From Commission to Decision : Perspectives on CBA in transport planning

Abstract: Economic analysis is often employed for the purpose of efficient decision-making and allocation of societies’ resources and has been utilized in the Swedish national infrastructure planning since the 1960’s. The topic of this report is the utilisation of CBA in investigating the benefits and costs of transport investments in Sweden and its consequent role as a decision basis. It is the study of various actors’ perspectives on CBA itself, and not least its role within Swedish transport-planning. On the one hand the study concerns the actors interpretation of the current practice, on the other; their perspectives of how CBA ideally should be utilized. The purpose of the study is to be able to, by combining existing ideas, insights and competences in ways which can bridge the diverse perspectives, increase awareness concerning the utilisation and role of CBA in Swedish transport planning. The goal is not to argue against the use of CBA as a method or decision basis, nor to study the technicalities of the method, but rather, it is an attempt to make sense of CBA through the interpretation of various actors’ perspectives from commission to decision. Two main research questions are put forth to lead towards this purpose: First, how does the understanding of CBA vary among actors? And secondly, how can CBA be utilised to its full potential in transport planning?