This document discusses benefit-cost analysis for evaluating public projects. It notes that benefit-cost analysis is commonly used to evaluate public projects. It identifies some key difficulties in public project analysis, including identifying all users that benefit, identifying all benefits and costs, quantifying benefits and costs, and selecting an appropriate discount rate. The document also provides definitions for benefit-cost ratio and equivalent capital investment and operation and maintenance costs.

2. ECONOMIC ANALYSIS IN PUBLIC SECTOR
MUHAMMAD IRFAN
Assistant Professor, Sarhad University, Peshawar.

3. ECONOMIC ANALYSIS IN THE PUBLIC SECTOR
Benefit-Cost Analysis
 commonly used to evaluate Public Projects.
 Benefits of a nonmonetary nature can be
quantified and factored into the analysis.
 A broad range of project users distinct from the
sponsor should be considered benefits and
disbenefits to all these users can (and should) be
taken into account

4. FRAMEWORK OF BENEFIT-COST ANALYSIS
 Identifying all the users and sponsors of the
project.
 Identifying all the benefits and disbenefits of the
project.
 Quantifying all benefits and disbenefits in
dollars or some other unit of measure.
 Selecting an appropriate interest rate at which
to discount benefits and costs to a present value.

5. BENEFIT-COST RATIO CRITERION
Benefit -Cost Ratio =
Equivalent Users' Net Benefits
Equivalent Sponsor' s Net Cost
If this BC ratio exceeds 1, the project can be acceptable

6. 6
DEFINITION OF BENEFITS-COST
RATIO
B b i
C c i
n
n
n
N
n
n
n
N
 
 






( )
( )
1
1
0
0
Bn=Benefit at the end of period n,
cn=Expense at the end of period n,
An= bn – cn
N = Project life
i =Sponsor’s interest rate (discount rate)
bn  0
cn  0

7. 7
I c i
C c i
BC i
B
C
B
I C
I C
n
n
n
K
n
n
n K
N
 
 
 

 



 


( )
' ( )
( )
'
, '
1
1
0
0
1
Equivalent capital investment
Equivalent O&M costs

8. SUMMARY…..
 Benefit-cost analysis is commonly used to evaluate
public projects:
 Difficulties involved in public project analysis include the
following:
1) Identifying all the users who can benefit from the
project.
2) Identifying all the benefits and disbenefits of the
project.
3) Quantifying all benefits and disbenefits in dollars or
some other unit of measure.
4) Selecting an appropriate interest rate at which to
discount benefits and costs to a present value.

9. Thank You…