The Costs of Inaction

From AfricaCan End Poverty Tue Jan 22 2013, 16:42:46

Sudhir Anand and co-authors recently published a fascinating book, The Costs of Inaction, which looks at cost-benefit analysis in a different way. All cost-benefit analysis requires the analyst to specify a counterfactual--how the world would have evolved in the absence of the project of program. This is critical. An evaluation in Kenya included increased use of cellphones as an indicator of project success -- neglecting the fact that cellphone use in neighboring villages was just as widespread.

In many cases, the counterfactual could be "doing nothing." For a number of important areas such as health and education in Africa, The Costs of Inaction calculates the costs of doing nothing in terms of lives lost or under-educated children.

They then compare these to the net benefits (benefits minus costs) of various programs, such as school feeding in Rwanda or free male circumcision in Angola. The difference between the net benefits of the program and the costs of doing nothing is what they call "the costs of inaction."

In the book, the programs that are being evaluated are typically government programs. Yet, we know that the delivery of health and education services in Africa suffers from multiple government failures. Teachers in Tanzania are absent 23 percent of the time. When present, they are in class teaching a quarter of the time. In Chad, the share of nonwage health spending that reaches the clinic is one percent. And doctors in Senegal spend a total of 39 minutes a day seeing patients.

[view whole blog post ]
 See More    |     Report Abuse


You might also be interested in the following news stories:

Africa:  Record-Breaking U.S.-Africa Business Summit Yields $2.5 Billion in Deals and Commitments - Fact Sheet (news)
United States Department of State
30 June 2025

From June 22-25, more than 2,700 U.S. and African public and private sector leaders gathered for the 17th U.S.-Africa Business Summit, hosted by the Corporate Council on Africa and the ... [read more]

Afrique Centrale:  Tournoi de l'indépendance d'Angola de karaté - Le Congo termine sur le podium (news)
Les Dépêches de Brazzaville
1 July 2025

Le tournoi de l'indépendance de l'Angola de karaté auquel ont participé les Diables rouges s'est achevé le 30 juin 2025, à Luanda. Ils ont occupé la ... [read more]

Afrique:  CHAN 2024 - Le Maroc disputera son premier match contre l'Angola, le 3 août au stade Nyayo à Nairobi (news)
Libération
30 June 2025

Le Maroc disputera son premier match contre l'Angola, le 3 août au stade Nyayo à Nairobi dans le cadre du Championnat d'Afrique des Nations CAF TotalEnergies (CHAN), prévu du 2 au ... [read more]



blogAfrica is allAfrica.com's platform to help you keep an ear on the African blogosphere. We draw diverse voices from around the world who post regularly and insightfully about African issues. Bloggers, submit your blog's rss-feed!