Why policies should be based on careful consideration of their costs and benefits rather than on intuition, popular opinion, interest groups, and anecdotes. Opinions on government policies vary widely. Some people feel passionately about the child obesity epidemic and support government regulation of sugary drinks. Others argue that people should be able to eat and drink whatever they like. Some people are alarmed about climate change and favor aggressive government intervention. Others don't feel the need for any sort of climate regulation. In The Cost-Benefit Revolution, Cass Sunstein argues our major disagreements really involve facts, not values. It follows that government policy should not be based on public opinion, intuitions, or pressure from interest groups, but on numbers—meaning careful consideration of costs and benefits. Will a policy save one life, or one thousand lives? Will it impose costs on consumers, and if so, will the costs be high or negligible? Will it hurt workers and small businesses, and, if so, precisely how much? As the Obama administration's “regulatory czar,” Sunstein knows his subject in both theory and practice. Drawing on behavioral economics and his well-known emphasis on “nudging,” he celebrates the cost-benefit revolution in policy making, tracing its defining moments in the Reagan, Clinton, and Obama administrations (and pondering its uncertain future in the Trump administration). He acknowledges that public officials often lack information about costs and benefits, and outlines state-of-the-art techniques for acquiring that information. Policies should make people's lives better. Quantitative cost-benefit analysis, Sunstein argues, is the best available method for making this happen—even if, in the future, new measures of human well-being, also explored in this book, may be better still.

In this book, the authors reconceptualize cost-benefit analysis, arguing that its objective should be overall well-being rather than economic efficiency. This book not only places cost-benefit analysis on a firmer theoretical foundation, but also has many practical implications for how government agencies should undertake cost-benefit studies.

This is a new and extensively updated edition of one of leading and authoritive books on the subject of IT costs and benefits. Since it was first published in the early 1990s, this book has established itself as the most comprehensive and complete approach to understanding the economics of how information is used to boost the efficiency or effectiveness of companies. The ideas in this book are used extensively in business, and the book is widely adopted and recommended at leading business schools around the world.This book will show you:How to use cost benefits analysis or business case accountingHow to use user satisfaction surveys and value for money studiesHow to integrate IT benefit delivery into IT project managementThis book covers a wide spectrum of IT cost and benefit solutions, ranging from business case accounting and user satisfaction studies right through to the business processes which need to be in place in order to ensure the effective measurement and management of IT costs and benefits. This book takes you through a basic understanding of the issues involved and onto the detail of how to perform the techniques required to measure and thus mange IT costs and benefits.The rapidly increasing level of expenditure on information technology in most organisations is one reason why IT benefits management has become an important business concern. Top management have begun to insist that much more attention be paid to the economic aspects of information systems. put the difficulties with IT benefits behind youmeasure IT benefits and manage their deliveryknow what measurement tools are available for the taskNew to the third edition: The evolution of thinking in ICT costs and benefits; management instinct; the chapter on Identification and Treatment of ICT costs is replaced with a more thorough treatment of the subject; the chapter on Risk Analysis is expanded by 50% with new and latest thinking on the subject; new chapters on: ICT evaluation as a political act, and the evaluation of an outsourcing contract. Extensive revisions of the material through out bring the book up-to-date with the latest thinking and evaluation techniques complete with a number of suggested websites through out the book where more information about the subject may be found.Covers all the practical aspects of business case accounting, ranking techniques and user information system surveys in connection with the effective measurement and management of IT costs and benefitsIdentifies a basic framework to help you understand the economic and financial issues of information technology investmentGives you evaluation concepts as well as several approaches to cost and benefit measurement Provides you with an IT Assessment Metric (ITAM) - which allows you to measure your firms progress towards obtaining maximum value from information technology procured* Gives you a basic framework to help you understand the economic and financial issues of IT investment* Covers all practical aspects of business case accounting, ranking techniques, user information system surveys IT costs and benefits analysis* Provides you with an IT Assessment Metric - allows you to measure your firms progress towards obtaining maximum value from information technology procured

Hidden Cost, Value Lost, the fifth of a series of six books on the consequences of uninsurance in the United States, illustrates some of the economic and social losses to the country of maintaining so many people without health insurance. The book explores the potential economic and societal benefits that could be realized if everyone had health insurance on a continuous basis, as people over age 65 currently do with Medicare. Hidden Costs, Value Lost concludes that the estimated benefits across society in health years of life gained by providing the uninsured with the kind and amount of health services that the insured use, are likely greater than the additional social costs of doing so. The potential economic value to be gained in better health outcomes from uninterrupted coverage for all Americans is estimated to be between $65 and $130 billion each year.

Modern transportation systems have far-reaching, and serious consequences: deaths and injuries from accidents, pollution of air, water and groundwater, noise congestion, and the greenhouse effect. As world transport systems expand and become increasingly motorised, the transportation community is searching for systems that are both efficient and sustainable. Here, leading international researchers explore the issues and concepts and define the state of knowledge concerning the full costs and benefits of transportation.

In recent years, the Federal Reserve and central banks worldwide have enjoyed remarkable success in their battle against inflation. The challenge now confronting the Fed and its counterparts is how to proceed in this newly benign economic environment: Should monetary policy seek to maintain a rate of low-level inflation or eliminate inflation altogether in an effort to attain full price stability? In a seminal article published in 1997, Martin Feldstein developed a framework for calculating the gains in economic welfare that might result from a move from a low level of inflation to full price stability. The present volume extends that analysis, focusing on the likely costs and benefits of achieving price stability not only in the United States, but in Germany, Spain, and the United Kingdom as well. The results show that even small changes in already low inflation rates can have a substantial impact on the economic performance of different countries, and that variations in national tax rules can affect the level of gain from disinflation.

The earnest warnings of an impending "solid waste crisis" that permeated the 1980s provided the impetus for the widespread adoption of municipal recycling programs. Since that time America has witnessed a remarkable rise in public participation in recycling activities, including curbside collection, drop-off centers, and commercial and office programs. Recently, however, a backlash against these programs has developed. A vocal group of "anti-recyclers" has appeared, arguing that recycling is not an economically efficient strategy for addressing waste management problems. In Why Do We Recycle? Frank Ackerman examines the arguments for and against recycling, focusing on the debate surrounding the use of economic mechanisms to determine the value of recycling. Based on previously unpublished research conducted by the Tellus Institute, a nonprofit environmental research group in Boston, Massachusetts, Ackerman presents an alternative view of the theory of market incentives, challenging the notion that setting appropriate prices and allowing unfettered competition will result in the most efficient level of recycling. Among the topics he considers are: externality issues -- unit pricing for waste disposal, effluent taxes, virgin materials subsidies, advance disposal fees the landfill crisis and disposal facility siting container deposit ("bottle bill") legislation environmental issues that fall outside of market theory calculating costs and benefits of municipal recycling programs life-cycle analysis and packaging policy -- Germany's "Green Dot" packaging system and producer responsibility the impacts of production in extractive and manufacturing industries composting and organic waste management economics of conservation, and material use and long-term sustainability Ackerman explains why purely economic approaches to recycling are incomplete and argues for a different kind of decisionmaking, one that addresses social issues, future as well as present resource needs, and non-economic values that cannot be translated into dollars and cents. Backed by empirical data and replete with specific examples, the book offers valuable guidance for municipal planners, environmental managers, and policymakers responsible for establishing and implementing recycling programs. It is also an accessible introduction to the subject for faculty, students, and concerned citizens interested in the social, economic, and ethical underpinnings of recycling efforts.