COST BENEFIT ANALYSIS MODELS &
USE OF ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE FOR PUBLIC POLICIES

Although cost benefit analysis and other frameworks for rational decision-making are being applied in more and more situations, these tools play too little a role in too many decisions--partly due to the time and funds required to implement good studies, and partly due to rigid adherence to fixed ideas, political power, and irrational emotions.  In addition, when these frameworks are applied the end-products generally omit significant factors or provide questionable estimates--rendering them to the dustbin of history, unless they happen to support positions of powerful proponents.

Researchers have produced thousands of useful studies and dozens of computer models. Yet too often they are not utilized by decision makers.

We have been working with others to use information technology to collect as much relevant information as is feasible, to analyze it rationally, to reconcile differences, and to disseminate it cost effectively in a manner easily understood by as many people as possible.

We have presented below links to software which can begin to address these problems, and some articles discussing software we are developing.  We will soon provide samples of our own software.

Software Model and Data Links

ENVIRONMENTAL ECONOMICS !

Model for Evaluation the Regional and Global Effects of GHG Reduction Policies MERGE
RICE and DICE Models of Economics of Climate Change Readings on Environment
Tellus Institute Software
US Army Corps of Engineers Institute for Water Resources Cost-Effectiveness Incremental Costs Analysis
SMARTe - Sustainable Management Approaches and Revitalization Tools
EPA : National Center for Environmental Economics NCEE : Publication Links : By Subject
The ExternE Externalities of Energy A Project of the European Commission
RETScreen Clean Energy Project International Software & Data .
Netherlands Environmental Assessment Agency FAIR - Download info
COMMEND: Community for Energy Environment and Development
WEAP: Water Evaluation And Planning System
MARKAL – MACRO, Featured Projects, Energy Sciences and Technology Department
Spatial Analysis and Decision Assistance (SADA) Software
CITYgreen Software Evaluation Example
Pacific Southwest Research Station STRATUM - Street Tree Analysis and Management Tool
Vancouver Street Tree Master Plan - Public Survey - Costs and Benefits of Trees
ecoSmart Software
EnergyPlus - U.S. Department of Energy - Building Technologies Program

ENVIRONMENTAL ECONOMICS

Harvard University Kennedy School of Government Economic Modeling of Environment and Trade Policies Links
MIT Integrated Framework: Economics and Anthropogenic Emissions
McKinney Software Group Party Limited
Harvard University Kennedy School of Government Intertemporal General Equilibrium Model of the U.S.
Pacific Northwest National Laboratory PNNL Global Energy Technology Strategy Project (GTSP): Research Programs - Second Generation Model SGM .
Carnegie Mellon University - Center for Integrated Study of the Human Dimension of Global Change HDGC - ICAM
CIESIN - Center for Earth Science International Network - Socio-Economic Data and Applications Center - SEDAC--Model Visualization and Analysis Service - Climate Change Integrated Assessment Modeling
Association of Environmental and Resource Economists AERE - Research Links .
EPEQ-Economic Performance and Environmental Quality Information Base
Landesverband derBaden-Württembergischen Industrie Industry Association of Baden-Württemberg Environmental Technology Guide
EPA Enforcement Economic Models
EPA Enforcement Economic Models Economic Benefit Peer Review
International Society for Ecological Economics Research Guide
Resources for the Future - Research Topic: Cost-Benefit Analysis
Resources for the Future Book - Environmental Life Cycle Assessment of Goods and Services
Resources For the Future - Reducing Emissions from the Electricity Sector - The Costs and Benefits in the Empire State and Nationwide - RFF-DP-05-23.pdf (application/pdf Object)
Resources For the Future - Paper - Modeling Economywide versus Sectoral Climate Policies Using Combined Aggregate-Sectoral Models - RFF-DP-05-08.pdf
California Climate Change Center
International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis IIASA - The GAINS Model for Greenhouse Gases Version 1.0 - Carbon Dioxide
Mitigation Strategies and Costs of Climate Protection The Effects of ETC on the Hybrid Model MIND
Global Trade Analysis Project GTAP
New York State Energy Research & Development Administration NYSERDA-Reducing Emissions from Electric Sector EMEP: Project
Expert Group on Techno-Economic Issues CITEPA
Ecoinvent Life Cycle Inventory database, fully integrated in SimaPro 6 .
Argonne National Laboratory: A Computer-Based Tool for Integrating Environmental Impacts into Decision Making
T.R.E.E.S. Project -- Cost-Benefit Analysis
Tree Benefits Page
NYC Open Accessible Space Information System (OASIS)
i-Tree - Linking Benefits Costs and Management of Urban Trees

ECONOMICS - Cost-Benefit

Spatial Analysis and Decision Assistance (SADA) Software
Spatial Analysis and Decision Assistance Software Cost Benefit
US Army Corps of Engineers Institute for Water Resources Cost-Effectiveness Incremental Costs Analysis
SMARTe - Sustainable Management Approaches and Revitalization Tools
Resources for the Future - Research Topic - Cost-Benefit Analysis
Landfilldesign.com - Research, Design, Interact, and Select Material for Landfills and Landfill Applications
T.R.E.E.S. Project -- Cost-Benefit Analysis
Resources For the Future - Reducing Emissions from the Electricity Sector - The Costs and Benefits in the Empire State and Nationwide - RFF-DP-05-23.pdf (application/pdf Object)

LAND USE, REAL ESTATE, PLANNING, GIS, BROWNFIELDS, SPRAWL

UrbanSim
UNIT 59 - SPATIAL DECISION SUPPORT SYSTEMS
Spatial Analysis and Decision Assistance (SADA) Software.
Maspace Info Page
T.R.E.E.S. Project -- Cost-Benefit Analysis
What if?, a GIS-based planning & support system
Center for Spatially Integrated Social Science (CSISS) .
ESRI - GIS Software
Free GIS mapping program software and resources .
Spatial Decision Support Systems
Federal Remediation Technologies Roundtable | Decision Support (Software) Tools (DST)
MIT Urban Upgrading - Issues and Tools
Center for Rural Studies - CRS - Community Buildout Analysis Download
EPA Brownfields Tools
Triad Resource Center. Triad: A smarter solution to site cleanup
The Brownfields Center
ECRISESOnlineDatabase.pdf (application/pdf Object)
Smart Growth America :
EPA Watershed Academy: Growth and Water Resources
SMARTe - Usage Agreement
Smart Growth Assessment Tool

Real Estate Valuation

RealQuest.com ® - main
Argus Real Estate Valuation Software Realm Argus Software
Stewart.com: section
Case Schiller Weiss CSW
real-info.com
First American Real Estate Solutions :: Products :: Basis100
Business Valuation Resources And More . . .
Marshall & Swift: The Building Cost People
First American Real Estate Solutions :: Industry :: Appraisal

GREEN BUILDINGS

Whole Building Design Guide - WBDG: Building for Enviromental and Economic Sustainability (BEES)
U.S. Department of Energy - DOE Building Technologies Program: Select Cost Analysis Method
U.S. Department of Energy - Rebuild America - Partnership Formation - Life Cycle Cost Calculator
U.S. Department of Energy - Federal Energy Management Program: Life-Cycle Cost Analysis
Whole Building Design Guide WBDG: Tools
ToolBase Services - The Home Building Industry's Technical Information Resource
Costing Green a Comprehensive Database and Building Methodology Cost_of_Green_Full.pdf (application/pdf Object)
The Costs and Financial Benefits of Green Buildings California Sustable Building Task Force via the U.S. Green Building Council - CA_report_GBbenefits.pdf (application/pdf Object)
U.S. Energy State Program
Whole Building Design Guide WBDG/CCB: GSA LEED® Cost Study
BuildingGreen.com
U.S. Department of Energy - Contrasting The Capabilities of Building Energy Performance Simulation Programs_v1.0.pdf
Ecologic3
National Institute of Standards & Technology - NIST - Building & Fire Research Laboratory - Building & Economic Analysis Software
BIDS - Building Intelligent Decision System
U.S. Department of Energy: Building Technologies Program: Buildings Database
Environmental Design and Construction - EDC - Software and Web-based Tools
Environmental Design and Construction - Green Edge Leed Version 10
Report on the Environmental Benefits and Costs of Green Roof Technology for the City of Toronto fullreport103105.pdf
EnergyPlus - U.S. Department of Energy - Building Technologies Program: EnergyPlus

ECONOMICS - Impact I/O

Bureau of Economic Analysis: Regional Economic Accounts RIMS II Regional Input Output Multipliers
Regional Economic Models, Inc.
Minnesota IMPLAN Group, Inc.
Earth Impact Effects Program
Economic Modeling Specialists Inc

ENVIRONMENTAL

Federal Remediation Technologies Roundtable | Decision Support (Software) Tools (DST)
Spatial Analysis and Decision Assistance (SADA) Software
Tellus Institute Software
University of Iowa CGRER Environmental Computer Models NetSurfing: Environmental Information/Topics
What if?, a GIS-based planning & support system
U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Institute for Water Resources Cost-Effectiveness Incremental Costs Analysis
U.S. EPA Office of Pollution Prevention and Toxics: Software
Oak Ridge National Laboratory: Ecological Risk Analysis: Guidance, Tools, and Applications
U.S. EPA Software for Environmental Awareness
United Nations Assessment of contributions to climate change
Global Trade Analysis Project GTAP
Regional Economic Center: GREENWARE: Low Cost Environmental Management Software
OSHA eTools and Electronic Products for Compliance Assistance

STATISTICAL PROGRAMS -- FREE

GAMS Home Page
The G Regression Program
StatLib :: Data, Software and News from the Statistics Community
Software for Agent-Based Computational Economics and CAS (Tesfatsion)

ENERGY

RETScreen Clean Energy Project International Software & Data
Energy Plus U.S. Department of Energy - Building Technologies Program
COMMEND: Community for Energy Environment and Economic Development
MARKAL – MACRO, Featured Projects, Energy Sciences and Technology Department

ECONOMICS - Macroeconomics

FAIR Model Macroeconometrics
Regional Economic Models, Inc.

GENERAL

RiskWorld Software: computer programs for risk assessment and risk management

DATA

DATA - Environmental Economics

Association of Environmental and Resource Economists - AERE - Research
Environmental Valuation Reference Inventory - EVRI
Sportfishing Values Database
University of California at Davis - Department of Agricultural and Resource Economics
World Bank Environmental Economics & Indicators
NOAA - Coastal and Ocean Resource Economics: List of Core Publications, Datasets, and Links
NOAA - Coastal and Ocean Resource Economics: Bibliographies/Benefits Transfer
New South Wales Environment Protection Authority Envalue Study Database
U.S. Army Corps of Engineers96r24.pdf (application/pdf Object)
Coastal Environmental Extension Network Internet Resource Guide
U.S. EPA : National Center for Environmental Economics NCEE : Publications : EPA Datasets
Benefits Transfer and Valuation Databases: Are We Headed in the Right Direction EPA National Center for Environmental Economics and Environment Canade Workshop

DATA Environmental !

Tick Data Futures Forex Stock Index
U.S. Department of Energy - Energy Information Administration - EIA - Official Energy Statistics from the U.S. Government
U.S. Department of Energy - Energy Information Administration - Energy Emissions Data & Environmental Analysis of Energy Data
U.S. Department of Energy - Energy Information Administration (EIA) - Annual Energy Outlook (Early Release)
U.S. Department of Agriculture Economic Research Service Data
World Resources Institute - Publications and multimedia: Datasets
Center for International Earth Science Information Network at Columbia University - The Word Data Center WDC-A Database for Human Interactions in the Environment .
U.S. EPA Information Sources: Databases and Software
Carbon Dioxide Information Analysis Center (CDIAC)
U.S. Department of Commerce National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration - NOAA - National Geophysical Data Center
World Bank New Ideas in Pollution Regulation NIPR: IPPS Industrial Pollution Modeling & Data
U.S. EPA - Envirofacts
Environmentally Related Taxes database ...
Statistical Review of World Energy 2005 - BP Global - Reports and publications .
Environmental Working Group - EWG - Farm Subsidy Database
FADINAP Pesticide and Environment Database
U.S. EPA Cost of Illness Handbook .
NEDI (National Environmental Data Index)
Association of Environmental and Resource Economists

U.S. EPA: Welcome to ECOTOX

DATA - US National

Harvard University Kennedy School of Government
U.S. Department of Commerce - Bureau of Economic Analysis: National Economic Accounts
Federal Reserve Board FRB: Z.1 Release-- Flow of Funds Accounts of the United States, Release Dates
U.S. Internal Revenue Service Tax Statistics - Produced by the Statistics of Income Division and Other Areas
U.S. Census Bureau
U.S. Department of Labor - Bureau of Labor Statistics
U.S. Department of Labor - Bureau of Labor Statistics - Consumer Expenditure Survey
Economic Report of the President
National Bureau of Economic Research Data
National Bureau of Economic Research - Surveys Measuring Well-Being
Economagic: Economic Time Series Page
Economy.com - Economic Analysis, Consulting, Data, and Forecasts
GPO Access Economic Indicators
Federal Reserve Board of Governors Statistics: Releases and Historical Data
St. Louis Fed: Economic Data - FRED®
Free Economic Data | Economic, Financial, and Demographic Data .
FedStats
EconData.Net Home Page
EconStats : Economic Data
Business & Economic DataLinks
Panel Study of Income Dynamics
Energy Information Administration - EIA - Official Energy Statistics from the U.S. Government
Geospatial and Statistical Data Center
University of Maryland, INFORUM EconData
STAT-USA/Internet
U.S. Department of Transportation - Bureau of Transportation Statistics - Research & Innovative Technology Admin.(RITA)
Inter University Consortium for Political and Social Research ICPSR Front Page
Social Science Data on the Internet - University of California San Diego
U.S. Department of Justice - Bureau of Justice Statistics
U.S. Center for Disease Control - National Center for Health Statistics
U.S. Department of Education - National Center for Education Statistics (NCES)
U.S. Department of Agriculture - USDA - National Agricultural Statistics Service - NASS
U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation
Resources for Economists on the Internet RFE U.S. Macro and Regional Data
Economic-Indicators.Com
U.S. White House Economic Statistics
Geospatial and Statistical Data Center
EconData.Net Home Page
Inter University Consortium for Political and Social Research ICPSR Front Page
Free Economic Data | Economic, Financial, and Demographic Data .

Regional

New York Metro

Corcoran.com
New York City Reference - Statistics
New York State Department of Labor - Workforce Industry Data
New York-New Jersey Information Office Home Page
Federal Reserve Bank of New York - Regional Economy
EconData.Net
New York State Census Data, New York Loves Business .
New York State Division of Criminal Justice Services
New York State Education Department - School District Information
Federal Bureau of Investigation
Precinct Crime Statistics
NYC OMB -- Budget Publications
New York City Department of Education
New York City Department of City Planning - Amanda M. Burden, Director
NYC.gov
Newsday.com - Long Island Real Estate for Nassau County and Suffolk County, Homes for Sale, Listings
New York State Traffic Counts.

DATA - International

EconStats : Economic Data
Penn World Table, Center for International Comparisons, University of Pennsylvania
EUROPA - Eurostat
International Monetary Fund - IMF - International Financial Statistics - IFS .
Statistics Directorate:Department
Organization of American States - SICE - Foreign Trade Information System
World Bank Data & Research
World Bank Institute - Governance Indicators
National Bureau of Economic Research - NBER Macrohistory Database
World Bank Development Data & Statistics
Growth data sets
Harvard University - Center for International Development at Harvard University (CID) Data
Global Social Change Research Project
World Tables - Dataset Description Guide
Columbia University - Center for Earth Science Information Network - Socioeconomic Data and Applications Center
Columbia University Center for International Earth Science Information Network - -A for Human Interactions in Environment
Center for International Earth Science Information Network
Economic Growth Data
United Nations Development Program - Human Development Report - HDR - Statistics
Mannheimer Zentrum für Europäische Sozialforschung: Startseite
United Nations Databases and CD-ROMS for UN Information
Yale University - Numeric Data for UN Information
World Bank - Macroeconomics - Datasets
United Nations Cyber School Bus Country at a Glance - Overview
United Nations Statistics Division
United Nations Surveys of Crime Trends and Operation of Justice Systems WCTS
Yale University Library - Social Science Data Archive
University of California San Diego - Social Science Data on the Internet
Council of European Social Science Data Archives CESSDA
U.S. Department of Labor Bureau of Labor Statistics Foreign Labor Statistics
Yale University Library: Database & Article Searching
World Health Organization - WHO - Research tools
World Database of Happiness
Alta Plana: International Economics Gateway
Statistical Data Locators [Nanyang Technological University Library]
B R E A D Bureau for Research in Economic Analysis of Development :: Working Papers
William Davidson Institute
BvD - EIU CountryData
Luxembourg Income Study
NationMaster.com - Where Stats Come Alive!
OANDA, The Currency Site: Foreign Exchange Services and Trading
Groningen Growth and Development Center GGDC Data Series
Globalmetrix.com
BP Global - Reports and publications - Statistical Review of World Energy 2005
Economics and Statistics - ADB.org
Bank for International Settlements - BIS Statistics
EcoWin - Your Economic Window .
World Bank - Social Indicators of Development via CIESIN - Socioeconomic Data and Applications Center

SocioPolitical

Economic Freedom of the World Network
Global Corruption Report 2005
Index of Economic Freedom 2006
U.S. Census Bureau - International Data Base (IDB)
Knowledge Centre Transparency.org - Corruption Surveys and Indexes
Internet Center for Corruption Research
SocioSite Social Science Information at University of Amsterdam

DATA - Financial

MarketWatch: Stock Market, Business and Financial News and Commentary, and Investor Research
Ohio State University Fisher College of Business - Financial Data Finder
St. Louis Fed: Economic Data - FRED®
Free Economic Data | Economic, Financial, and Demographic Data .
Mortgage Bankers Association: Mortgage & Market Data
HSH Associates - Current Mortgage Rates and Today's Loan Information
The OSU Virtual Finance Library
Standardandpoors.com
Standard & Poors - S&P
Bank of England - Statistics
Federal Reserve Board of Governors Statistics: Releases and Historical Data
FDIC: Bank Data & Statistics
Global Financial Data
Bank for International Settlements - BIS Statistics
Center for Research in Security Prices - CRSP
Securities and Exchange Commission - SEC Filings & Forms - Edgar
Economic History Services - What Was the Exchange Rate Then ?


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"Shooting in the Dark-How Computer Software Can Improve The Quality of Government Policies" The Engineering Economist (Spring, 1995)
"Tools for Resolving Community Opposition to Public Projects" Real Estate Review (Winter, 1995)  
Artificial Intelligence and Public Policy Analysis  
A Meta Analysis of Influences Upon Property Values