The benefit-cost analysis of disease control programs

When farmers must make economic decisions, three competing goals must be considered: maximization of profit, avoidance of risk, and personal satisfaction. If a decision has a relatively long time-frame, then the time value of costs and of benefits also must be considered. There are a variety of ways to structure the comparison between disease control programs. If disease is endemic, a partial budget analysis is recommended. If, instead, probabilities must be included in the calculations, then the recommendation is to use pay-off table analysis or to draw a decision tree (the latter especially if there are sequences of decisions).