Cost Benefit Analysis for Engineers and Planners

Cost-benefit analysis (CBA) is often one of the most invaluable tools in decision making. Yet, it is often inadequately understood by the practitioners who would most benefit from its use. The reason is that most books published on the subject have been written by economists, and therefore do not meet the needs of practising engineers. "Cost-Benefit Analysis" is different in that it has been specifically written with the sole aim of explaining, in a clear and straightforward way, How the technique can be applied in practice as well as its underlying rationale.Written by Michael Snell, a practising civil engineer with thirty years experience in the planning, design, evaluation and implementation of engineering and development projects worldwide, "Cost-Benefit Analysis": outlines the fundamental principles of CBA as a decision-guiding tool; details the financial, economic and social types of CBA; explains, in a sraightforward manner, the more complex aspects of CBA such as discounting and shadow pricing; features special techniques for a number of particular fields and types of product, like transport, education, health and water resources, energy and agriculture; gives extensive references to the published literature for details on particular fields; and provides practical guidance on how to make an analysis simple, transport and relevant.
It outlines guidance on the best ways to present CBA together with a sample report; includes a checklist of the most important factors for quick reference; provides numerous practical worked examples and questions; gives practical guidance on multi-criterion analysis and on the treatment of risk and uncertainty; and includes references to British guidelines and the latest guidelines of the World Bank and other international financing agencies.