Bureaucratic Benefit-Cost Analysis and Policy Controversy

2016 ◽  
Vol 7 (2) ◽  
pp. 350-371
Author(s):  
Ryan P. Scott ◽  
Tyler A. Scott ◽  
Richard Zerbe
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Cost Analysis ◽  
Policy Research ◽  
Policy Decision ◽  
Standard Assumption ◽  
Benefit Cost Analysis ◽  
Decision Making Processes ◽  
Policy Decision Making ◽  
Benefit Cost

Critiques of benefit-cost analysis (BCA) are usually made on theoretical or methodological grounds; however, understanding how BCA is actually used in decision-making processes is critical if BCA is to inform policy-making. Our paper examines how the implementation of BCA within policy decision-making processes can serve to increase, rather than alleviate, controversy. This runs contrary to the standard assumption that BCA improves decision-making by providing objective data that serves as a basis for policy consensus. To frame this issue, we engage the literature on the role of science in policy decisions and the role of bureaucrats in understanding and implementing policy research. We introduce the concept of “Bureaucratic BCA” as a framework for the practical application of BCA; Bureaucratic BCA does not refer to BCA specifically conducted by bureaucrats or a lesser, technically inferior version of BCA, but rather acknowledges that BCA plays an interactive role within bureaucratic decision-making processes rather than simply serving as a sterilized information input. We show how the dynamics of BCA within the policy process can make BCA a source of controversy and waste rather than an aid to policy efficiency. In light of the Bureaucratic BCA framework, we provide recommendations as to how BCA can be implemented more productively.

Emotions and Foreign Policy

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Thomas Dolan
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Foreign Policy ◽  
Policy Decision ◽  
Foreign Policy Analysis ◽  
Collective Emotions ◽  
The Social ◽  
Decision Making Processes ◽  
Policy Decision Making ◽  
And Behavior

Increasingly, scholars are recognizing the influences of emotion on foreign policy decision-making processes. Not merely feelings, emotions are sets of sentimental, physiological, and cognitive processes that typically arise in response to situational stimuli. They play a central role in psychological and social processes that shape foreign policy decision-making and behavior. In recent years, three important areas of research on emotion in foreign policy have developed: one examining the effects of emotion on how foreign policy decision makers understand and think-through problems, another focused on the role of emotion in diplomacy, and a third that investigates how mass emotion develops and shapes the context in which foreign policy decisions are made. These literatures have benefitted greatly from developments in the study of emotion by psychologists, neuroscientists, and others. Effectively using emotion to study foreign policy, however, requires some understanding of how these scholars approach the study of emotion and other affective phenomena. In addition to surveying the literatures in foreign policy analysis that use emotion, then, this article also addresses definitional issues and the different theories of emotion common among psychologists and neuroscientists. Some of the challenges scholars of emotion in foreign policy face: the interplay of the psychological and the social in modelling collective emotions, the issues involved in observing emotions in the foreign policy context, the theoretical challenge of emotion regulation, and the challenge of winning broader acceptance of the importance of emotion in foreign policy by the broader scholarly community.

The Role of Analogical Reasoning in Novel Foreign-Policy Situations

1996 ◽  
Vol 26 (4) ◽  
pp. 523-552 ◽  
Author(s):  
David Patrick Houghton
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Foreign Policy ◽  
Analogical Reasoning ◽  
Policy Decision ◽  
Decision Makers ◽  
Hostage Crisis ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
Decision Making Processes ◽  
Policy Decision Making

A number of scholars have argued that historical analogizing plays an important role in foreign-policy decision making; the extent of that importance, however, remains largely a mystery to us. This article proposes that analogical reasoning is probably even more commonplace than previously thought, since it may play a crucial role even in ‘novel foreign policy situations’ (scenarios which appear largely unprecedented to the decision makers confronting them).One notable example of a novel foreign-policy situation is provided by the Iranian hostage crisis. Examining the Carter administration's decision-making processes during that crisis, the article concludes that even though many saw the hostage crisis as a unique occurrence, the participants drew upon a wide range of historical analogies in order to make sense of what was occuring and to propose suggested ‘solutions’ to the crisis.

Accounting for the Distribution of Benefits and Costs in Benefit–Cost Analysis

2020 ◽  
pp. 1-21
Author(s):  
James K. Hammitt
Keyword(s):  
Cost Analysis ◽  
Decision Makers ◽  
Policy Choice ◽  
Alternative Evaluation ◽  
Benefit Cost Analysis ◽  
Transfer Programs ◽  
Net Benefits ◽  
Benefit Cost ◽  
Benefits And Costs

Abstract Benefit–cost analysis (BCA) is often viewed as measuring the efficiency of a policy independent of the distribution of its consequences. The role of distributional effects on policy choice is disputed; either: (a) the policy that maximizes net benefits should be selected and distributional concerns should be addressed through other measures, such as tax and transfer programs or (b) BCA should be supplemented with distributional analysis and decision-makers should weigh efficiency and distribution in policy choice. The separation of efficiency and distribution is misleading. The measure of efficiency depends on the numéraire chosen for the analysis, whether monetary values or some other good (unless individuals have the same rates of substitution between them). The choice of numéraire is not neutral; it can affect the ranking of policies by calculated net benefits. Alternative evaluation methods, such as BCA using a different numéraire, weighted BCA, or a social welfare function (SWF), may better integrate concerns about distribution and efficiency. The most appropriate numéraire, distributional weights, or SWFs cannot be measured or statistically estimated; it is a normative choice.

Optimized Electric Vehicle Charging Pricing Method Using Game Theory

2014 ◽  
Vol 986-987 ◽  
pp. 400-403 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kuan Lu ◽  
Wen Shan Gao ◽  
Jing Li ◽  
Wan Lei Xue ◽  
Wen Xue Sun
Keyword(s):  
Game Theory ◽  
Decision Making ◽  
Cost Analysis ◽  
Benefit Cost Analysis ◽  
Charging Station ◽  
Electric Vehicle Charging ◽  
Main Factors ◽  
Benefit Cost ◽  
Behavior Models ◽  
Ev Charging

First, behavior models of the station operator and consumer are established considering all the main factors. Second, an optimized EV charging pricing method using Game Theory is introduced based on benefit-cost analysis. The calculation of government subsidies is also proposed in order to reach an equilibrium charging price. Finally, actual data of Hebei is used and results are shown to give supports to local government and charging station operator’s decision making.

scholarly journals The role of value added in benefit/cost analysis

1991 ◽  
Vol 25 (2) ◽  
pp. 145-149 ◽  
Author(s):  
Stephen C. Cooke
Keyword(s):  
Cost Analysis ◽  
Value Added ◽  
Benefit Cost Analysis ◽  
Benefit Cost

The Role of Consumer Surveys in Public Policy Decision Making

2001 ◽  
Vol 20 (2) ◽  
pp. 170-185 ◽  
Author(s):  
Manoj Hastak ◽  
Michael B. Mazis ◽  
Louis A. Morris
Keyword(s):  
Public Policy ◽  
Decision Making ◽  
Policy Decision ◽  
Consumer Surveys ◽  
Policy Decision Making
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