Download or read book Behavioral Economics for Cost Benefit Analysis written by David L. Weimer and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 2017-09-14 with total page 180 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: How should policy analysts assess 'benefit validity' when behavioral anomalies appear relevant? David L. Weimer provides thoughtful answers through practical guidelines. Behavioral economists have identified a number of situations in which people appear not to behave according to the neoclassical assumptions underpinning welfare economics and its application to the assessment of the efficiency of proposed public policies through cost-benefit analysis. This book introduces the concept of benefit validity as a criterion for estimating benefits from observed or stated preference studies, and provides practical guidelines to help analysts accommodate behavioral findings. It considers benefit validity in four areas: violations of expected utility theory, unexpectedly large differences between willingness to pay and willingness to accept, non-exponential discounting, and harmful addiction. In addition to its immediate value to practicing policy analysts, it helps behavioral economists identify issues where their research programs can make practical contributions to better policy analysis.

Download or read book Behavioral Science and Public Policy written by Cass R. Sunstein and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 2020-11-12 with total page 134 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Behavioral science is playing an increasing role in public policy, and it is raising new questions about fundamental issues - the role of government, freedom of choice, paternalism, and human welfare. In diverse nations, public officials are using behavioral findings to combat serious problems - poverty, air pollution, highway safety, COVID-19, discrimination, employment, climate change, and occupational health. Exploring theory and practice, this Element attempts to provide one-stop shopping for those who are new to the area and for those who are familiar with it. With reference to nudges, taxes, mandates, and bans, it offers concrete examples of behaviorally informed policies. It also engages the fundamental questions, include the proper analysis of human welfare in light of behavioral findings. It offers a plea for respecting freedom of choice - so long as people's choices are adequately informed and free from behavioral biases.

Download or read book Principles and Standards for Benefit Cost Analysis written by Scott Farrow and published by Edward Elgar Publishing. This book was released on 2013-01-01 with total page 465 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: 'This book is a superb textbook treatment of benefit–cost analysis. It is well designed for students in public policy, public administration, public health, social work, environmental affairs, law and business.' – John D. Graham, Indiana University, US 'Principles and Standards for Benefit–Cost Analysis is well worth reading. The volume reproduces some chapters previously published online in the Journal of Benefit–Cost Analysis alongside new material that has not yet appeared in print, and does so in a logical and appealing way. Even the several chapters with which I disagreed made me think hard about my own views. And thinking hard is a good thing!' – Paul R. Portney, University of Arizona, US Benefit–cost analysis informs which policies or programs most benefit society when implemented by governments and institutions around the world. This volume brings together leading researchers and practitioners to recommend strategies and standards to improve the consistency and credibility of such analyses, assisting analysts of all types in achieving a greater uniformity of practice. Although new analytical approaches are constantly being used and tested, this book supports the emergence of a professional culture adhering to a set of principles and standards that can be used to identify useful analytical processes and to discard less useful ones. Contributors to this volume come from a wide variety of backgrounds and include authors of leading textbooks, editors of journals, former government officials, and practitioners whose analyses have shaped decisions about education, the environment, security, income distribution, and other vital social and economic policies. Students and professors of public sector economics will find much of interest in this groundbreaking book. Practitioners working in government, non-profit organizations, and international institutions, including welfare economists, policy analysts, environmentalists, engineers, and others will also benefit from this volume's sophisticated and practical recommendations.

Download or read book Cost Benefit Analysis written by Euston Quah and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2011-10-20 with total page 209 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Cost-benefit analysis (CBA) is the systematic and analytical process of comparing benefits and costs in evaluating the desirability of a project or programme, often of a social nature and for society as a whole. CBA is fundamental to government decision-making and can be an effective tool for informed decisions on the use of society's scarce resources. This book highlights the main concepts and principles of cost-benefit analysis used in real life cases and actual applications. The book contains rich cases, materials and examples of real life CBA applications with emphasis both on physical and non-physical projects and infrastructure developments in Asia and beyond. The book also discusses techniques frequently used in applied CBA. The first part of the book introduces the key concepts and principles of CBA before Part Two covers some pertinent issues relating to CBA, such as the recent trend of using behavioural economics and frequently used techniques in applied CBA. Finally, in Part Three, case studies are written up to illustrate how CBA is done, and questions for the readers and students to ponder are raised at the end of each chapter. The scope of the case studies is more than just physical infrastructures but will include public sector policies and programmes covering a host of social policies as in health, education, social welfare programmes, and the environment. For each case, there will be illustrations of the key concepts and principles of CBA used. Undertakings analyzed include: the Three Gorges Dam in China the 2008 Beijing Olympics the Costs of Global Warming the Jamuna Bridge in Bangladesh The case studies, many of which have taken or are to take place in developing countries provide a rich background to the principles of the method, and are accompanied by a wealth of explanatory material. As well as being suitable for courses in Cost-Benefit Analysis, Public Finance, Environmental and Health Economics, the book should be of interest to all public policy decision makers and planners.

Download or read book A Introduction to Behavioral Economics written by Hugh H. Schwartz and published by . This book was released on 2007 with total page 52 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This paper attempts to provide a substantive introduction to behavioral economics for a general audience, and for introductory and intermediate level students of economics and business administration. 1. Introduction; 2. The Background; 3. Bounded Rationality; 4. Prospect Theory and other major contributions from psychology; 5. Preferences; 6. Anomalies; 7. Heuristics, Context and Biases; 8. Intertemporal Decision Making; 9. Empirical Techniques; 10. Visceral Factors, Emotion, Affect and Social Psychology; 11. Neuroeconomics; 12. Relative Considerations, Social Preferences, Justice and Happiness; 13. Opportunity Costs; and 14.Applications. The latter touches on Saving, Behavioral finance, Marketing and organizational behavior, Labor economics, Cost-benefit analysis,Industrial Organization, Law and economics, Tax incentive alternatives, Monetary policy, Macroeconomic analysis generally, and Development economics. A select bibliography is offered, divided into introductory, intermediate level and more advanced level offerings.

Download or read book The Cost Benefit Revolution written by Cass R. Sunstein and published by MIT Press. This book was released on 2019-09-24 with total page 286 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: 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.

Download or read book Behavioral Economics Happiness Surveys and Public Policy written by Matthew D. Adler and published by . This book was released on 2016 with total page pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Two important developments in recent policy analysis are behavioral economics and subjective-well-being (SWB) surveys. What is the connection between them? Some have suggested that behavioral economics strengthens the case for SWB surveys as a central policy tool, e.g., in the form of SWB-based cost-benefit analysis. This Article reaches a different conclusion. Behavioral economics shows that individuals in their day-to-day, “System 1” behavior are not EU-rational -- that they often fail to comply with the norms of rationality set forth by expected utility (EU) theory. Consider now that the standard preference-based view of individual well-being looks to individuals' rational preferences. If the findings of behavioral economics are correct, an individual's answer to a question such as “How satisfied are you with your life?” is not going to tell us much about her rational (EU compliant) preferences. Behavioral economics, by highlighting widespread failures of EU rationality, might actually argue for an objective good (non-preference-based) view of well-being. However, (except in the limiting case of an objective-good view positing a single mentalistic good, happiness) SWB surveys won't be strong evidence of well-being in the objective-good sense. In short, SWB surveys are no “magic cure” for the genuine difficulties in inferring rational preferences and measuring well-being underscored by behavioral economics.

Download or read book Basic Cost Benefit Analysis for Assessing Local Public Projects written by Barry P. Keating and published by Business Expert Press. This book was released on 2013-11-25 with total page 167 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: CBA is an attempt to fully account for all costs associated with a new proposal along with a detailed calculation of specific private and public benefits. Properly employed, CBA is simply a method for assessing a proposal prior to a collective decision by calculating net benefits relative to an alternative project or the default option of doing nothing.

Download or read book Behavioral Economics for Cost Benefit Analysis written by David L. Weimer and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 2017-09-14 with total page 179 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Machine generated contents note: 1. Introduction; 2. Neoclassical valuation principles for CBA; 3. Possible behavioral frameworks for CBA; 4. Risk perception and expected utility deviations; 5. Large deviations between WTP and WTA; 6. Non-exponential time discounting; 7. Harmful addictive consumption; 8. Practical guidelines for valuation

Download or read book The Cost benefit State written by Cass R. Sunstein and published by American Bar Association. This book was released on 2002 with total page 220 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book discusses the current topic of Federal Government regulations increasingly assessed by asking whether the benefits of the regulation justifies the cost of the regulation.

Download or read book Cost benefit Analysis written by Anthony E. Boardman and published by Prentice Hall. This book was released on 2006 with total page 584 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: For courses in Cost-Benefit Analysis, taught in Economics Departments, Public Policy Departments, and Public Administration Departments. Also ideal forpracticing policy analysts andpublic managers.This authoritative, market leading book is distinct for it's consistent application of a nine-step framework for conducting or interpreting a cost-benefit analysis.

Download or read book Behavioral Economics and Healthy Behaviors written by Yaniv Hanoch and published by Taylor & Francis. This book was released on 2017-05-18 with total page 236 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The field of behavioural economics can tell us a great deal about cognitive bias and unconscious decision-making, challenging the orthodox economic model whereby consumers make rational and informed choices. But it is in the arena of health that it perhaps offers individuals and governments the most value. In this important new book, the most pernicious health issues we face today are examined through a behavioral economic lens. It provides an essential and timely overview of how this growing field of study can reframe and offer solutions to some of the biggest health issues of our age. The book opens with an overview of the core theoretical concepts, after which each chapter assesses how behavioral economic research and practice can inform public policy across a range of health issues. Including chapters on tobacco, alcohol and drug use, physical activity, dietary intake, cancer screening and sexual health, the book integrates the key insights from the field to both developed and developing nations. Also asking important ethical questions around paternalism and informed choice, this book will be essential reading for students and researchers across psychology, economics and business and management, as well as public health professionals wishing for a concise overview of the role behavioral economics can potentially play in allowing people to live healthier lives.

Download or read book The Foundations of Behavioral Economic Analysis written by Sanjit Dhami and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 2019-07-03 with total page 459 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This fourth volume of The Foundations of Behavioral Economic Analysis covers behavioral game theory. It is an essential guide for advanced undergraduate and postgraduate students seeking a concise and focused text on this important subject, and examines the evidence on classical game theory and several models of behavioral game theory, including level-k and cognitive hierarchy models, quantal response equilibrium, and psychological game theory. This updated extract from Dhami's leading textbook allows the reader to pursue subsections of this vast and rapidly growing field and to tailor their reading to their specific interests in behavioural economics.

Download or read book Introduction to Cost Benefit Analysis written by Ginés de Rus and published by Edward Elgar Publishing. This book was released on 2021-03-26 with total page 256 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This thoroughly updated second edition incorporates key ideas and discussions on issues such as wider economic impacts, the treatment of risk, and the importance of institutional arrangements in ensuring the correct use of technique. Ginés de Rus considers whether public decisions, such as investing in high-speed rail links, privatizing a public enterprise or protecting a natural area, may improve social welfare.

Download or read book The Foundations of Behavioral Economic Analysis written by Sanjit Dhami and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 2019-02-14 with total page 593 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This first volume of The Foundations of Behavioral Economic Analysis covers the opening topic found in this definitive introduction to the subject: the behavioral economics of risk, uncertainty, and ambiguity. It is an essential guide for advanced undergraduate and postgraduate students seeking a concise and focused text on this important subject, and examines how the decision maker chooses his optimal action in the presence of risk, uncertainty, and ambiguity. This updated extract from Dhami's leading textbook allows the reader to pursue subsections of this vast and rapidly growing field and to tailor their reading to their specific interests in behavioural economics.

Download or read book Modern Developments In Behavioral Economics Social Science Perspectives On Choice And Decision Making written by John Malcolm Dowling and published by World Scientific Publishing Company. This book was released on 2007-09-04 with total page 459 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book examines the field of behavioral economics and provides insights into the following questions:The book looks at decision making and behavior from the point of view of (i) individual behavior and choice; (ii) group and interactive choice; and (iii) collective choices and decision making. In particular, it covers the following aspects: instances when bounded rationality leads to decisions inconsistent with standard economic assumptions; risk and the processes by which investors and consumers make decisions; altruistic and cooperative behavior as alternatives to competition; game theory as a way to explore motives of cooperation versus competition; the determinants of happiness and the relationship between utility and well-being; the concept of social capital, including motivations for charity and being a responsible citizen; how trust and fairness relate to economic actions and the motivation to cooperate rather than compete; behavior such as crime, corruption and bribery from ethical, social and economic viewpoints; and, finally, the decision making process of collective choice and how societies develop rules for governing themselves.This is the first book to bridge economics, psychology, sociology and political sciences and explain the nuanced subtleties of decision making.

Download or read book Policy and Choice written by William J. Congdon and published by Brookings Institution Press. This book was released on 2011 with total page 260 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Argues that public finance--the study of the government's role in economics--should incorporate principles from behavior economics and other branches of psychology.