This book is an exposition of benefit-cost analysis, an analytic framework for organizing thoughts and listing the pros and cons of alternatives. It adopts an interactive political economy approach that accepts specific objectives reflecting the welfare desired for various groups.
1. Introduction
2. Public Investment: Rationales and Objectives
3. Program Information Structure
4. Estimating Project Effects
5. Valuation of Direct Effects
6. Opportunity Cost Adjustments
7. Valuation of Nonmarginal Projects
8. Distribution Effects
9. Valuation over Time and Selection Criteria
10. Uncertainty
11. The Political Economy of Budgeting
12. Conclusion: Systematic Analysis in Perspective
A. Allan Schmid is University Distinguished Professor in the Department of Agricultural Economics at Michigan State University. He is the author of eight books, including Property, Power, and Public Choice (second edition, 1987), and Benefit-Cost Analysis: A Political Economy Approach (1989).
