Cost-benefit Analysis:
Applications To Restoration Of Rivers
Author(s)
F. J. Hitzhusen
Abstract
This paper draws on the author’s 30+ years of experience teaching and applying
cost-benefit analysis. For the past nine years he has also directed a large
research program at The Ohio State University to develop estimates of the
benefits and costs of various water quality, infrastructure, scenic and historic
river corridor impacts and improvements as a guide to investment planning and
public policy on river and related watershed restoration. The research is focused
on the evaluation of eight rivers in the Great Lakes region of the United States
and involves a team of environmental economists, an ecological engineer and
two aquatic biologists. When the various river corridor benefits or values broadly
conceived are expressed in a common economic metric and compared to their
full economic costs, one has a basis for assessing river corridors in an investment
planning, economic development, welfare economic and public policy context.
Keywords: cost-benefit, river restoration, water quality, infrastructure,
investment planning.
1 Introduction
Prest and Turney have described cost-benefit analysis (CBA) as a practical way
of assessing the desirability of public projects where both a long and wide view
are important i.e., all relevant costs and benefits over the full life of the project
are considered. Others (see Burkhead and Miner [4]) have viewed CBA as the
operational side of fiscal theory concerned with quantifying and evaluating
public output for more \“rational” public investment planning and decision
making. A major subset of CBA is the valuation of non-market benefits and
costs, particularly relating to natural resource projects and environmental
impacts. Although consensus on the underlying theory is strong (Dasgupta and
Pearce [6]), many practical problems and pressures have been encountered over
the history of CBA and its applications (see Hitzhusen [10, 11]).
Keywords
cost-benefit, river restoration, water quality, infrastructure,
investment planning.
Related Book
Other papers in this volume
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