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LeadAfrik
Advanced · Self-paced2026 Edition

Cost–Benefit Analysis & Project Appraisal

The discipline of deciding whether a public project is worth it. Welfare foundations, shadow pricing, social discounting, valuing the non-market, distributional weighting, and the marginal value of public funds — the analyst's toolkit for appraising spending.

8

Modules

~6h 30m

Reading time

Advanced

Level

Self-paced

Format

§

Syllabus

  1. 01

    Why cost–benefit analysis

    The discipline of comparing across unlike things in common units, what CBA can settle, and where efficiency and distribution part ways.

    ~40 minModule 01
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  2. 02

    Welfare foundations

    Compensating and equivalent variation, Kaldor-Hicks, consumer and producer surplus, and the question of whose welfare counts (standing).

    ~55 minModule 02
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  3. 03

    Shadow prices and market distortions

    When market prices lie: the shadow wage, the shadow exchange rate, and border pricing for traded goods.

    ~50 minModule 03
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  4. 04

    Discounting the future

    The social discount rate, the Ramsey formula, the intergenerational-ethics debate, and why the rate often decides the verdict.

    ~50 minModule 04
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  5. 05

    Valuing the non-market

    The value of a statistical life, travel-cost and hedonic methods, contingent valuation, and benefit transfer when you can't measure directly.

    ~55 minModule 05
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  6. 06

    Risk, uncertainty, and option value

    Expected NPV, sensitivity and switching values, and the option value of waiting under irreversibility.

    ~45 minModule 06
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  7. 07

    Distributional weighting and the MVPF

    Distributional weights, who gains and who pays, and the marginal value of public funds as a unifying welfare metric.

    ~50 minModule 07
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  8. 08

    From appraisal to decision

    The appraisal report, optimism bias and reference-class forecasting, and the ex-post evaluation that closes the loop.

    ~45 minModule 08
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How to use this course

Start with module 01 if the material is new; skip ahead if you have prior exposure. Each module is self-contained but the arc is sequential — the projects in the final module assume the toolkit from modules 1-11. Every module ends with key takeaways and a curated further-reading list with primary sources.