Cost–Benefit Analysis

Edited by Arnold C. Harberger, Professor of Economics, University of California, Los Angeles and Gustavus F. and Ann M. Swift Distinguished Service Professor Emeritus, University of Chicago, US and Glenn P. Jenkins, Professor of Economics, Queen’s University, Canada, Professor of Economics, Eastern Mediterranean University, North Cyprus and Institute Fellow Emeritus, Harvard University, US

’Edward Elgar has recruited the two most significant names in the business of cost-benefit analysis to edit this compilation of essential papers on the subject. My teaching and research will both be easier with this volume on my shelf, as I’ll always have the right papers at my fingertips on the theory of social discounting in open and closed economies, the marginal cost of public funds, the cost of foreign exchange, and applications related to the environment, education, health, and transportation.’

• Contents:AcknowledgementsIntroduction Arnold C. Harberger and Glenn P. JenkinsPART ITHEORETICAL ISSUES ADiscount Rate for Investment Projects1. Stephen A. Marglin (1963), ‘The Social Rate of Discount and the Optimal Rate of Investment’2. Larry A. Sjaastad and Daniel L. Wisecarver (1977), ‘The Social Cost of Public Finance’3. Agnar Sandmo and Jacques H. Drèze (1971), ‘Discount Rates for Public Investment in Closed and Open Economies’BEconomic Cost of Public Funds4. Edgar K. Browning (1976), ‘The Marginal Cost of Public Funds’5. Charles L. Ballard, John B. Shoven and John Whalley (1985), ‘General Equilibrium Computations of the Marginal Welfare Costs of Taxes in the United States’CEconomic Cost of Foreign Exchange6. Bela Balassa (1974), ‘Estimating the Shadow Price of Foreign Exchange in Project Appraisal’7. Charles Blitzer, Partha Dasgupta and Joseph Stiglitz (1981), ‘Project Appraisal and Foreign Exchange Constraints’8. George Fane (1991), ‘The Social Opportunity Cost of Foreign Exchange: A Partial Defence of Harberger et al’9. Glenn P. Jenkins and Chun-Yan Kuo (1985), ‘On Measuring the Social Opportunity Cost of Foreign Exchange’DEconomic Cost of Labor10. Raaj Kumar Sah and Joseph E. Stiglitz (1985), ‘The Social Cost of Labor and Project Evaluation: A General Approach’11. Alejandra Cox Edwards (1989), ‘Labor Supply Price, Market Wage, and the Social Opportunity Cost of Labor’12. Robin Boadway and Frank Flatters (1981), ‘The Efficiency Basis for Regional Employment Policy’ERisk Analysis of Investment Projects13. Kenneth J. Arrow and Robert C. Lind (1970), ‘Uncertainty and the Evaluation of Public Investment Decisions’14. Savvakis Savvides (1994), ‘Risk Analysis in Investment Appraisal’15. K.G. Balcombe and L.E.D. Smith (1999), ‘Refining the Use of Monte Carlo Techniques for Risk Analysis in Project Planning’PART IIAPPLICATIONS AContingent Valuation: Methodology and Applications16. Department of Commerce, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (1993), ‘Appendix I – Report of the NOAA Panel on Contingent Valuation’, excerpt from ‘Natural Resource Damage Assessments Under the Oil Pollution Act of 1990’17. W. Michael Hanemann (1994), ‘Valuing the Environment Through Contingent Valuation’18. Peter A. Diamond and Jerry A. Hausman (1994), ‘Contingent Valuation: Is Some Number Better than No Number?’19. Richard T. Carson and Robert Cameron Mitchell (1993), ‘The Value of Clean Water: The Public’s Willingness to Pay for Boatable, Fishable, and Swimmable Quality Water’20. Dale Whittington, Donald T. Lauria and Xinming Mu (1991), ‘A Study of Water Vending and Willingness to Pay for Water in Onitsha, Nigeria’21. Lisa C. Chase, David R. Lee, William D. Schulze and Deborah J. Anderson (1998), ‘Ecotourism Demand and Differential Pricing of National Park Access in Costa Rica’BEducation22. George Psacharopoulos (1994), ‘Returns to Investment in Education: A Global Update’23. Pedro Belli, Qaiser Khan and George Psacharopoulos (1999), ‘Assessing a Higher Education Project: A Mauritius Feasibility Study’24. Nancy Birdsall (1996), ‘Public Spending on Higher Education in Developing Countries: Too Much or Too Little?’CValue of Life and Health25. W. Kip Viscusi (1993), ‘The Value of Risks to Life and Health’26. A.M. Garber, M.C. Weinstein, G.W. Torrance and M.S. Kamlet (1996), ‘Theoretical Foundations of Cost-effectiveness Analysis’27. Jeffrey S. Hammer (1993), ‘The Economics of Malaria Control’28. Ramesh Adhikari, Paul Gertler and Anneli Lagman (1999), ‘Economic Analysis of Health Sector Projects – A Review of Issues, Methods, and Approaches’DTransportation29. Arnold C. Harberger (1972), ‘Cost–Benefit Analysis of Transportation Projects’30. John Kay, Alan Manning and Stefan Szymanski (1989), ‘The Economic Benefits of the Channel Tunnel’ and ‘Discussion’31. John F. Kain (1997), ‘Cost-effective Alternatives to Atlanta’s Rail Rapid Transit System’EAssessing Stakeholder Impacts32. Glenn P. Jenkins (1999), ‘Evaluation of Stakeholder Impacts in Cost–benefit Analysis’Name Index