The concept of market failure was originally presented by economists as a normative explanation of why the need for government expenditures might arise. Gradually, the concept has taken on the form of a full-scale diagnostic tool frequently employed by policy analysts to determine the exact...

When benefit-cost analysis produces a result that is objectionable does this mean that the technique is objectionable? It means only that the technique cannot rise above the individual and community values on which it rests. That is, values in benefit-cost analysis rest in large measure on law....