Benefit-Cost Analysis of a Controlled Experiment: Treating the Mentally Ill

Burton A. Weisbrod

Journal of Human Resources, 1981, vol. 16, issue 4, 523-548

Abstract: This study is the first benefit-cost analysis of a controlled (random assignment) experiment in the mental health field. It compares, in terms of an unusually wide variety of "tangible" and "intangible" forms of benefits and costs, a traditional hospital-based approach to treating the mentally ill with a nontraditional community-based approach. The study highlights the very different forms taken by the effects of the alternative therapies. Thus it shows how distorted conclusions can result from a failure of benefit-cost analyses to measure benefits and costs comprehensively; a change in form can be mistaken for a change in level of costs or benefits.

Date: 1981
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:uwp:jhriss:v:16:y:1981:i:4:p:523-548

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