From Lave \"Benefit-Cost Analysis: Do the Benefits Exceed the Costs?\" BCA is an

Question

From Lave "Benefit-Cost Analysis: Do the Benefits Exceed the Costs?"

BCA is an extremely common tool that has generally been adopted as the primary decision criteria in most policy analysis circles. Lave here is pushing back against the dominance of that culture, attempting to illustrate that BCA is not a perfect tool and attempting to specifically point out ways that it doesn’t reflect our values.

Answer the questions below:

What is Lester Lave’s real argument here?

Is it an argument against benefit-cost analysis (BCA) or something more subtle?

What is utilitarianism and how does this essay relate to it? What are the weaknesses of BCA?

When should we use BCA (on what type of problems)?

How should we interpret the output of a BCA?

Explanation / Answer

1. Lester Lave's real argument here is that BCA is not a perfect tool for their problems and organisation and S/he wants to change it.

2. It is an argument against the use of BCA as s/he is specifically pointing out ways where it is not working and wants to push back the dominance of that culture.

3. Utilitarianism is a moral theory that states:"the best action is the one that maximizes the utility."

Th essay does not directly relate to Utilitarianism, but if we think of BCA it definitely helps us in maximising utility and hence relates to  Utilitarianism.

The major weakness of BCA is that everything needs to be quantified which may be a huge issue in many situations. and also values cannot be provided precisely for the current and future values.

4.Types of Problems

Related Questions

Navigate

• Browse (All)
• Browse F
• Subjects

Integrity-first tutoring: explanations and feedback only — we do not complete graded work. Learn more.