Society for Benefit-Cost Analysis

The Society for Benefit-Cost Analysis (SBCA) is a learned society that works to improve the theory and practice of benefit-cost analysis and to support evidence-based policy decisions.
Benefit-cost analysis (BCA), also known as cost-benefit analysis, is a type of economic analysis that aims to inform a public decision-making process with specific types of information: a measure, preferably in monetary terms, of the willingness to pay for a policy change by those who will benefit from it, and a measure of the willingness to accept the change by those who will not benefit. The use of monetary terms provides a common metric. Its purpose is not to price everything, but rather to order choices in a way that informs decision-makers about the strength of preferences of those who are affected by a public policy.
In addition to BCA, SBCA works with a broad set of related methods, including cost-effectiveness analysis, risk-benefit analysis, applied welfare economic analysis, and damage assessments.
SBCA was founded in 2007 by Professor Richard Zerbe through the Benefit-Cost Analysis Center at the Evans School of Public Policy and Governance, University of Washington, with support from the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation. In 2010, the Society launched an academic journal, the Journal of Benefit-Cost Analysis, now published by Cambridge University Press. SBCA was incorporated in Washington, DC, as an independent 501(c)3 nonprofit organization in 2013.

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