Expertise
Cost benefit analysis & impact assessment
Whether making a case for public expenditure, or selecting the best option or policy from a socio-economic viewpoint, standard tools we use for our clients are cost-benefit analysis (CBA) and economic impact assessment.
CEPA specialises in applying cost-benefit analysis in unusual, tricky or challenging situations. We help our clients understand the impact of policy changes, infrastructure development or the introduction of new products or services on the wider economy, and ultimately consumer welfare. The costs and benefits may differ from the ones commonly identified, or require non-standard techniques to quantify or monetise them. We are expert users of the HM Treasury Green Book, the Transport analysis guidance (TAG) and the ENTSO-E Guideline for CBA of grid development projects in the electricity sector. However, we provide most value to you when the book or the standard quantitative tools or frameworks do not tell you the whole answer.
CEPA can apply economic multiplier techniques to estimate the potential economic impact of an intervention on jobs and gross value added (GVA). We can go further to consider the broader economic, social and distributional impacts of schemes for our clients.
Examples of our work assessing the socio-economic benefits, costs and economic impacts include:
- grants to support emissions reduction of private transport in cities;
- night flight regulations at airports;
- a gas storage project;
- a national payment system upgrade;
- infrastructure development;
- the potential distributional effect of time-of-use electricity tariffs on domestic consumers.
We also develop bespoke training courses for our clients to support them to develop their internal capacity to apply CBA and use impact assessment tools.
Cost benefit analysis & impact assessment News & insights
