Abstract
Benefit/cost methodologies are well accepted for project analysis from a national perspective. Recent pressure to develop local decisionmaking and local funding for water projects has focused attention on the regional costs and benefits of such development. This paper examines some methodological issues that emerge as one attempts to estimate these regional costs and benefits. Uncritical use of regional economics procedures and concepts such as input-output analysis and value added to measure the primary and secondary impacts of these projects carries the risk of seriously overestimating regional project benefits. The paper concludes that new approaches to regional project analysis must be developed that will reconcile and incorporate regional economics procedures with benefit/cost methodology.
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Hamilton, J.R., Gardner, R.L. Value added and secondary benefits in regional projection evaluation: Irrigation development in the Snake River basin. Ann Reg Sci 20, 1–11 (1986). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01283620
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01283620