New Benefit-Cost Analysis Course

On September 21-25, CHDS Deputy Director Lisa A. Robinson is teaching a new on-line short course, Benefit-Cost Analysis: Valuing Life and Health. The course is offered by the Harvard Chan School Executive and Continuing Professional Education program. Benefit-cost analysis is a well-established and widely used approach for informing policy decisions and has received significant attention during the COVID-19 crisis. The course will address (1) the underlying conceptual framework, components, and implementation steps; (2) the approaches used to value mortality risk reductions, commonly referred to as the value per statistical life (VSL), including estimates recommended for use in high-, middle-, and low-income settings; and (3) the approaches used to value nonfatal risk reductions, including estimates of willingness to pay, averted costs of illness, and monetized quality-adjusted or disability-adjusted life years (QALYs or DALYs). The course is designed for practitioners, scholars, policymakers, and other stakeholders who want to increase their understanding of benefit-cost analysis and its application to environmental, health, and safety policies globally.

For more information and to register, please visit the course website.

Learn more: Introduction to Benefit-Cost Analysis
Learn more: Benefit-Cost Analysis in Low- and Middle-Income Countries
Learn more: Valuing Health and Longevity