Estimating Costs

SBCA Professional Development Workshop
June 4-5, 2025

The development of an accurate and thorough accounting of costs is essential to informing policy development and helping policymakers and the public understand the economic implications of policy options. Costs may reflect the adoption or application of alternative technologies, changes in production methods or product design, modifications to operating procedures, or the introduction of new procedures altogether, among other considerations. High-quality cost analyses must account for each of these factors. In addition, because costs depend on the characteristics of individual entities in the affected community, analysts must identify and account for these characteristics where appropriate.

The assessment of costs poses several conceptual and analytical challenges. Conceptually, analysts must determine which impacts represent a policy-related cost and which impacts, while potentially of interest to policymakers or the public, are not costs. For those impacts determined to be costs, the methods most appropriate for analysis can vary significantly across different cost categories. Thus, the analysis of costs for a single policy change may be a series of analyses, each applying different methods to estimate different categories of costs. This puts a significant burden on the analyst to understand the nuances of a range of analytic methods and to apply them appropriately across different regulatory contexts.

This workshop explores the conceptual foundations of cost analysis, analytic methods and tools for assessing costs, and best practices for applying these methods and communicating the results. These topics will be presented by a diverse group of practitioners and experts who have designed and conducted cost analyses in a variety of policy contexts for government agencies, non-governmental organizations, and other stakeholders. It is targeted on those interested in conducting these analyses and those interested in better understanding the strengths and limitations of analyses they review. The workshop itself will consist of presentations and case studies, with ample time set aside for discussion. 

Instructors

Jason Price is a Principal with Industrial Economics (IEc), an economic and public policy consulting firm in Cambridge, Massachusetts. He specializes in developing and implementing methods to assess the societal costs, benefits, and economic impacts of policies and programs related to energy development and production, energy efficiency, waste management, and air pollution policy. He has helped government agencies at the federal, state, and local level develop novel approaches to applying the tools of benefit-cost analysis to help them better understand the economic implications of policy decisions.

 

Jason Hockenberry is Associate Dean for Faculty Affairs and Department Chair and Professor of Public Health (Health Policy) at the Yale School of Public Health. He is a health economist and health services researcher with expertise in using econometric techniques to analyze administrative, registry, and electronic health record data to investigate the impacts of public health policies and to assess factors affecting the quality, efficiency, and cost of healthcare. His work is published in leading health policy and health economics outlets including the Journal of the American Medical Association (and affiliated journals), Health Affairs, Journal of Health Economics, and Journal of Public Economics. His research has been funded by the National Institutes of Health, the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, the Department of Veterans Affairs’ Health Systems Research & Development, the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, and the Commonwealth Fund.

Sergey Paltsev is a Deputy Director of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) Center for Sustainability Science and Strategy and a Senior Research Scientist at the MIT Energy Initiative. He is the lead modeler in charge of the MIT Economic Projection and Policy Analysis (EPPA) model of the world economy. His research covers a wide range of topics including energy economics, climate policy, taxation, advanced energy technologies, and international trade. Sergey is an Advisory Board Member for the Global Trade Analysis Project (GTAP) Consortium and a Member of the Scientific Steering Committee for the Integrated Assessment Modeling Consortium (IAMC). Dr. Paltsev is an author of more than 120 peer-reviewed publications in scientific journals and books.

 

Christopher McMinimy is an economist at the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) where he oversees the development of cost-benefit analyses of regulations focused on various solid waste streams. He led EPA’s analysis of the costs and benefits of regulations recently promulgated by EPA related to the management of abandoned coal ash waste at power plants. He has also led cost-benefit analyses of new classes of chemicals and designed the user fee formula for compliance reporting IT system that allowed EPA to begin transitioning from paper reporting by mail to electronic reporting for shipments of hazardous waste.

 

Taylor Young is an economist at the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), where she focuses on analyzing and assessing economic impacts of environmental policies in the Office of Land and Emergency Management (OLEM). In her role at EPA, Taylor contributes research to support policy decision-making processes that guide sustainable practices and regulatory initiatives. This research involves evaluating costs, benefits, and other social welfare impacts of environmental programs to support EPA’s mission of protecting human health and the environment. Taylor holds an MS in Resource and Applied Economics, and she is passionate about integrating economic insights into environmental policy for the benefit of affected stakeholders, communities, and ecosystems.

 

Registration opening soon!