The MVPF-method measures the “bang for the buck” of public spending on a given policy. How? It’s calculated as the ratio of two numbers: the benefits that a policy provides to its recipients (measured as “willingness to pay”), divided by the policy’s net cost to the government (including all long-term effects on its budget).
The Policy Impacts-project are also collaboratively building a Policy Impacts Library, a database of MVPF-estimates for different public policies derived from rigorous empirical research. The goal is to help policymakers and practitioners better understand and compare the long-term costs and benefits of a wide range of policies.
PS. I find this project super interesting, but have not looked into it in detail nor talked to anyone working on it. So there might be obvious weaknesses I’m not aware of.
Thanks! The challenge with these types of benefit cost analyses is that often willingness to pay can correlate with ability to pay. There can also be categorical imperative type issues that trump these types of logics. I do think though that its a super useful initiative. Better to have progressively less wrong measures and use best available evidence rather than shoot from the hip. Cheers!
The Policy Impacts-project at Harvard University might be of interest to you, including their method for evaluating the impacts of public policies: the Marginal Value of Public Funds (MVPF).
The MVPF-method measures the “bang for the buck” of public spending on a given policy. How? It’s calculated as the ratio of two numbers: the benefits that a policy provides to its recipients (measured as “willingness to pay”), divided by the policy’s net cost to the government (including all long-term effects on its budget).
The Policy Impacts-project are also collaboratively building a Policy Impacts Library, a database of MVPF-estimates for different public policies derived from rigorous empirical research. The goal is to help policymakers and practitioners better understand and compare the long-term costs and benefits of a wide range of policies.
PS. I find this project super interesting, but have not looked into it in detail nor talked to anyone working on it. So there might be obvious weaknesses I’m not aware of.
Thanks! The challenge with these types of benefit cost analyses is that often willingness to pay can correlate with ability to pay. There can also be categorical imperative type issues that trump these types of logics. I do think though that its a super useful initiative. Better to have progressively less wrong measures and use best available evidence rather than shoot from the hip. Cheers!