Wednesday, February 10, 2010

Econ 539 - Public Policy Analysis: Cost-Benefit Analysis

Today in ECON 539 (a core course in OSUs Masters in Public Policy Program - I always forget to plug) we will look at cost benefit analysis. From and economics point of view the appropriate question is always about scarce resources and their best use. In cost-benefit analysis we use the concept of economic costs and benefits (not accounting costs and benefits) to get at the true social costs and benefits and allow us to determine the real net worth of particular policies.

2 comments:

Doug Gabbard said...

Can someone recommend a book (or other resource) for a practitioner in local government who needs to analyze both the fiscal and economic impacts of policy proposals?

Fred Thompson said...

A. Boardman, D. Greenberg, A. Vining, and D. Weimer. Cost-Benefit Analysis: Concepts and Practice, Upper Saddle River, N.J.: Pearson Prentice-Hall, third edition, 2006.

A. Vining, and D. Weimer. Policy Analysis: Concepts and Practice, Englewood Cliffs, N.J.: Pearson Prentice-Hall, fourth edition, 2005.

Edith Stokey and Richard Zeckhauser. A Primer for Policy Analysis. New York, NY: WW Norton and Company, Inc., 1978.