Benefit-cost Analysis
This course presents welfare economics for evaluating government activity costs/benefits, covering uncertainty, social discount rates, and welfare weights through environmental, social, and agricultural case studies.
Summary
Recent recorded grades — Fall 2023: 3.66 GPA, 81.8% A/AB (n=22 letter grades); Fall 2024: 3.61 GPA, 77.8% A/AB (n=27 letter grades); Fall 2025: 3.80 GPA, 95.7% A/AB (n=23 letter grades).
What you’ll be able to do
Explain the basic mechanics of performing a Cost Benefit Analysis, including methods for valuing costs and benefits, aggregating over time, and analyzing uncertainties.
Evaluate the strengths and weaknesses of different CBAs and propose strategies to address any shortcomings.
Debate the advantages and limitations of CBA for public policy and compare it to other approaches.
Create a CBA for a real-world client from beginning to end, including scoping, background research, valuation of costs and benefits, uncertainty analysis, and interpretation.
Source: UW Guide 1· UW Guide 2· UW Guide 3· UW Guide 4
Grade history
↗All recorded terms · compare terms & instructors
Prerequisites
Course mapGraduate/professional standing and (PUB AFFR 818 and 880), or POP HLTH/I SY E 875, orA A E 635
- Graduate/professional standing
- take one
This is a best-effort interpretation; check the catalog requirements above.
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Professors
Spring 2027No instructors recorded for this selection.
Historical instructors & teaching patterns
Recorded history may be incomplete and does not establish a future schedule.
Calendar & sections
Spring 2027Schedule loads here as you scroll.
| Section | Mode | Enrolled / capacity | Waitlist |
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Student experience
the class
Recent recorded grades — Fall 2023: 3.66 GPA, 81.8% A/AB (n=22 letter grades); Fall 2024: 3.61 GPA, 77.8% A/AB (n=27 letter grades); Fall 2025: 3.80 GPA, 95.7% A/AB (n=23 letter grades).
difficulty & workload
No workload feedback recorded.
Topics
- Welfare economics and evaluation of social benefits/costs of government activities.
- Uncertainty, social discount rates, and welfare weights.
- Case studies in environmental, social policy, and agricultural areas.
- Cost Benefit Analysis mechanics: valuation, temporal aggregation, and uncertainty analysis.
Skills
- Performing Cost Benefit Analysis (CBA), including valuation, aggregation over time, and uncertainty analysis.
- Evaluating CBA methodologies and proposing improvements for shortcomings.
- Debating CBA advantages/limitations and comparing with other policy approaches.
- Applying welfare economics to evaluate social benefits and costs of government activities.
Grades
Latest available · Fall 2025— not enough history to project Spring 2027.
Grade distribution · % of letter grades
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Through Fall 2025
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Not enough comparable courses for Spring 2027 in UW–Madison.
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Catalog & offerings
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Explore recorded gradesRecorded 2026-10-14
Model outputs & technical records
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Model & dataset provenance
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