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Costs and benefits through bureaucratic lenses: Example of a highway project
Author(s) -
Boardman Anthony,
Vining Aidan,
Waters W. G.
Publication year - 1993
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 - 10.2307/3325305
Subject(s) - bureaucracy , cost–benefit analysis , business , transport engineering , engineering , political science , law , politics
Abstract This article characterizes the perceptions of government bureaucrats about cost‐benefit analysis (CBA). The observations arise after working with government officials on various projects and leading many executive seminars for government employees over the last decade on the principles and practice of CBA. Government employees tend to adopt one of three conceptual lenses: Guardians, Spenders, and Analysts. These perspectives differ sharply from one another, resulting in completely different meanings to the words benefits and costs. The orientation of Guardians is to “revenue‐expenditure” analysis, while Spenders are oriented to “constituency‐support” analysis. Analysts are oriented to standard CBA. The differences in perspectives are illustrated using an ex ante CBA of a proposed toll highway project.