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Benefits Assessment

The State of the Art

  • Book
  • © 1986

Overview

Editors:
  1. Judith D. Bentkover

    1. Harvard University, Cambridge, USA

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    You can also search for this editor in PubMed   Google Scholar

  2. Vincent T. Covello

    1. National Science Foundation, USA

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    You can also search for this editor in PubMed   Google Scholar

  3. Jeryl Mumpower

    1. State University of New York, Albany, USA

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    You can also search for this editor in PubMed   Google Scholar

Part of the book series: Risk, Governance and Society (RISKGOSO, volume 1)

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Table of contents (8 chapters)

  1. Front Matter

    Pages i-xiii
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  2. The Role of Benefits Assessment in Public Policy Development

    • Judith D. Bentkover
    Pages 1-12

  3. A Conceptual Overview of the Foundations of Benefit-Cost Analysis

    • V. Kerry Smith
    Pages 13-34

  4. Benefits Assessment for Regulatory Problems

    • Howard Kunreuther, Lisa Bendixen
    Pages 35-50

  5. Conceptual Framework for Regulatory Benefits Assessment

    • Baruch Fischhoff, Louis Anthony Cox Jr.
    Pages 51-84

  6. Theory of Regulatory Benefits Assessment: Econometric and Expressed Preference Approaches

    • Louis Anthony Cox Jr.
    Pages 85-159

  7. General Methods for Benefits Assessment

    • Ronald G. Cummings, Louis Anthony Cox Jr., A. Myrick Freeman III
    Pages 161-191

  8. The Valuation of Risks to Life and Health: Guidelines for Policy Analysis

    • W. Kip Viscusi
    Pages 193-210

  9. Estimating the Benefits of Environmental Regulations

    • A. Myrick Freeman III
    Pages 211-229

  10. Back Matter

    Pages 231-236
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Keywords

About this book

In recent years there has been substantial interest in benefits assessment methods, especially as these methods are used to assess health, safety, and environmental issues. At least part of this interest can be traced to Executive Order 12291, issued by President Ronald Reagan in 1981. This Executive Order requires Federal agencies to perform benefits assessments of pro­ posed major regulations and prohibits them from taking regulatory action unless potential benefits exceed potential costs to society. Heightened interest in benefits assessment methods has in tum given rise to greater recognition of the inherent difficulties in performing such assess­ ments. For example, many benefits that are intuitively felt to be most important are also among the most difficult to measure. It can be difficult to identify the full range of both benefits and costs. The choice of an appro­ priate discount rate for comparing benefits and costs over time is proble­ matic. Even when benefits are quantifiable in principle and agreement can be reached on their valuation, required d,ata may not be available. Thus considerable uncertainty is built into most benefit estimates, even when they are based on the best available data. In light of the complexities and difficulties associated with the perform­ ance of a benefits assessment, this book reviews the current state of theoretical and methodological knowledge in the field. The review is extensive in that it covers over fifty years of research, theoretical develop­ ment, and practice.

Reviews

`The collection of papers, Benefit Assessment: The State of the Art, is a carefully planned and comprehensive survey of the different methods needed for different purposes. It is by far the best source for practical use. The component papers are soundly based on fundamentals but recognize the practical problems of implementation and are a tribute to the possibilities achievable with ingenuity and insight.'
Prof. Kenneth J. Arrow, Stanford University, Nobel Prize Winner for Economics 1972
`The authors and editors deserve warm congratulations on a job well done. Their report is a valuable survey of virtually all the methods now used to estimate and appraise the benefits of public regulatory programs, together with their conceptual foundations. Anyone involved in the process of regulatory assessment will benefit from its insights and from having it on his/her reference shelf.'
Prof. Robert Dorfman, Harvard University
`This book provides exactly what its title promises - the state of the art in benefits assessment. It is now the authoritative work in its field. Insofar as the subject will allow, Benefits Assessment is clear, succinct, helpful, and sophisticated.'
Aaron Wildavsky, University of California

Editors and Affiliations

  • Harvard University, Cambridge, USA

    Judith D. Bentkover

  • National Science Foundation, USA

    Vincent T. Covello

  • State University of New York, Albany, USA

    Jeryl Mumpower

Bibliographic Information

  • Book Title: Benefits Assessment

  • Book Subtitle: The State of the Art

  • Editors: Judith D. Bentkover, Vincent T. Covello, Jeryl Mumpower

  • Series Title: Risk, Governance and Society

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-009-4524-1

  • Publisher: Springer Dordrecht

  • eBook Packages: Springer Book Archive

  • Copyright Information: D. Reidel Publishing Company 1986

  • Hardcover ISBN: 978-90-277-2022-1Published: 31 December 1985

  • Softcover ISBN: 978-94-010-8515-1Published: 01 October 2011

  • eBook ISBN: 978-94-009-4524-1Published: 06 December 2012

  • Series ISSN: 2512-3076

  • Series E-ISSN: 2512-3084

  • Edition Number: 1

  • Number of Pages: XIII, 236

  • Topics: Environmental Management, Economics, general, Operations Research/Decision Theory

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