Upcoming Professional Development Workshops

All times are U.S. Eastern.
Most workshops are held online via Zoom and will be recorded. Registrants will have access to the recordings for one (1) year.

February 24, 2027
9:30 a.m. - 11:30 a.m. ET and 1:00 p.m. - 3:00 p.m. ET
Online via Zoom

Fees:

• Members: $100
• Low-and middle-income country residents Members: $50
• Student Members: Free
• Nonmembers: $200
• Low-and middle-income country residents Non-Members: $100
• Student Non-Members*: $25

Benefit-Cost Analysis for Beginners

This short course provides an introduction for “beginners” who have not previously had formal instruction in benefit-cost analysis. It is designed to help those who encounter benefit-cost analysis to better understand its purpose and methods as well as those who are curious about how it might be useful in their work. Although some prior exposure to economics would be helpful, the workshop is designed to be accessible to a general audience. Upon completion of the workshop, attendees should have a clear understanding of the purpose, underlying concepts, strengths, and weaknesses of benefit-cost analysis.

The workshop will compare benefit-cost analysis to other analytical approaches commonly employed by policy analysts to put it into perspective. It will also introduce and explain a number of key benefit-cost analysis concepts including standing (whose costs and benefits count), incremental costs and benefits (clear alternatives to current policy), opportunity cost (what we give up to do the alternative), willingness to pay (how much people value the impacts of the alternative), “shadow prices” (monetizing impacts), discounting (taking account of the timing of costs and benefits), and sensitivity analysis (taking account of uncertainty). Several examples of benefit-cost analyses will be discussed to provide illustrations of concepts and facilitate discussion among attendees.

Presenters:

• Glenn C. Blomquist, University of Kentucky
• David L. Weimer, University of Wisconsin–Madison

Learn More

Register Now

Fall 2027
Date & Time TBD
Online via Zoom
Fees:

• Members: $200
• Low-and middle-income country residents Members: $50
• Student Members: Free
• Nonmembers: $325
• Low-and middle-income country residents Non-Members: $100
• Student Non-Members*: $25

Assessing Distribution and Equity 

• Lisa A. Robinson, (organizer), Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health
• Other speakers TBD

Learn More

Registration Coming Soon!

Check back periodically for additional information and offerings. 

Glenn C. Blomquist, University of Kentucky

David L. Weimer, University of Wisconsin–Madison

Aliya Sassi, U.S. Food and Drug Administration (Organizer)

Chris Dockins, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency

Charles Griffiths, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency

Aaron Kearsley, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services 

Elizabeth Quin, U.S. Food and Drug Administration

Jason Price, Industrial Economics

Jason Hockenberry, Yale School of Public Health

Sergey Paltsev, MIT 

Christopher McMinimy, U.S. EPA

Taylor Young, U.S. EPA

Mark Budolfson, University of Texas at Austin

Nicolas Treich, Toulouse School of Economics and INRAE

Monica Saavoss, USDA Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service

Jonathan McFadden, U.S. Department of Agriculture, Economic Research Service

Bob Fischer, Texas State University

Romain Espinosa, National Center for Scientific Research (CNRS)

Elissa Gentry, Arizona State University

Susan Dudley, George Washington University

Caroline Cecot, George Washington University

Cary Coglianese, University of Pennsylvania

Jason Schwartz, NYU School of Law

Jonathan Wiener, Duke University

W. Kip Viscusi, Vanderbilt University