1. Introduction to Cost-Benefit Analysis

In this video, you will be introduced to the concept of a cost-benefit analysis.  You will learn the difference between decision-making from the perspective of a private firm vs. a larger society and how this applies to environmental conservation.


2. Cost Benefit Scenarios

In this video, you will be introduced to the concept of scenarios within a cost-benefit analysis.  You will learn about cost-effectiveness analysis projects and how to consider the various costs and benefits involved.


3. Cost-Benefit Perspectives

In this video, you will be introduced to the concept of perspectives within a cost-benefit analysis.  You will learn about the various stakeholders in a project (private firms, the bank, the government, and society), what are their incentives and how do they measure costs and benefits.


4. Cost-Benefit Real vs Nominal

In this video, you will learn how to consider inflation within a Cost-Benefit Analysis. 

 

5. Cost-Benefit Discounting

In this video, you will learn why you discount the future in cost-benefit analysis. Concepts include discount rates, weighted average discount rates, economic opportunity costs of capital, and financial vs. economic discount rates.


6. Cost-Benefit Time Horizons

In this video, you will learn how to treat costs and benefits that have happened in the past (i.e. sunk costs), how to analyze alternatives, and problems with discounting long-term.


7. Cost-Benefit Net Present Value

In this video, you will learn how to apply discounting to determine a project's feasibility.  


8. Cost-Benefit Internal Rate of Return

In this video, you will learn what happens when a project's net present value turns from a positive value to a negative one.


9. Benefit-Cost Ratio and Payback

 In this video, you will learn how to calculate a benefit-cost ratio and the payback period of a project.


10. Cost-Benefit Parameters for a Financial Analysis

In this video, you will learn how to use a spreadsheet to conduct a financial cost-benefit analysis. 

11. Cash Flows for a Financial Analysis

In this video, you will learn how to use a spreadsheet for conducting the net present value of a financial cost-benefit analysis.


12. Conducting an Economic Analysis

In this video, you will learn how to set up an economic analysis using an example of a fisherman buying a boat and setting up a fishing operation.  You will look at a project from the perspective of the fisherman conducting a financial analysis as well as from the perspective of society doing an economic analysis.


13. Sensitivity Analysis

In this video, you will learn how to set up a sensitivity analysis within a cost-benefit analysis.


14. Risk Analysis

In this video, you will learn how to set up a risk analysis within a cost-benefit analysis.  With a risk analysis, one can determine the possibility of a project turning negative.


This series was made possible thanks to the support of the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation and the Marcia Brady Tucker Foundation