This book, which was first published in 1972, is not a collection of case-studies in cost-benefit analysis, of which there had been already several in use employing techniques of varying degrees of sophistication. Nor is it a manual of instruction with particular orientation for less developed counties, such as those produced under the auspices of the U.N. and the O.E.C.D. What this volume does attempt is to introduce the student of economics to the logic and the concepts used in cost-benefit analysis.
Preface; Part 1: Introductory; 1. Why Cost-Benefit Analysis? 2. The Pareto Basis of Cost-Benefit Calculations 3. Consistency in Evaluation 4. The Question of Equity; Part 2: Economic Concepts of Costs and Benefits; 5. Measuring Consumers’ Surplus 6. Adding and Subtracting Consumers’ Surpluses 7. Measuring Consumers’ Surpluses When Other Things Are Not Equal 8. Measuring Rents 9. The Economic Cost of Unemployed Factors 10. Transfer Payments 11. Double Counting 12. Shadow Prices 13. Shadow Prices (continued) 14. Some Limitations of Partial Analysis; References and Bibliography; Part 3: External Effects; 15. What Are External Effects? 16. Internalizing External Effects 17. Evaluating External Effects 18. Evaluating Accidents and Death 19. Evaluating Accidents and Death (continued) 20. In Conclusion; References and Bibliography; Part 4: Investment Criteria; 21. Introduction 22. Discounted Present Value and Internal Rates of Return 23. Investment Criteria in a Perfect Economy 24. Discounted Present Value versus Internal Rate of Return 25. Excess Benegfit or Benefit-Cost Ratio? 26. What Should the Rate of Discount Be?; References and Bibliography; Part 5: Uncertainty; 27. Popular Methods of Coping with Uncertainty 28. The Discount Rate Again; References and Bibliography; Index
Biography
E. J. Mishan
