The Art of Cost-Benefit Analysis

Abstract

Proposals for large-scale government and private projects are increasingly coming under the scrutiny of the cost-benefit analysis, decision analysis, risk assessment and related approaches. This paper presents a critical overview of such analyses. It discusses (1) their rationale; (2) their acceptability as guides to decision making; (3) the problems such analyses encounter; (4) how they may be misused; and (5) what steps are needed to increase their contribution to society. The dicussion is illustrated with a variety of examples drawn, in particular, from the evaluation of new technologies.

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Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Feb 01, 1977
Accession Number
ADA041526

Entities

People

  • Baruch Fischhoff

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • Biomedical
  • C4I
  • Engineered Resilient Systems
  • Human Systems

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Accidents
  • Biological Sciences
  • Commerce
  • Cost Benefit Analysis
  • Economics
  • Environment
  • Environmental Monitoring
  • Environmental Protection
  • Nuclear Energy
  • Personnel Management
  • Psychology
  • Reliability
  • Risk
  • Risk Analysis
  • Scientists
  • Social Sciences
  • Systems Engineering

Fields of Study

  • Computer science

Readers

  • Economics
  • Life Cycle Cost Analysis
  • Systems Analysis and Design