This new edition incorporates revised guidance from H.M Treasury which is designed to promote efficient policy development and resource allocation across government through the use of a thorough, long-term and analytically robust approach to the appraisal and evaluation of public service projects before significant funds are committed. It is the first edition to have been aided by a consultation process in order to ensure the guidance is clearer and more closely tailored to suit the needs of users.
Project economic analysis is a tool used by the Asian Development Bank (ADB) to ensure that ADB operations comply with its Charter. The guidelines in this publication are a revised version of the 1997 edition. The revision responds to the changing development context and ADB operational priorities, and aims to address the recommendations of the ADB Quality-at-Entry Assessments for more methodological work on project economic analysis. The revised guidelines provide general principles for the conduct of project economic analysis, and should be read together with handbooks, technical reports, and other reference materials published by ADB dealing with sector-specific project economic analysis in detail.
In most cases of civil engineering development, a range of alternative schemes meeting project goals are feasible, so some form of evaluation must be carried out to select the most appropriate to take forward. Evaluation criteria usually include the economic, environmental and social contexts of a project as well as the engineering challenges, so engineers must be familiar with the processes and tools used. The second edition of Engineering Project Appraisal equips students with the understanding and analytical tools to carry out effective appraisals of alternative development schemes, using both economic and non-economic criteria. The building blocks of economic appraisal are covered early, leading to techniques such as net present worth, internal rate of return and annual worth. Cost Benefit Analysis is dealt with in detail, together with related methods such as Cost Effectiveness and the Goal Achievement Matrix. The text also details three multi-criteria models which have proved useful in the evaluation of proposals in the transportation, solid waste, energy and water resources fields: the Simple Additive Weighting (SAW) Model, the Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) technique and Concordance Analysis. There is a full discussion dealing with risk and uncertainty in these models. With many worked examples and case studies, Engineering Project Appraisal is an essential text for both undergraduate and postgraduate students on professional civil engineering courses, and it is expected that students on planning and construction management courses will find it a valuable addition to their reading.
The techniques and methods of project appraisal in developing countries have been considerably expanded and refined since they were first introduced in the late 1960s. This up-to-date and authoritative survey volume demonstrates the ways in which cost-benefit analysis has developed in response to changes in economic circumstances and conditions over the past three decades. An international group of academic and professional economists covers areas including problems in the practical application of cost-benefit techniques by international agencies, the treatment of income distribution, discounting, the effects method, the logical framework as a complement to project appraisal, aid tying, risk criteria in decision making, benefit valuation in the water sector, the appraisal of technical assistance projects, privatization in transition economies and shadow pricing in transition economies. Professor Kirkpatrick and Professor Weiss have prepared an insightful overview essay introducing the broad selection of work presented in this volume.
This timely book puts transport cost benefit analysis in a wider, institutional perspective, relating it in particular to decision making. The book will be of interest to practitioners, consultants and academics who are active in the evaluation of transport projects. Erik T. Verhoef, VU University Amsterdam, The Netherlands This is an important piece of work on project evaluation. An attractive feature is the balanced treatment of theory and application. The book provides very useful information on efforts of national governments in various countries to increase the quality of project evaluation studies by formulating guidelines for project evaluation. One of the strong points of the book is that it does not only address technical aspects of project evaluation tools, but also the institutional structures within which decisions are taken. Piet Rietveld, Vrije Universiteit and Tinbergen Institute, Amsterdam, The Netherlands This book revisits traditional evaluation methods, such as cost benefit analysis, to try and find a balance between the ever-increasing demand for transport, the search for sustainable mobility and green transport solutions, and the limited financial resources that governments are able to invest in transport infrastructure projects. In this respect, the effects of transport policy need to be measured and evaluated based on multiple criteria and the need to take into consideration a larger group of stakeholders and investors in transport projects. The book illustrates, methodologically and empirically, why and how the institutional and multi-actor environment impacts upon the analysis, evaluation and decision-making of transport projects in Europe. Including contributions from scholars with considerable expertise in the field, this book will be of great interest to consultants, policymakers and researchers.
Advances in medical, biomedical and health services research have reduced the level of uncertainty in clinical practice. Clinical practice guidelines (CPGs) complement this progress by establishing standards of care backed by strong scientific evidence. CPGs are statements that include recommendations intended to optimize patient care. These statements are informed by a systematic review of evidence and an assessment of the benefits and costs of alternative care options. Clinical Practice Guidelines We Can Trust examines the current state of clinical practice guidelines and how they can be improved to enhance healthcare quality and patient outcomes. Clinical practice guidelines now are ubiquitous in our healthcare system. The Guidelines International Network (GIN) database currently lists more than 3,700 guidelines from 39 countries. Developing guidelines presents a number of challenges including lack of transparent methodological practices, difficulty reconciling conflicting guidelines, and conflicts of interest. Clinical Practice Guidelines We Can Trust explores questions surrounding the quality of CPG development processes and the establishment of standards. It proposes eight standards for developing trustworthy clinical practice guidelines emphasizing transparency; management of conflict of interest ; systematic review-guideline development intersection; establishing evidence foundations for and rating strength of guideline recommendations; articulation of recommendations; external review; and updating. Clinical Practice Guidelines We Can Trust shows how clinical practice guidelines can enhance clinician and patient decision-making by translating complex scientific research findings into recommendations for clinical practice that are relevant to the individual patient encounter, instead of implementing a one size fits all approach to patient care. This book contains information directly related to the work of the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ), as well as various Congressional staff and policymakers. It is a vital resource for medical specialty societies, disease advocacy groups, health professionals, private and international organizations that develop or use clinical practice guidelines, consumers, clinicians, and payers.
