Join us for our virtual March 2021 Conference
We are now accepting submissions for our March 2021 conference! The conference will be online, and will provide opportunities for a variety of types of sessions and networking events. Abstracts are due no later than December 4, 2020. More information is here. Please click here to begin your submission.
Organize a professional development workshop
SBCA is now hosting online professional development workshops throughout the year, rather than only during the annual conference. These workshops are an important and exciting opportunity to provide a service to the field. Proposals are due no later than December 4, 2020. More information is here. Please click here to begin your submission.
2020 Society Webinar Series
The Society for Benefit-Cost webinar series features new material and a few presentations originally scheduled for our March 2020 Annual Meeting. These presentations are free to Society members and (with limited exceptions) available to nonmembers for a fee. The list of past and future webinars is below along with information about how to view a recording (for past webinars) or to register.
If you find the Society's resources useful and want to support the benefit-cost analysis field, please consider becoming a member or making a donation.
The Society is planning to offer 6 webinars between July-December 2020. For more information click here.
All individual webinars will be free to SBCA members.
All individual webinars will be available to non-members at $35 per session.
Non-members can also bundle all 6 of the webinars for the $140. Register Now
Upcoming Webinars
The 20,000 Foot View, Really! (Advancing the Evaluation of the Socio-Economic Benefits of Earth Observation)
Date: Tuesday, November 10, 12:00-1:30 ET
On Balance Blog
On Balance: Recent Developments in the Market for Vaping Products and the implications of Benefit-Cost Analysis
October 9, 2020
By: Don Kenkel
Since electronic cigarettes were introduced, in 2007, they have presented controversial public health tradeoffs. E-cigarettes provide users with the addictive chemical nicotine but without exposing them to the harmful combustion-generated toxicants in cigarette smoke. On the one hand, because smoking combustible cigarettes is estimated to lead to almost 500,000 deaths each year, e-cigarettes have great potential as a harm reduction strategy. In particular, evidence from randomized clinical trials shows that vaping e-cigarettes helps adult smokers quit. On the other hand, the growing popularity of vaping among teens raises concerns about nicotine addiction, the possibility that vaping is a gateway to smoking, and unknown future health consequences. More teens now vape e-cigarettes than smoke cigarettes. In the National Youth Tobacco Survey, the fraction of high school students reporting vaping within the past 30 days increased from 11.7 percent in 2017 to 27.5 percent in 2019, before dropping to 19.6 percent in 2020. Some public policies – increasing the legal purchase to 21 and banning e-cigarette flavors popular with teens – try to target teen vaping. Other policies, most notably e-cigarette excise taxes, discourage both adult and teen vaping.
SBCA European Conference
View the recording here
The in-person SBCA European Conference has been canceled for this fall due to the COVID-19 pandemic. However, the keynote speakers agreed to share their thoughts in an online event on October 14th.
Here are a few preliminary details including the tentative titles of the talks:
- Jason Shogren (University of Wyoming): Challenges of social distancing, how did the assumptions made in March turn out in retrospective? Uncertainty in CBA, advice to real policy-making and the CBA.
- John Hassler ( Institute for International Economic Studies at Stockholm University): Perspectives on the covid-19 pandemic and cost benefit analysis
- Christian Gollier (Toulouse School of Economics) : Comments on both keynotes
The World Bank‘s Sustainable Development Practice Group (WB SDPG) is seeking consultant economists to carry out economic and financial analysis of investment projects in the following areas: agriculture and food; environment, natural resources, social development; urban development, disaster risk management, with climate change being a cross-cutting topic.
If you have significant training and experience in analyzing the economic and financial viability of investments in any of these fields, we would like to invite you to register in the WB SDPG Roster of Consultant Project Economists by filling out an online questionnaire.
For more details, click here.
Journal of Benefit-Cost Analysis
Volume 11 - Issue 2 of JBCA - Summer 2020
Volume 11 - Issue 1 of the JBCA Spring 2020
Volume 10- Issue 3 - of the JBCA Fall 2019
SBCA News
Society for Benefit-Cost Analysis Presenting a Session at ASSA 2021 Annual Meeting
Regulatory Benefit-Cost Analysis – Advice for a New Presidential Term -Panel Session- Tuesday, Jan. 5, 2021 10:00 AM - 12:00 PM (EDT)- Hosted By: SOCIETY FOR BENEFIT-COST ANALYSIS
Covid-19 BCA Resources
SBCA is currently dedicated to providing the latest and most informative information on COVID-19 Policy Benefit-Cost Resources.
SBCA Member Benefits
Significant discounts on the SBCA Annual Conference registration.
Connection to the pre-eminent, global community of benefit-cost practitioners, advocates, and academics.
A complimentary subscription to the Journal of Benefit-Cost Analysis.
Access to a growing supply of members-only programs and benefits.
Support of the only organization dedicated entirely to the practice and advancement of benefit-cost analysis.
What Is Benefit-Cost Analysis?
Benefit-cost analysis (BCA) is a process through which companies, governmental authorities, and organizations around the world systematically measure and assess the pros and cons of alternatives. BCA can be used to analyze long term effects of large-scale investments, events, regulations, policies, and high-level decisions. BCA goes beyond other disciplines to evaluate not only the financial impact of decisions and actions, but the social, environmental, cultural, and other effects.