ABSTRACT
This chapter presents and demonstrates the use of several decision-making metrics that can assist us in evaluating options. Normative choices can arise in two different contexts. In the first context, the authors need simply to choose among options that have been predefined, while in the second authors try to find the optimal choice among all the possible options. Estimating costs is generally easier than estimating benefits, but it is not easy. Two approaches have been developed to estimate these costs: The Survey Approach and The Engineering Approach. The chapter deals with the two most prominent of these— cost-effectiveness analysis and impact analysis. Cost-effectiveness analysis frequently involves an optimization procedure. An optimization procedure, in this context, is merely a systematic method for finding the lowest-cost means of accomplishing the objective. An impact analysis, regardless of whether it focuses on economic impact or environmental impact or both, attempts to quantify the consequences of various actions.
