ASCE will be sunsetting the Civil Engineering Database (CEDB) in the coming months. We encourage you to start using the ASCE Library to perform content searches. In the ASCE Library, you can save your search results as well as receive email content alerts when new content relevant to your area of interest is published. Try it out today at https://ascelibrary.org.

 

Alternatives to the Precommensuration of Costs, Benefits, Risks, and Time

by Yacov Y. Haimes, Univ of Virginia, United States,



Document Type: Proceeding Paper

Part of: The Role of Social and Behavioral Sciences in Water Resources Planning and Management

Abstract:

The thesis advanced in this paper is that benefit-cost analysis, the present-value-of-cost (and benefit) approach, and the expected value of damage as a measure of risk all share a faulty common denominator - the precommensuration of noncommensurable attributes into a single utility function. Alternative approaches are presented that can alleviate some of the harm resulting from current practices of precommensuration. The primary discussion focuses on a particular kind of precommensuration often encountered in the risk assessment process - the precommensuration of extreme events of low frequency and high damage with extreme events of high frequency and low damage. A brief summary is also given of the contributions made by the social and behavioral sciences to the understanding of the normative aspects of risk-its perception, valuation, and judgment.

Subject Headings: Risk management | Water resources | Social factors | Disasters and hazards | Benefit cost ratios | Utilities | Economic factors

Services: Buy this book/Buy this article

 

Return to search