Cost-effectiveness analysis field manual

The manual first presents methods for keeping track of project costs and measuring project benefits, and discusses several concepts to be considered in making project decisions: the opportunity cost of capital; the time value of money; inflation; in-kind valuation; and the marginal benefits provided by the project. The measures of cost-effectiveness, each designed to meet the needs of different kinds of projects and the appropriate uses of which are indicated, are then presented: (1) the checklist of community responsiveness and the per capita income indicator, two measures used to compare project costs to community resources; (2) the ratio of net benefits to costs, used to measure projects with monetary outputs; and (3) the ratio of per unit costs, used to measure projects having outputs with nonmonetary benefits. Four case studies and solution sets accompany the text.