Open AccessBook
Cost-Benefit Analysis
E.J. Mishan,Euston Quah +1 more
TLDR
Costbenefit analysis (CBA) is the systematic and analytical process of comparing benefits and costs in evaluating the desirability of a project or program as mentioned in this paper, often of a social nature, and is fundamental to government decision making and is established as a formal technique for making informed decisions on the use of society's scarce resources.Abstract:
Cost-benefit analysis (CBA) is the systematic and analytical process of comparing benefits and costs in evaluating the desirability of a project or programme – often of a social nature. It attempts to answer such questions as whether a proposed project is worthwhile, the optimal scale of a proposed project and the relevant constraints. CBA is fundamental to government decision making and is established as a formal technique for making informed decisions on the use of society’s scarce resources.
This timely sixth edition of the classic Cost-Benefit Analysis text continues to build on the successful approach of previous editions, with lucid explanation of key ideas, simple but effective expository short chapters and an appendix on various useful statistical and mathematical concepts and derivatives. The book examines important developments in the discipline, with relevant examples and illustrations as well as new and expanded chapters which build upon standard materials on CBA. Highlights include:
updated historical background of CBA
extended non-market goods valuation methods
the impact of uncertainty
evaluation of programmes and services
behavioural economics
decision rules and heuristics
CBA and regulatory reforms
CBA in developed and developing countries
value of household production
other topics frequently encountered in CBA, such as costs of diseases and air pollution, and value of statistical life.
This book is a valuable source and guide to international funding agencies, governments, interested professional economists and senior undergraduate and graduate students.
The text is fully supported by a companion website, which includes discussion questions and PowerPoint slides for each chapter.read more
Citations
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Journal ArticleDOI
Cost-benefit analysis in integrated environmental assessment: some methodological issues
TL;DR: This paper has as a main objective to analyse the role of CBA in the IEA framework to make explicit the economical, philosophical and mathematical assumptions on which CBA is based and to test the consistency and compatibility of such an axiomatic system.
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A recreation site demand and benefit estimation model
Frank J. Cesario,Jack L. Knetsch +1 more
TL;DR: Cesario et al. as mentioned in this paper developed a model useful for estimating both the number of visits per unit time attracted to recreation sites in a region and the primary social benefits associated with these sites.
Journal ArticleDOI
Asthma: prevalence and cost of illness
TL;DR: The results of this large study show the prevalence of asthma in the German social insurance system to be ∼6%, and indicates that there is room for substantial savings in theGerman social insurancesystem.
Journal ArticleDOI
Distributionally weighted cost-benefit analysis: welfare economics meets organizational design
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors consider the design of CBA, including the pursuit of distributional goals by mapping optimal distributive systems to tasks performed by specialized agencies, and conclude that regulatory agencies using CBA cannot make distributional adjustments consistent with desirable distributive policies.