The theory of social costs and costing for cost-benefit analysis in a fuzzy-deicsion space

The essay is devoted to developing a comprehensive framework for social costing in benefit-cost analysis. It is thus concerned with the logic of developing a comprehensive cost information in cost-benefit analysis. The concept of cost, its components and their relationship to decision and choice are discussed. The properties of a cost space equipped with a measure are presented leading to the introduction of cost identification matrix as a technique of analysis. From the elements in the cost identification matrix, distributional weights of cost burden are developed through the logic of fuzzy decision and fuzzy mathematical programming. Cost aggregate is computed. An elaborative example of the theory’s application to the problem of mental illness is presented. Appendix A presents the steps of costing.