2008 Benefit-Cost Analysis Conference

Advancing Social Policy-Making Through Benefit-Cost Analysis:
Challenges and Opportunities

June 24-25, Washington, D.C.

This national policy forum is funded by the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, and will:

• Examine the role of benefit-cost analysis in social policy-making
• Highlight the new opportunities presented by recent uses of benefit-cost analysis in social arenas

We will also aim to develop strategies for making Benefit Cost Analysis more practical, consistent, and implementable, within the social policy fields.

We have invited leading scholars, practitioners, lawyers, and policy-makers to share ideas about the implementation of benefit-cost analysis techniques and procedures. We also hope conference participants will offer advice on how improve the quality of social benefit-cost analysis and increase the usage of it in regard to social programs at all levels of government.

Register today >>
(Registration for this conference requires a registration code. If you have not received your registration code, please contact evansors@u.washington.edu.)

Conference Schedule and Highlights

Day 1: Tuesday, June 24 – 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.
The conference will present the following panels, highlighting recent successes of integration between benefit-cost analysis and social policy-making with and emphasis on identifying transferable lessons.

• The Use of Evidence-Based Research on Children’s Outcomes to Promote Economic Competitiveness: The Case of the Partnership for America's Economic Success will describe how partnership-supported research about the rates of return for specific child development strategies has been used to establish new ways to justify investments in children.
  • Panel Chair: Robert Dugger, managing partner of Tudor Investment Corp. who was involved in the creation of the Partnership for America's Economic Success
  • Panelists to be announced
• Lessons from Government Experience with Benefit-Cost Analysis: USA and the EU will discuss the extent to which benefit-cost analysis improves decision-making, and will explore how such use can be fashioned to have greater impact with respect to the analysis of federal social programs
  • Panel Chair: John Graham, dean of the Pardee RAND Graduate School of Public Policy
  • Panelists: John Morrall of the U.S. Office of Management and Budget, Jonathan Wiener of Duke University, and Katherine Swartz of Harvard University
• Using Benefit-Cost Analysis in the State Legislature: Case Study of the Washington State Institute for Public Policy (WSIPP) will have senior staff members of the Washington State Senate examining whether or not benefit-cost analysis effectively contributes to state level decision-making.
  • Panel Chair: Steve Aos, assistant director of WSIPP
  • Panelists: Richard Ramsey of the Washington State Senate Ways and Means Committee
• Integrated Administrative Data Systems: Generating Benefits and Costs in Real Time Over Time will examine how integrated administrative data enables measurement of investments and returns across agency boundaries, leading to a transformation in social policy.
  • Panel Chair: Dennis Culhane, professor of social welfare policy and psychology and director of the Cartogrpahic Modeling Lab at the University of Pennsylvania who works with Philadelphia Kids Integrated Data System Project
  • Panelists: Richard Burgess of Michigan State University, Walter Bailey of the South Carolina Office of Research and Statistics, Manuel Morena of the Los Angeles County Department of Public Social Services, Martha Moorehouse of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, and John Fantuzzo of the University of Pennsylvania

Day 2: Wednesday, June 25 – 8:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m.
The second day of the conference will focus on identifying research strategies that will make Benefit-Cost Analysis more practical and useable in future social policy-making.

• Key Factors Enabling Rigorous Research to Influence Policy: Lessons from Welfare, Education, and Other Areas will discuss concrete examples in which rigorous research findings – including benefit-cost results – have had a meaningful impact on policy decisions, and instances when they did not. The goal is to identify key ingredients that make for successful impact.
  • Panel Chair: Jon Baron, executive director of the Coalition for Evidence-Based Policy
  • Panelists: Robert Shea of the U.S. Office of Management and Budget, Ron Haskins of the Brookings Institution, and Robert Slavin of Johns Hopkins University
• Missing Shadow Prices from Benefit-Cost Analyses of Social Programs will examine how analysis of social programs can be improved by giving attention to shadow prices.
  • Panel Chair: Dave Weimer, professor of public affairs and political science at the La Follette School of Public Affairs at the University of Wisconsin
  • Panelists: Philip Cook of Duke University, Robert Haveman of the La Follette School of Public Affairs, and Kerry Smith of Arizona State University
• Issues in the Development of Principles and Standards for Conducting Social Benefit-Cost Analysis will address areas and process for development, historical experience, templates, and values for analysis in developing principles and standards in the field of benefit-cost analysis.
  • Panel Chair: Scott Farrow, professor and chair of the Department of Economics at the University of Maryland Baltimore County
  • Panelists: Arnold Harberger of the University of California, Los Angeles, Lynn Karoly of the RAND Corporation, Lester Lave Carnegie Mellon University, and David Weimer of the La Follette School of Public Affairs at the University of Wisconsin
• End of Conference Luncheon
  • Keynote Speaker: John Fanton, president of the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation

Register today >>

Find out more about the Benefit-Cost Analysis Center and Society for Benefit-Cost Analysis.

Society for Benefit-Cost Analysis Meeting

First Annual Meeting of the Society for Benefit Cost Analysis

When: June 25-26, 2008
*This meeting will follow the Advancing Social Policy-Making Through Benefit-Cost Analysis conference on June 24-25.

Where: The Liaison Capitol Hill, An Affinia Hotel, 415 New Jersey Avenue NW, Washington, D.C.
Rooms will be held until May 30 for a special meeting rate of $289 plus tax. Parking will be available for $34/day. Reserve your hotel and parking reservations at 202.638.1616.

Conference and membership registration fees:

• Conference registration for current members: $75
• Conference registration for nonmembers: $100
• Membership for Society for Benefit-Cost Analysis: $75
• Conference Registration and Membership Package: $125

Register for the meeting >>

Meeting Agenda

Day 1: Wednesday, June 25

• Registration and Check-In: 11:30 a.m.-12:30 p.m.
• Lunch with keynote speech "The Power of Measuring Social Benefits" by Jonathan Fanton, president of the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, : 12:45-1:45 p.m.
• Panel 1 – States, Localities, and Benefit-Cost Analysis: 2:30 – 3:45 p.m.
  Panel Chair: Ken Acks of the Cost Benefit Group
  • Regulatory Regime Change under Federalism: Do States Matter More? by W. Gray of Clark University and R. Shadbegian of the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth
  • The Net Social Benefit of Transforming Six Public Housing Projects into Mixed-Income Communities by T. Boston of Georgia Institute of Technology and L. Boston of EuQuant
  • A Retrospective Assessment of the Pittsburgh Midfield Airport Expansion by J. Sturgis of Carnegie Mellon University
  • Variations on a Theme: Benefit-Cost Analysis and Environmental Regulation in Pennsylvania by W. Delavan of the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection
• Panel 2 – Uncertainty and Risk: 4:00-5:15 p.m.
  Panel Chair: Scott Farrow of the University of Maryland, Baltimore County
  • How to Integrate Risk Assessment and Benefit-Cost Analysis by A. Jessup, C. Nardinelli, D. Mancini, and L. Bush of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and U.S. Office of Management and Budget
  • Early Identification and Treatment of Alzheimer’s Disease: Desirable Social and Fiscal Outcomes by D. Weimer and M. Sager of the University of Wisconsin
  • The Importance of Uncertainty in a Benefit-Cost Analysis of Flood Proofing Policy Decisions for Adaptation to Sea-level Rise by M. Schultz of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, and P. Fischbeck, and M. Small of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and Carnegie Mellon University
  • Homeland Security Benefit-Cost Analysis: Small Steps Forward, Giant Leaps To Go by E. Shapiro of Rutgers University
• Reception and Open-Poster Session: 5:30-6:30 p.m.
  • The Costs and Benefits of a Green Mixed-Use Brownfield Redevelopment Project in New York by K. Acks of the Cost Benefit Group
  • The Fatal Flaw of Benefit-Cost Analysis: The Problem of Person-Altering Consequences by G. Cresip of Southern Methodist University
  • Benefit-Cost Analysis in Foreign Direct Investment: Trends, Limitations, and Prospects by N. Dasgupta of the University of Maryland, Baltimore County
  • Random Error and Simulation Models with an Unobserved Dependent Variable as Applied to the Benefits and Costs of the Clean Air Act by S. Farrow of the University of Maryland, Baltimore County
  • A Full Cost Analysis of Using Backup Generators to Meet Peak Electricity Demand by E. Gilmore, P. Adams, and L. Lave of Carnegie Mellon University
  • Riparian Buffers and Hedonic Prices: A Quasi-Experimental Analysis of Residential Property Values in the Neuse River Basin by O. Gin, C. Landry, and G. Meyer of East Carolina University
  • Different Measures of the Value of Changes in Risks: The Reference State Matters by J. Knetsch of Simon Fraser University
  • Cost-Benefit Analysis of Mercury Control Technologies for Virginia by V. Satyal of the Virgina Department of Environmental Quality
  • Mapping Environmental Preferences for Ambiguous Natural Resources by S. Vajjhala, A. John, and D. Evans of Resources for the Future and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
  • The Relevance of the Scitovsky Paradox by A. Schmitz of the University of Florida
  • Getting the Sulpher out of Gasoline: Costs and Benefits by G. Jenkins of Queen's University
• Dinner on your own

Day 2: Thursday, June 26

• Continental Breakfast: 7:30-8:00 a.m.
• Panel 3 – Federal Practice: 8:00-9:15 a.m.
  Panel Chair: Betsy Cody of the Congressional Research Service
  • Benefit-Cost Analysis at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention by S. Grosse of the Centers for Disease Control
  • Benefit-Cost Analysis and the Performance of Homeland Security Spending by J. Ghez of the RAND Corporation
  • Agency Capabilities and Performance in Applying Benefit-Cost Analysis by R. Belzer of the Regulatory Checkbook
  • The Influence of Economists in the Federal health, Safety and Environmental Agencies by R. Williams of George Mason University
• Panel 4 – International Issues and Applications: 9:30-10:45 a.m.
  Panel Char: Jack Knetsch of Simon Fraser University
  • Potential Practices for Integrating International Impacts into Regulatory Impact Analyses by D. Mancini of the U.S. Office of Management and Budget
  • Socioeconomic and Financial Evaluation of Infrastructure and Transport Projects with Environmental Impacts by C. Leon, M. Ruiz, and M. Romero of the University of Las Palmas
  • Cost-Effectiveness Methods and Practice in Education: A Critical Review of Program Evaluation in Developing Countries by M. Pirog, K. Krutilla, T. Guzman, and C. Dew of Indiana University
  • Benefit-Cost Analysis and International Collective Action: The Case of Climate Change by D. Cole of Indiana University
• Panel 5 – Time, Mortality, and Quality of Life: 11:00a.m.-12:15p.m.
  Panel Chair: TBD
  • Incorporating Nonmarket Time Into Benefit-Cost Analyses of Social Programs by D. Greenberg of the University of Maryland, and P. Robins of the University of Miami
  • Changing Profiles: Lags and the Social Rate of Time Preference by Topic by K. Patora of the Washington State Department of Ecology
  • Should Agencies Value Mortality Risk Reductions Differently Depending on the Context? by L. Robinson
  • Valuation of Quality of Life Losses Associated with Nonfatal Injury: Insights from Jury Verdict Data by D. Aiken and W. Zamula of the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission
• Buffet Lunch and Society Meeting: 12:15-1:45 p.m.
• Panel 6 – Methods Pushing Boundaries: 1:45-3:00 p.m.
  Panel Chair: David Weimer of the University of Wisconsin
  • Policy Establishment Costs: The Normative Implications for Benefit-Cost Analysis by K. Krutilla of Indiana University
  • Environmental Decisions without Benefit-Cost Analysis: A Ranking-Based Alternative by J. Horowtiz and J. Quiggin of the University of Maryland-College Park
  • The Irrelevance of the Compensation Test by R. Zerbe of the Evans School of Public Affairs at the University of Washington
  • Using Benefit Cost Analysis to Assess Nonprofit Performance by J. Cordes and C. Coventry of George Washington University

Register for the meeting >>

Find out more about the Society for Benefit-Cost Analysis and the Benefit-Cost Analysis Center.

2007 Conference Papers & Presentations

Papers and presentations from our 2007 Benefit-Cost Analysis Conference held May 18-19.

Transportation Benefit-Cost Analysis: It's All About Inputs!
Paper (556 KB PDF) / Presentation (470 KB PDF)
By Chris Williges and Mahmoud Mahdavi
Presented by Chris Williges

A Cost-Benefit Analysis of Private Versus Semi-Private Inpatient Rooms in a New Hospital
Paper (129 KB PDF) / Presentation (336 KB PDF)
By Anthony Boardman and Diane Forbes
Presented by Anthony Boardman

Using the Kaldor-Hicks Tableau Format for Cost-Benefit Analysis and Stakeholder Evaluation
Paper (171 KB PDF) / Presentation (96 KB PDF)
By Kerry Krutilla
Presented by Kerry Krutilla

An Ethical Benefit-Cost Analysis
By Richard Zerbe Jr.
Presented by Richard Zerbe Jr.

Suggested New Steps Toward the Practical Implementation of Cost-Benefit Analysis
Paper (83 KB PDF)
By Arnold Harberger
Presented by Arnold Harberger

Galactosemia: Testing Newborn Infants for Metabolic Disorders
Paper (485 KB PDF) / Presentation (189 KB PDF)
By Cathy Carruthers, Ron Scott, Mike Glass, John Thompson
Presented by Cathy Carruthers

Production Response to Increased Imports
Presentation (307 KB PDF)
By Lynn Kennedy and Andrew Schmitz
Presented by Andrew Schmitz

The "Stern Review" and Its Critics: Implications for the Theory and Practice of Benefit-Cost Analysis
Paper (197 KB PDF) / Presentation (730 KB PDF)
By Daniel Cole
Presented by Daniel Cole

The Welfare Economics of Sharing Fixed Costs of Product Safety Regulation
Presentation (1,007 KB PDF)
By Richard Just
Presented by Richard Just

The Information Industry, Distant Use Value and the Exxon Valdez
Presentation (235 KB PDF)
By R. Scott Farrow and Douglas M. Larson
Presented by Scott Farrow

Cost-Effective Species Conservation
Presentation (768 KB PDF)
By Mark Plummer
Presented by Mark Plummer

To Trade or Not to Trade: The Endowment Effect and Manipulations of the Reference State
Paper (72 KB PDF)
By Jack Knetsch and Wei-Kang Wong
Presented by Jack Knetsch

Find out more about the Benefit-Cost Analysis Center.