A day in the life of... a Cost Bene?t Analyst
Our Student Economist journalist, Angela Murray, speaks to Barry
Coleman, a cost bene?t analyst working on the controversial Z11
motorway plans in Dublin this week. Angela takes a sneak peek into
Barry’s line of work.
Q. So Barry, the question that I’m sure is on a lot of the readers’ lips
is, what exactly is cost bene?t analysis?
A. Well Angela, funnily enough, it is something that most people do
every day! But of course on a much smaller scale. For example, in the
case of my daughter Laura attending secondary school, she might feel
she “can’t be bothered” to go to school that day. The cost of her going
to school involves her bothering to get up, get the bus and make the
effort to attend class. The bene?t however is the help, information
and guidance she will receive towards her Leaving Cert. Therefore, the
bene?t out weighs the cost so she goes ahead with school.
Q. Okay that’s quite simple, but erm, how does that apply to your job?
A. Well when the resident TD Richard Bruton was presented with the
idea of the new Z11 route, we had to compare the to bene?t those
who would use it against the cost of building and maintaining it.
Q. Okay, so where do you come into this?
A. My team and I are economists and engineers, and we conduct a
study to estimate the cost and bene?ts of the Z11 to the resident
society.
Q. Sounds quite easy Barry!
A. No, no it’s a tough job! I don’t get paid enough! Haha.. The fact
is, it’s not as if we can go knocking on people’s doors and asking “So
how much would you value this new route?” The people that want it
would overplay the need for it, and the people that don’t want it
would exaggerate the harm and cost it would cause. And as for the
cost, since the motorway will be available to everyone for free, its hard
to judge the value of it!
*By the end of the interview, Angela concluded that the ?ndings of cost-bene?t
analyst are merely rough approximations