Critical review of benefit estimation and sensitivity and risk Literature

Critical of benefit estimation and sensitivity and risk analysis in relation to road projects - Literature review Example Financial benefits cover only monetary benefits while economic benefits cover both financial and non-financial. Economic benefits are also called social benefits. In general, one can assert that that there are no big issues with regard to monetary benefits estimation. However, estimation of economic benefits can be problematic. Estimation of economic benefits can be described as valuation. A distinct approach to valuation of projects and initiatives is one by Musgrave and Musgrave (1989, p. 137-143). In Musgrave and Musgrave’s approach, the value of projects and initiatives can be assessed based on gross benefits and costs. Based on gross benefits and costs, some of the fundamental measures that can be used to assess the value of a project or initiative can be the present value of net benefits, benefit-cost ratio, and internal rate of return. Other supplementary measures that can be used are measures such as the payback period. Lately, however, the World Bank has been reported to be shying away from these measures and have emphasized instead on the need to focus on objectives, particularly in defining and justifying objectives, and pointing out that a project or initiative is the least cost way of attaining the objectives (McElhinny 2010, p. 1). Nevertheless, economic benefit-cost analysis is still widely used by many countries of Europe (Odgaard et al. 2005, p. 18). Government agencies of the United States still use cost-benefit or benefit-cost analyses (Federal Emergency Management Agency 2006). Project proponents of the Asian Development Bank continue to use cost-benefit analysis to highlight the merit or lack of merit of a proposed project or activity (Infrastructure Professionals Enterprise Private Limited and Tamil Nadu Urban Infrastructure Financial Services Limited 2009, p. 21-27). In the United Kingdom, however, His Majesty’s Treasury (2005, p. 47) expressed a preference for cost effectiveness analysis (CEA) in which the objectives may be qualitative targets vis-a-vis the emphasis of cost-benefit or benefit-cost analysis on monetized values. An approach to appraisal that emphasizes on objectives like the CEA is the 2007 Asian Development Bank interim guidelines for enhancing poverty reduction impact of road construction projects (Kafle 2007). Musgrave and Musgrave (1989, p. 137-143) pointed out that benefits and costs can be real or pecuniary, direct or indirect, tangible or intangible, and inside or outside. Economic benefit assessments consider on real benefits and costs. Further, what differentiates economic from financial valuation is the inclusion of intangibles in the former while the latter consider only items that are tangible or those that have immediate monetary values in the market. The approach of Musgrave and Musgrave (1989) differs in a major way from the perspective of Stiglitz (2000) on economic valuation. Like Stiglitz, Musgrave and Musgrave attempt to assign or provide monetary estimates on intangi bles. However, unlike Stiglitz, Musgrave and Musgrave concede that there intangibles in which assignment or estimation of monetary values are inappropriate (1989, p. 140) and points that the political process can make the decision on the provision of the good or execution of the initiative. In contrast, the perspective of Stiglitz (2000, p. 274) insists that values should be monetized. The Stiglitz framework is clear based on how he defined economic valuation, which is â€Å"developing systematic ways of analyzing costs and benefits when

Community Impact And Practice Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2250 words

Community Impact And Practice - Research Paper Example Reflective practice as a concept has been extensively used as applied to education for a considerable amount of time. Its success in education has seen it being adopted by health workers and other professionals over time. This has played a pivotal role in causing reflective practice to become widely regarded as being one of the key defining features marking competence. There are a number of different Reflective Practice models available and their use and applicability is seen to be largely varied from one organization or writer to the next one (Smith and Roberts, 2011). The different models of reflective practice in use have caused what is understood to be reflective practice to be quite different within a number of different disciplines and intellectual traditions. It is now quite common to find a number of multiple and contradictory understandings of what exactly are reflective practice within the very same discipline. ... In addition to the examination of the assumptions made in everyday practice, Engaging in reflective practice is also seen to generally involve causing the individual practitioner to become self-aware and resort to critically evaluating their very own responses to the practice situations. The main objective of this is to attempt to recapture practice experiences and subsequently mull them over so as to be able to gain relevant new understandings and consequently be in a general position to improve future practice. 1.1.1 Importance of Reflective Practice Reflective practice is generally promoted as being a key element in the general delivery of effective services to the rather diverse populations of children, infants and families. Reflective practice has been touted as improving the engagement with clients as well as aiding practitioners in seeing a number of strengths and differences that they might normally not be able to perceive (cacenter-ecmh.org 2013). It helps individuals access the â€Å"how† of how things are supposed to be done and includes both the unspoken and spoken processes. Reflective practice has been variously described as being the bridge from theory to practice (Hirst, 2005) as it offers processes that aid its various practitioners in taking concepts that they happen to believe and know and effectively apply them to the myriad real-life situations that are normally seen to be fraught with complexity. 1.1.2 Reflective Practice in the Enhancement of CPD and PDP The population changes seen to be affecting most of Europe and the United States that have mainly resulted in an increasingly aging workforce and ever decreasing pool of highly qualified professional talent is seen to be critically affecting the modern day workforce. It is