiment: Treating the Mentally Ill.
Journal of Human Resources 16 (4): 523548. JSTOR
145235.
[19] Plotnick, Robert D. (1994). Applying Benet-Cost
Analysis to Substance Abuse Prevention Programs. International Journal of the Addictions 29 (3): 339359.
doi:10.3109/10826089409047385.
[20] Weisbrod, Burton A.; Hansen, W. Lee (1969). Benets,
Costs, and Finance of Public Higher Education. Markham.
[21] Moll, K. S.; et al. (1975). Hazardous wastes: A RiskBenet Framework Applied to Cadmium and Asbestos.
Menlo Park, CA: Stanford Research Institute.
11
10
Further reading
Campbell, Harry; Brown, Richard (2003). BenetCost Analysis: Financial and Economic Appraisal
Using Spreadsheets. Cambridge University Press.
ISBN 0-521-82146-0.
Chakravarty, Sukhamoy (1987). Cost-benet analysis. The New Palgrave: A Dictionary of Economics 1. London: Macmillan. pp. 687690. ISBN
0-333-37235-2.
David, R., Ngulube, P. & Dube, A., 2013, A costbenet analysis of document management strategies used at a nancial institution in Zimbabwe: A
case study, SA Journal of Information Management
15(2), Art. #540, 10 pages. http://www.sajim.co.
za/index.php/SAJIM/article/view/540/640
Dupuit, Jules (1969). On the Measurement of the
Utility of Public Works. In Arrow, Kenneth J.;
Scitovsky, Tibor. Readings in Welfare Economics.
London: Allen and Unwin. ISBN 0-04-338038-7.
Eckstein, Otto (1958). Water-resource Development: The Economics of Project Evaluation. Cambridge: Harvard University Press.
Folland, Sherman; Goodman, Allen C.; Stano,
Miron (2007). The Economics of Heath and Health
Care (Fifth ed.). New Jersey: Pearson Prentice Hall.
pp. 8384. ISBN 978-0-13-227942-0.
Ferrara, A. (2010). Cost-Benet Analysis of MultiLevel Government: The Case of EU Cohesion Policy and US Federal Investment Policies. London and
New York: Routledge. ISBN 978-0-415-56821-0.
Frank, Robert H. (2000). Why is Cost-Benet
Analysis so Controversial?". Journal of Legal Studies 29 (S2): 913930. doi:10.1086/468099.
Hirshleifer, Jack (1960). Water Supply: Economics,
Technology, and Policy. Chicago: University of
Chicago Press.
EXTERNAL LINKS
11 External links
Benet-Cost Analysis Center at the University of
Washington's Daniel J. Evans School of Public Affairs
Intro to Cost-Benet Analysis
12
12.1
12.2
Images
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12.3
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