Most commonly used in economic and public policy decisions, benefit-cost analysis traditionally attempts to calculate a bottom line by assigning monetary values to all factors associated with a proposed project or action. By contrast, multiple account benefit-cost analysis recognizes that all values are complex and that not all consequences can be expressed in monetary terms or incorporated into one summary measure of net benefit.

In this textbook, designed for practitioners as well as for intermediate or advanced students, Marvin Shaffer illustrates how the basic principles and concepts of a benefit-cost analysis can be applied in a multiple account framework, in the process developing a systematic approach to the evaluation of project and policy alternatives. Though retaining the basic principles of benefit-cost analysis, Shaffer focuses more on identifying the advantages and disadvantages of key project alternatives and assessing their necessary trade-offs in order to better inform public policy debates.