INVESTING IN SCIENCE SOCIAL COST-BENEFIT ANALYSIS OF RESEARCH INFRASTRUCTURES

A proposal for using cost-benefit analysis to evaluate the socioeconomic impact of public investment in large scientific projects.

Large particle accelerators, outer space probes, genomics platforms: all are scientific enterprises managed through the new form of the research infrastructure, in which communities of scientists collaborate across nations, universities, research institutions, and disciplines. Such large projects are often publicly funded, with no accepted way to measure the benefits to society of these investments. In this book, Massimo Florio suggests the use of cost-benefit analysis (CBA) to evaluate the socioeconomic impact of public investment in large and costly scientific projects.