Application of cost-benefit analysis to programmes for the prevention of mental handicap

The paper is a discussion of the role of cost-benefit analysis in evaluating programmes for preventing mental handicap. It is divided into three broad sections. In the first section the technique of cost-benefit analysis is defined and the possible variants considered. It is concluded that policies for the prevention of mental handicap are most appropriately analysed using a mixture of monetary and non-monetary measures of outcome. The second section lays down some guidelines for undertaking a study: the importance of specifying alternatives to the policy being analysed; specifying input-output relationships; counting only the appropriate costs and benefits; and discounting costs and benefits which occur in the future. The third section looks at the current state of the art in the UK. It concludes that little cost-benefit analysis has been done in the field of mental handicap, indicates where work could usefully be directed, and highlights information that would have to be available before a cost-benefit study could give useful results.