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Assigning priority to environmental policy interventions in a heterogeneous world
Author(s) -
Ferraro Paul J.
Publication year - 2002
Publication title -
journal of policy analysis and management
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.898
H-Index - 84
eISSN - 1520-6688
pISSN - 0276-8739
DOI - 10.1002/pam.10094
Subject(s) - cost–benefit analysis , public economics , process (computing) , policy analysis , public policy , business , environmental policy , conceptual framework , psychological intervention , economics , environmental economics , risk analysis (engineering) , political science , public administration , economic growth , computer science , psychology , philosophy , epistemology , psychiatry , law , operating system
Failure to consider costs as well as benefits is common in many policy initiatives and analyses, particularlyin the environmental arena. Economists and other policy scientists have demonstrated that integrating both costand benefit information explicitly into the policy process can be vital to ensuring that scarce funds go as far asthey can toward achieving policy objectives. The costs of acquiring and analyzing such information, however, canbe substantial. The objective of this paper is to help policy analysts and practitioners identify the conditionsunder which integrating cost and benefit information is likely to be vital to effective decisionmaking, and theconditions under which failing to use both cost and benefit data would result in little, if any, loss inefficiency. These points are illustrated through a conceptual discussion and an empirical analysis of aconservation initiative in the United States. © 2003 by the Association for Public Policy Analysis andManagement.