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Cost-Benefit Analysis (CBA) (Political Science)
A process of weighing the pros (benefits) and cons (costs) of a given project. A CBA can be economic or social in nature, the benefits either strictly financial in the former or for the betterment of society in the latter. One of the classic works exploring cost-benefit analysis is E. J. Mishan and E. Quah's (1976) Cost Benefit Analysis, where they assert that the CBA is based on the principle of a Pareto improvement. A Pareto improvement is the principle that at least one person would become better off and no one would become worse off from the idea. In most cases, to achieve a Pareto improvement, the aggregate winners must compensate the aggregate losers so that no one suffers. According to Diana Fuguitt and ...