Introduction to cost-benefit analysis - ending world hunger

To introduce the general idea of cost-benfit analysis, I tell my students that I have granted them the ability to end world hunger. All they have to do is choose it over the other option that I will present to them.

Using the interactive whiteboard (although a powerpoint will work just as well) I then give them pictures that represent the following scenarios. They have the ability to choose either one.
- ending world hunger vs the death of ten random people in the world.
- ending world hunger vs the death of ten random people in your country
- ending world hunger vs the death of ten random people in your school
- ending world hunger vs the death of ten random people in your classroom

The usual scenario of course is that most students are perfectly happy to end world hunger for the first two but start to think a bit more for the last two. Although the overall costs vs benefits don’t change, the potential costs start to get a lot closer to home! I also do a fifth scenario where I choose five students and get their photos from the school intranet and say that it is now world hunger vs these five students - more interesting discussion to be had.

I then move from the hypothetical to an actual example - asking whether the government should implement a policy that is guaranteed to save 500 + lives per year. I then show them the solution - banning the use of motor vehicles. Most can see that the costs of this to society will be greater than the benefits but allows you to introduce the idea of the value of human life in your society. Now they are well primed for much more mundane examples like airports and new motorways….