Anthony E. Boardman

University of British Columbia - Vancouver | UBC

Whose costs and benefits should count in cost-benefit analysis (CBA)? This is an important practical question requiring answers for analysts because most government agencies offer only permissive or vague guidance. Drawing primarily on foundational CBA principles, we present a conceptual framework for specifying standing to answer three important b...

Some issues in the application of benefit–cost analysis (BCA) remain contentious. Although a strong conceptual case can be made for taking account of the marginal excess tax burden (METB) in conducting BCAs, it is usually excluded. Although a strong conceptual case can be made that BCA should not include distributional values, some analysts continu...

Multimodal, multijurisdictional corridors are highly complex, long term infrastructure projects. It is not surprising, therefore, that they often fail to get implemented. The limited evidence suggest that they can get built when a single entity— usually a national government—assembles the rights of way and provides corridor access to various infras...

The chapter presents a definition of a local mixed enterprise (ME), classifies local MEs into three distinct forms and discusses each form: the classic form, the public‒private partnership form and the complex form. This classification and discussion are important precursors to theory development. Our theory examines the extent to which a particula...

Large amounts of e-waste are processed “informally” in lower income countries. Such processing releases dangerous pollutants, which increase mortality and reduce cognitive functioning. This paper estimates the social cost of informal e-waste processing in Southern China. This parameter may be “plugged-in” to cost-benefit analyses that evaluate the...

This article presents new estimates of social discount rates (SDRs) for seventeen Latin American countries for use in public project evaluation. We derive the SDRs based on the social rate of time preference method and provide the required parameter values. These rates range from 2.14 percent for Paraguay to 5.83 percent for Chile. The unweighted a...

Cost-Benefit Analysis provides accessible, comprehensive, authoritative, and practical treatments of the protocols for assessing the relative efficiency of public policies. It provides thorough treatments of the essential concepts from microeconomics; time discounting; dealing with contingent uncertainty using expected surpluses and option prices;...

Infrastructure PPPs are now main-stream. Both partnership language and its contractual forms have evolved over the past few decades, though. Compared to early optimistic promises, we now have a more nuanced and balanced view of what PPPs are and what they can achieve. Indeed, modern PPPs are tied more to seeking economic growth and political succes...

This paper analyzes the trade-offs between the social cost of risk bearing and incentive effects for technical efficiency in PPP contracts for utilities. Using a principal-agent perspective and assuming the government principal maximizes social welfare, the government should be risk neutral. It is inefficient for PPP agents to provide financing. De...

Public project appraisal using cost-benefit analysis (CBA) requires analysts to project risky net benefits and to convert these into present values using a social discount rate (SDR). We consider which types of risk matter for CBA. For small projects with only idiosyncratic risks, expected net benefits should be discounted at a risk-free SDR. If pr...

Governments throughout the world are turning to public‒private partnerships (PPPs) as a means of providing new infrastructure. The decision to adopt a PPP over conventional government procurement is usually based on a value for money (VfM) appraisal, but this analysis is conducted differently in different countries. This article describes the corre...

From a public policy perspective, the social value of privatization depends on the aggregate efficiency benefits over the long term. However, most privatization studies that examine the efficiency impacts of privatization employ relatively short time frames: usually 3-years before and 3-years after the privatization. In contrast, this study examine...

The purpose of cost–benefit analysis (CBA) is to make better-informed, more consistent public policy decisions. CBA is a method for assessing the economic efficiency of proposed policies or programs through the systematic prediction and valuation (i.e., monetization) of all costs and benefits to all members of society. The concepts of ‘willingness...

This paper addresses some of the gaps in both classification and theory pertaining to local government MEs and presents tentative predictions concerning the performance of local MEs. As a preliminary, we identify the different forms of entities with ME characteristics and place them within a comprehensive taxonomy. Most local MEs provide local publ...

The decades-old literature on the correct method for choosing and esti-mating a social discount rate (SDR) has resulted in two, largely opposing viewpoints. This note seeks to clarify the key sources of disagreement between these two camps. One view advocates that the choice should be based chiefly on the social opportu-nity cost of the return to f...

This article describes and analyzes the privatization of Canadian National Railway (CN), a large railroad privatization. First, it reviews the theory and evidence concerning railroad privatizations. Second, it presents a brief history of CN and the regulatory environment prior to and after CN's privatization. Third, it uses data from 1990 to 2011 t...

Recently, a number of authors, including Burgess and Zerbe, have recommended the use of a real social discount rate (SDR) in the range of 6–8% in benefit-cost analysis (BCA) of public projects. They derive this rate based on the social opportunity cost of capital (SOC) method. In contrast, this article argues that the correct method is to discount...

This article applies political economy theory to public‐private partnerships (PPPs). First, we propose that social welfare is the appropriate normative evaluation criterion to evaluate the social value of PPPs. Second, we specify the goals of PPP participants, including private‐sector partners and governments. Third, we review the observed outcomes...

Most privatizations in Canada occurred in the 10-year period from the mid-1980s to the mid- 1990s, and while many of the remaining candidates are both politically and economically problematic, the Harper government has signaled its renewed interest in more privatizations. This paper, written by two of Canada’s leading experts on the subject, compre...

The design of new hospital inpatient rooms is moving towards private (single occupancy) rooms. These rooms are generally preferred by patients and they may improve patient care, but they are more expensive to build and to staff than semi-private rooms. The question of their societal worth is important because hospitals are expensive, long-term inve...

Les lignes directrices provisoires du Secrétariat du Conseil du Trésor de 2007 ont recommandé que le taux d’actualisation public (TAP) soit de 8 %. Dans cet article, nous avançons que ce chiffre est basé sur une méthodologie inappropriée et trop élevé. En utilisant un taux d’actualisation de la consommation, et à l’aide d’un modèle de croissance, n...

'"Partnership" is a widely-used and confusing term in public management. This book pilots the reader expertly through the diverse ambitions for PPPs, and the contexts in which they have been used. It draws on the first-hand experience of politicians and managers in steering partnerships, combined with solid research and observation. A particular st...

This paper analyzes the operating and stock price performance of the major Canadian share-issue privatizations, including Air Canada, Canadian National Railway, Petro-Canada, and six provincial privatizations. First, using time-series accounting data, we examine changes in operating and financiaI performance before and after privatization. Second,...

This article uses cost-benefit analysis to estimate the welfare gains from the privatization of Canadian National Railway (CN) in November 1995, one of the largest rail privatizations in history. It also shows how these gains have been distributed among consumers, producers, and government, and between Canadians and non-Canadians. The article uses...

This article uses cost-benefit analysis to estimate the welfare gains from the privatization of Canadian National Railway (CN) in November 1995, one of the largest rail privatizations in history. It also shows how these gains have been distributed among consumers, producers, and government, and between Canadians and non-Canadians. The article uses...

There is a broad consensus on the need for the major expansion of many ports. Traditionally, ports and related facilities have involved significant levels of direct or indirect government ownership or some degree of government financing. Most governments, however, are reluctant to either borrow money to fund the needed additional capital infrastruc...

This article provides eight rules for government concerning the administration of public—private partnerships (P3s). The basis for these rules draws on transaction cost economics. First, however, the article provides some background on alternative modes for the provision of infrastructure and their associated transactions costs. Second, it outlines...

This article develops some theory on and examines the implementation and performance of Canadian public-private partnerships (P3s). It focuses primarily on infrastructure projects and addresses three questions: 1) What goals do governments expect to achieve through Pas? 2) How effective are Pas likely to be at delivering value to governments and ci...

Many national governments now mandate some form of ex ante evaluation of policy alternatives. But, evidence suggests that both policy analysts and their political and bureaucratic clients have difficulty doing this form of policy analysis evaluation. To conduct effective ex ante evaluation of alternatives, analysts and decision-makers must first ch...

This article presents findings from a cost-benefit analysis of the Tulsa Individual Development Account (IDA) program, a demonstration program that was initiated in the late 1990s and is being evaluated through random assignment. The program put particular emphasis on using savings subsidies to help participants accumulate housing assets. The key f...

Governments in many industrialized nations have made concerted efforts to reduce their immediate expenditures and to reduce the cost of major infrastructure projects. Public–private partnerships (P3s) are one emerging method that might do so. Despite the increased use of P3s, there is little independent research on the effectiveness of P3s as a pub...

This paper identifies and discusses the problems associated with contracting out labor-intensive government services. It examines in detail the contracting out of the orderly service at Sir Charles Gairdner Hospital (SCGH) in Western Australia and its subsequent return to in-house delivery. When the orderly service was contracted out, the result wa...

A major reason the quality of cost-benefit analysis (CBA) varies widely is inconsistent use of the social discount rate (SDR). This article offers guidance about the choice of the SDR. Namely, we recommend the following procedures: If the project is intragenerational (does not have effects beyond 50 years) and there is no crowding out of private in...

The purposes of the paper are to determine whether governments underprice shares in fixed-price share-issue privatizations (SIPs) and, if so, what their motivations are for doing so. This paper develops three models of SIP underpricing: one based on revenue goals, one based on political goals and an inclusive model which supposes that the level of...

A major reason the quality of cost-benefit analyses (CBAs) varies widely is inconsistent use of the social discount rate (SDR). This paper provides guidance about the choice of the SDR. We first summarize the theoretical and ethical issues concerning the SDR. Second, we discuss seven discounting methods: marginal rate of return on investment, socia...

Governments in many industrialized nations have made concerted efforts to reduce their direct expenditures. Public-private partnerships (P3s) are one emerging method of doing so. Despite their increased use, little independent research has been conducted on the effectiveness of P3s. This article reviews recent P3 experience in the U.S. and Canada....

This article demonstrates the value of service-customer matrices (SCMs) for managers performing strategic analysis of nonprofit organizations (NPOs). Some of the benefits of using SCMs are understanding the portfolio of businesses; clarifying what sponsors and clients value; identifying rivals, key attributes, and revenues on a service-customer seg...

This study develops a model of the determinants of individual commitment to the implementation of the decision (decision commitment). Decision commitment requires each individual in a decision-making group to understand the hows, whys and wherefores of the group decision (decision understanding). Attaining decision understanding comes about through...

Shareholders in many share issued privatizations (SIPs) have enjoyed substantial increases in the value of their investments. This study examines the factors that influence the long-run stock price performance of an international sample of SIPS, focusing on three-year buy and hold returns. After controlling for market-wide changes in stock prices,...

As dentistry is becoming increasingly competitive, dentists must focus more on strategic analysis. This paper lays out seven initial steps that are the foundation of strategic analysis. It introduces and describes the use of service-customer matrices and location-proximity maps as tools in competitive positioning. The paper also contains a brief ov...

Recently BSkyB, a subscription based satellite broadcaster, attempted to win the rights to broadcast key sporting events away from the over-the-air broadcasters. Although conventional rationales for government intervention do not seem to apply to this situation, the government announced that eight top sporting events would be guaranteed terrestrial...

The impact of tightening the regulation of illegal insider trading in the United States is analysed. It is argued that more effective regulation will reduce the price run-up in target companies prior to takeover announcements. By comparing stock price responses to takeover announcements during two distinct regulatory regimes - a regime of lax regul...

In assessing existing or proposed public policies, analysts often need shadow price estimates for one or two key items - for example, the value of a human life, the cost of various types of injuries, the cost of a robbery or the value of an hour of travel time saved. This paper provides estimates of the values of many, frequently encountered impact...

Many studies find that foreign subsidiaries of multi-national enterprises are more profitable or more productive than firms that operate exclusively in a single domestic market or that produce in and export from a single domestic market. These differences are usually attributed to firm-specific assets. This article explores an additional explanatio...

Analysis and evaluation of regulatory actions require inexpensive and timely information about resultant costs and benefits. This paper extends the traditional ‘event study’ methodology for assessing the impact of regulatory actions on the value of publicly traded firms. We use diffusion theory to construct several models of how markets adjust to r...

This article demonstrates the value of product-customer matrices (PCMs). PCMs can improve managers' understanding of what a company's products actually are; who the customers are; which product-customer segments the company is currently in; which ones it is not in; the business(es) it is in; the competitors within each product-customer segment; whi...

Major changes are pressuring the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC). Its cultural centrality has been questioned as a result of these changes. The CBC was set up as a public, rather than a state, broadcaster with some arm's length characteristics. Recently, its mandate has focused more on increasing Canadian content as reflected in its own pol...

The purpose of cost-benefit analysis (CBA) is to help public sector decision-making. The “help” varies according to when it is performed. CBA can be performed ex ante (EA), ex post (EP), or in the interim—in medias res (IMR) of a project. We propose a fourth class of CBA—one that compares EA with EP or with IMR CBA. In fact, this type of comparison...

This article characterizes the perceptions of government bureaucrats about cost-benefit analysis (CBA). The observations arise after working with government officials on various projects and leading many executive seminars for government employees over the last decade on the principles and practice of CBA. Government employees tend to adopt one of...

Certainly the introduction of product market competition into potentially competitive or, at least contestable, markets can improve performance. To take just one example, Morrison and Whinston (1986, 1986) estimate that even in the imperfectly contestable U.S. airline industry, the annual U.S. welfare gains from deregulation have been around $6 bil...

This paper presents an analysis of how government ownership of an enterprise may affect its profitability. In August 1981, two Quebec Crown Corporations announced that they had gained control of Domtar, a private Canadian corporation. Upon receipt of this information the stock's market value dropped significantly. Over six trading days, Domtar's sh...

A recent paper by Naylor and Tapon (Naylor, Thomas H., Francis Tapon. 1982. The capital asset pricing model: an evaluation of its potential as a strategic planning tool. Management Sci. 28 1166--1173.) showed that the capital asset pricing model (CAPM) can be an important strategic planning tool, but their specific strategic suggestions were incorr...

This paper presents a conceptual framework for modelling physicians' styles of practice. It also develops and estimates a causal model of practice style determination. The method allows simultaneous analysis of different practice styles and their determinants. The paper provides new insights into physician decision-making and, in particular, the po...

This article develops a general framework for the analysis of education finance reforms. Most of the recent literature concentrates o on the demands and ignores the costs of educational services. Proposed reforms that account for different costs assume that the supply of all educational inputs are infinitely price elastic. The article presents a mo...

This paper develops an input-output framework for use in local public finance. A state-wide educational system is described in terms of its school districts and educational programs for which local, state and federal funds are allocated. A distinction is made between earmarked funds and discretionary funds. Educational resource multipliers are deve...

This paper describes a method for estimating the unknown parameters of an interdependent simultaneous equations model with latent variables. For each latent variable there may be single or multiple indicators. Estimation proceeds in three stages: first, estimates of the latent variables are constructed from the associated manifest indicators; secon...

The authors have initiated a new line of inquiry into how physicians make decisions about their practices. They have developed a model involving physician preferences over bundles of medical practice attributes such as hours worked, fees, incomes, aides hired, types of patients, etc. They describe physician practices in terms of variables represent...

Federal guidelines provide grounds for determining when a racial, ethnic or sex group has experienced discrimination in selection or promotion. This paper assumes that a predetermined number of people are selected or promoted and presents a simple model that computes the exact probabilities of type I and type II errors, that is, concluding adverse...

Single equation models of educational achievement that have been estimated by OLS have tended to ignore the effects of omitting relevant variables. These omitted variables may lead to biased and inconsistent estimates. Further, past research frequently obscures the correct interpretation of the estimated coefficients. This paper considers three fre...

This paper presents a model for the analysis of efficient labor force participation in the U.S. economy. Ridge regression estimates of the elasticities of cohorts of labor, classified by sex and occupation, are used in conjunction with wage data to illustrate the derivation of efficient allocation of labor cohorts in five economic sectors. These ef...

In examining both non-school and school conditions and resources that may affect learning, this paper focuses on the education of poor, minority, and low achieving inner city children. First, the external environment of urban schools is discussed in terms of structural factors (such as racial isolation and inadequate employment, housing, and social...

Social scientists have contributed to educational policy, but they can do more.

Highway congestion is ubiquitous. We model the speed-flow relationship, identifying private and social costs, and the implied congestion toll for a number of proposed formulations. Using data for a limited access highway, we estimate these speed-flow relationships and find that flow as a quadratic function of speed fits best. The unit of observatio...

This paper models the educational process as a system of six simultaneous equations. The endogenous variables include a student's achievement, motivation, expectations, efficacy, and perceived parents' and teachers' expectations. The model also includes forty-eight individual, home, peer, teacher, and school exogenous variables. Using a sample of o...

This chapter discusses the cultural context of American education. it describes the most basic and cherished roots of the American culture and the inaction is simply due to a fear of change—a fear of what will happen if minorities are given an equal place. The educational process is inseparable from America's cultural roots. The exogenous variables...

This paper models the educational process by a system of simultaneous equations. The endogenous variables (educational outputs) are a pupil's achievement, participation in a college preparatory program, need for achievement (aspirations), demonstrated motivation (effort), expectations, self-esteem, belief in his ability to control his environment (...

This paper has two main purposes. First, it examines verbal, nonverbal, reading, mathematical, and general informational achievement. Second, it estimates the achievement equations of a simultaneous equations model of the educational process. The report, "Equality of Educational Opportunity," (EEOR) acted as a watershed for research into educationa...

The expansion of Canada's Asia-Pacific trade is likely to continue over the foreseeable future. Investments in gateway and related corridor infrastructure may be publicly funded, privately funded or it may be some combination of both. Given provincial and federal governments' desires to minimize current expenditures, public-private partnerships (P3...