2008 Benefit-Cost Analysis Conference

The second annual Benefit-Cost Analysis Conference Advancing Social Policy-Making Through Benefit-Cost Analysis: Challenges and Opportunities was held June 24-25, 2008, in Washington, D.C.. The goals of the conference included:

• Examining the role of benefit-cost analysis in social policymaking
• Highlighting the new opportunities presented by recent uses of benefit-cost analysis in social arenas
• Devoping strategies for making benefit-cost analysis more practical, consistent, and implementable within the social policy fields.

Conference Highlights

Leading scholars, practitioners, lawyers, and policymakers shared ideas about the implementation of benefit-cost analysis techniques and procedures. Conference participants also offered 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.

The conference presented the following panels, highlighting recent successes of integration between benefit-cost analysis and social policymaking with an emphasis on identifying transferable lessons. The conference also focused on identifying research strategies that will make benefit-cost analysis more practical and useable in future social policymaking.

• Overall Conference Summary (193.5 KB PDF)

• Panel Presentations & Proceedings (630.2 KB PDF)

• Recommendations for Future Work (179 KB PDF)

Panels and Presentations

NOTE: Not all panelists used powerpoint presentations, or have made their presentations available.

• The Use of Evidence-Based Research on Children’s Outcomes to Promote Economic Competitiveness: The Case of the Partnership for America's Economic Success describeed 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, Tudor Investment Corporation.  Using Economic Evidence to Promote Early Childhood Investments and Strengthen the US Economy:  Partnership for America's Economic Success (993 KB PDF)
  • Greg Duncan, Edwina S. Tarry Professor, School of Education and Social Policy, and Faculty Fellow, Institute for Policy Research, Northwestern University.  CBA of Economic Investments in Early Childhood (363 KB PDF)
  • Robert Bradham, Senior Vice President of Business Development and Government Affairs, Greater Richmond Chamber of Commerce.  Using Cost-Benefit Analyses to Promote the Early Childhood Agenda  (2.94 MB PDF)


• Lessons from Government Experience with Benefit-Cost Analysis: USA and the EU discussed the extent to which benefit-cost analysis improves decision-making, and explored how such use can be fashioned to have greater impact with respect to the analysis of federal social programs.
  • Panel Chair: John Graham, Dean, Pardee RAND Graduate School of Public Policy and Dean-Designate, School of Public and Environmental Affairs, Indiana University. 
  • John Morrall, Branch Chief, U.S. Office of Management and Budget.  Perspective of a Long-time Government Employee (212 KB PDF)
  • Kimberly Thompson, Associate Profesor of Risk Analysis and Decision Science, School of Public Health, Harvard University 
  • Jonathan Wiener, Perkins Profesor of Law and Environmental Policy, Duke University.  Benefit-Cost Analysis in the United States and Europe (1.43 MB PDF)


• Using Benefit-Cost Analysis in the State and Local Government: Case Study of the Washington State Institute for Public Policy (WSIPP) and the City of Seattle had senior staff members of WSIPP and Seattle Public Utilities sharing their experiences and thoughts on whether benefit-cost analysis effectively contributes to state level decision-making.
  • Panel Chair: Steve Aos, Assistant Director, Washington State Institute for Public Policy.  Using Cost-Benefit Analysis in Washington State to Identify and Implement Evidence-Based Public Policies  (3.21 MB PDF)
  • Tim Skeel, Principal Economist, Seattle Public Utilities, City of Seattle.  Using Benefit-Cost Analysis in Local Government:  Seattle Public Utilities (204 KB PDF)


• Integrated Administrative Data Systems: Generating Benefits and Costs in Real Time Over Time examined 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, School of Social Policy and Practice; and Professor of Psychology in Psychiatry, School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania.   The New York-New York Supportive Housing Demonstration  (170 KB PDF)
    
  • Richard Burgis, Manager, Database Area Supporting DHS/CSES, Department of Information Technology, State of Michigan.  Michigan's Statewide Data Warehouse (4.14 MB PDF)
  • Pete Bailey, Chief, Office of Research and Statistics, South Carolina.  Integrated Administrative Data Systems (7.83 MB PDF)
  • Manuel Moreno, Research Director for the Chief Executive Office, Research and Evaluation, Los Angeles County.  Administrative Data Integration and Policy Analysis in Los Angeles County:  The Adult Linkages Project  (72 KB PDF)
  • Martha Moorehouse, Division Director for Children and Youth Policy, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services
  • John Fantuzzo, Greenfield Professor of Human Relations, University of Pennsylvania.  Kids Integrated Data System (KIDS):  Integrated Data Systems Serving Children & Youth in Philadelphia (2.83 MB PDF)

• Key Factors Enabling Rigorous Research to Influence Policy: Lessons from Welfare, Education, and Other Areas discussed 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 was to identify key ingredients that make for successful impact.
  • Panel Chair: Jon Baron, Executive Director, Coalition for Evidence-Based Policy.  Key Factors Enabling Research to Influence Policy (355 KB PDF)
  • Robert Shea, Associate Director for OMB Administration and Government Performance, U.S. Office of Management and Budget
  • Ron Haskins, Senior Fellow and Co-Director, Center for Children and Families, Brookings Institution.  Who Cares about Random Assignment? (416 KB PDF)
  • Robert Slavin, Director, Center for Research and Reform in Education, The Johns Hopkins University; Director, Institute for Effective Education, University of York; and Co-Founder and Chairman, Success for All Foundation.  Evidence-Based Reform in Education:  Promise and Pitfalls  (1.82 MB PDF)
• Missing Shadow Prices from Benefit-Cost Analyses of Social Programs examined 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, LaFollette School of Public Affairs, University of Wisconsin
  • Robert Haveman, John Bascom Emeritus Professor, LaFollette School of Public Affairs and Department of Economics, and Faculty Affiliate, Institute for Research on Poverty, University of Wisconsin.  Shadow Prices in Evaluating Social Programs (136 KB PDF)
  • V. Kerry Smith, W.P. Carey Professor of Economics, Arizona State University
  • Philip Cook, ITT/Terry Sanford Professor of Public Policy Studies, Professor of Economics and Sociology, and Associate Director, Terry Sanford Institute of Public Policy, Duke University.  Valuing Crime-related impacts:  the basics  (80 KB PDF)
• Issues in the Development of Principles and Standards for Conducting Social Benefit-Cost Analysis addressed 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, Department of Economics, University of Maryland - Baltimore County.  Introduction:   Issues in the Development of Principles and Standards for Conducting Social Benefit-Cost Analysis (1.87 MB PDF)
  • Arnold Harberger, Distinguished Professor of Economics, University of California, Los Angeles
  • Lynn Karoly, Senior Economist, RAND Corporation
  • Lester Lave, Professor of Economics, Carnegie Mellon University
  • David Weimer, Professor of Public Affairs and Political Science, LaFollette School of Public Affairs, University of Wisconsin.  CBA Standards:  Declaring Right or Daylight? (101 KB PDF)
• Keynote Speech
  
  • Jonathan F. Fanton, President, The John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation.  Philanthropy, Benefit-Cost Analysis, and Public Policy

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