Benefit-Cost Analysis Center

Support for the Benefit-Cost Analysis Center is provided by the Daniel J. Evans School of Public Affairs at the University of Washington and the MacArthur Foundation.

Learn more about the Benefit-Cost Analysis Center's leadership or how to find out to contact us.

About Benefit-Cost Analysis

Benefit-cost (or cost-benefit) analysis aims to inform the decision process with specific types of information, namely measures of willingness to pay for a gain by those that will benefit from the change and willingness to accept a change (in monetary terms) for those who will lose from the change. The use of monetary terms provides a common metric. Its purpose is not to price everything, but rather to order choices in a way that is informative about social choices for decision makers.

About the Benefit-Cost Analysis Center

The core aim of the Center will be to help improve the use of benefit-cost analysis, BCA, which involves not only recognition of its limitations and an expansion of its use where appropriate, but also the improvement and standardization of its methodology so that BCA can be more usefully applied. This will involve working with a variety of government agencies towards greater agreement on standards to be followed in applying BCA. Another central purpose of the Center will be to disseminate information to government agencies and to government and academic employees about the use and misuse of BCA and to help them improve its use.

An integral part of the Center has always been seen as the dissemination of information. This will be accomplished through various channels - the Web, annual meetings, and publication of papers. A very important addition to this will be the convening of government BCA analysts from OMB, state agencies, and elsewhere for discussions of improving and standardizing the use of BCA.