scholarly journals Labor Expenditures and Benefit-Cost Accounting in Times of Unemployment

2011 ◽  
Vol 2 (2) ◽  
pp. 1-9 ◽  
Author(s):  
Robert H. Haveman ◽  
Scott Farrow
Keyword(s):  
Full Employment ◽  
Cost Accounting ◽  
Social Costs ◽  
Social Benefits ◽  
High Unemployment ◽  
Improve Efficiency ◽  
Public Projects ◽  
Labor Inputs ◽  
Benefit Cost ◽  
Benefits And Costs

We summarize procedures for assessing the benefits and costs of using labor inputs in public projects. Examples are provided to illustrate how information on labor inputs can be analyzed and presented such that, should the analyst choose, labor services generate elements of both benefit and cost in times of high unemployment; however, this is not generally correct in times of full employment. Our analysis is consistent with the overall goal of identifying those projects which are estimated to improve efficiency—those with social benefits in excess of social costs.

Social Benefits and Social Costs of Drug Control Laws

1978 ◽  
Vol 8 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-7 ◽  
Author(s):  
John C. Kramer
Keyword(s):  
Drug Use ◽  
Social Costs ◽  
Drug Control ◽  
Social Benefits ◽  
Black Markets ◽  
Control Laws ◽  
Benefits And Costs ◽  
Levels Of Control

While drug control laws tend to reduce the incidence of drug use, their enforcement is not without cost to society. Among the most obvious costs is the development of black markets in drugs and the criminalization of users. Modest control laws can substantially reduce drug use without incurring serious social costs. However, increasing the severity of control laws adds less and less to the benefits achieved and more and more to the costs to society. Ultimately the costs outweigh the benefits. We should aim for optimum levels of control by weighing both the benefits and costs of our drug control laws.

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.

Who Gains from and who Pays for Channel Deepening?

2005 ◽  
Vol 1909 (1) ◽  
pp. 62-69 ◽  
Author(s):  
Thomas A. Grigalunas ◽  
James J. Opaluch ◽  
Young Tae Chang
Keyword(s):  
Net Present Value ◽  
Cost Savings ◽  
Economic Benefits ◽  
The State ◽  
Sensitivity Analyses ◽  
Cost Ratio ◽  
Benefit Cost Ratio ◽  
Net Benefits ◽  
Benefit Cost ◽  
Benefits And Costs

Port dredging to accommodate larger vessels can create substantial national economic benefits. However, how affected individual states fare economically with dredging is often unclear and can be an important issue. The benefits and the costs to Delaware residents of dredging—with the recent proposed deepening of the Delaware Bay and River main federal channel as a case study—are examined. Benefits include ( a) lower transportation costs that residents might receive on imported goods, ( b) profits that residents would realize if cost savings (e.g., on refinery products) were not passed forward to Delaware users, ( c) project costs that residents would bear as federal taxpayers, and ( d) benefits that residents would realize if the use of dredged sediments for planned beach renourishment created savings to the state. Sensitivity analyses are used to reflect uncertainty in outcomes. The estimated net present value to Delaware today of all future annual quantifiable benefits and costs ranges between $15,528,393 and $14,195,700 over 50 years at 5.875%. Stated another way, the quantified net benefits for Delaware imply a benefit-cost ratio between 2.07 and 1.89. Hence, for every dollar of the $7.5 million that Delaware would pay as a nonfederal cosponsor, estimated quantifiable net benefits to the state are $2.07 to $1.89. Some benefit and cost estimates are vehemently debated between interested parties, and not all benefits and costs can be quantified.

A Benefit/Cost Rule for Evaluating Public Projects in Canada

1975 ◽  
Vol 1 (2) ◽  
pp. 171 ◽  
Author(s):  
Harry F. Campbell
Keyword(s):  
Public Projects ◽  
Benefit Cost

scholarly journals News and Social Cost: The Case of Oil Spills and Distant Viewers

2012 ◽  
Vol 3 (4) ◽  
pp. 1-22
Author(s):  
Scott Farrow ◽  
Douglas M. Larson
Keyword(s):  
News Media ◽  
Oil Spills ◽  
Social Costs ◽  
Benefit Cost Analysis ◽  
Welfare Losses ◽  
Use Values ◽  
Contingent Valuation Methods ◽  
Benefit Cost ◽  
Private Value ◽  
A Current

Although contingent valuation methods are now frequently used to assess the total value of even distant events, benefit-cost analysis could also be informed by observed behavior that links distant events and consumers. It is typically the news media which connect passive consumers to distant events about which they may or may not take action. The information and adaptation costs incurred by the news consumer are privately beneficial, but additionally are shown to be a lower bound to social welfare losses from a socially defined “bad” event under plausible circumstances. The recent Deepwater Horizon well blow-out in the U.S. Gulf of Mexico is a current example which we seek to inform by study of the oil spill from the Valdez, Alaska spill in 1989. We identify an incremental willingness to pay for news about the Exxon Valdez spill above a standard news broadcast and an increased probability of viewing a broadcast related to the spill. We develop and explain how this private value associated with media consumption can be interpreted as a partial measure of social costs for passive viewers who take no further action beyond news viewing and likely represent the majority of affected citizens (though not necessarily the majority of social costs). Though the per-person values of passive users may be modest in magnitude in the present application, some passive use values appear to be measurable, and that it may well be worth pursuing further the search for the faint but observable links between behavior and distant events through the news media.

scholarly journals A retrospective assessment of the costs of EPA’s 1998 Locomotive Emission Standards

2014 ◽  
Vol 5 (2) ◽  
pp. 285-314 ◽  
Author(s):  
Elizabeth Kopits
Keyword(s):  
Cost Analysis ◽  
Total Cost ◽  
Benefit Cost Analysis ◽  
Retrospective Assessment ◽  
Emission Standards ◽  
Ex Post ◽  
Data Limitations ◽  
The Cost ◽  
Benefit Cost ◽  
Benefits And Costs

Abstract:While the need to update EPA benefit-cost analysis to reflect the most recent science is broadly acknowledged, little work has been done examining how well ex ante BCAs estimate the actual benefits and costs of regulations. This paper adds to the existing literature on ex post cost analyses by examining EPA’s analysis of the 1998 Locomotive Emission Standards. Due to data limitations and minimal ability to construct a reasonable counterfactual for each component of the cost analysis, the assessment relies mainly on industry expert opinion, augmented with ex post information from publicly available data sources when possible. The paper finds that the total cost of bringing line-haul locomotives into compliance with the 1998 Locomotive Emission Standards rule remains uncertain. Even though the initial per-unit locomotive compliance costs were higher than predicted by EPA, total costs also depend on the number of locomotives affected by the regulation. Over 2000–2009, the number of newly built line-haul locomotives was higher but the number of remanufactured line-haul locomotives was lower than EPA’s estimate.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document