Assessing conceptions of cost-benefit analysis among road safety decision-makers: misunderstandings or disputes?

Abstract

Statements about economic cost-benefit analysis were assessed in a sample of European road safety decision-makers. These statements related to both principles of cost-benefit analysis and implications for applying the method to road safety projects. A procedure of information reference testing was applied, under the assumption of identifying knowledge and possible misconceptions about the method. Homogeneity and ordinal logit analyses indicated that a high sum-score correlated with economist background, while a low sum-score correlated significantly with negative attitudes towards assessing road safety policy by cost-benefit analysis. However, the sum-score from the statements cannot be regarded as an unequivocal measure of knowledge, and the responses may indicate a boundary dispute about economics as scientific knowledge versus economics as a policy tool.