Toward collaborative cost-inclusive evaluation: Adaptations and transformations for evaluators and economists

As evaluators and economists expand their domains of research, consulting, teaching, and publication, they find themselves needing each other more and yet increasingly at odds. Often surprised at the resistance they encounter from one another, sometimes dismissive of contributions the other can make, all should consider adaptations and transformations of roles, approaches, methods, analyses, and decision-making algorithms that would allow better collaboration. The particularly multidisciplinary area of cost-inclusive evaluation requires (a) changes in approaches and methods used by evaluators and economists, (b) changes that evaluators need to make when working with economists, and (c) changes that economists need to make when working with evaluators. Some of the changes needed are illustrated with examples drawn from proposals and manuscripts for contemporary cost-inclusive evaluations. A key reframing needed is that cost-effectiveness and cost-benefit analyses are “and” rather than “or” activities: cost-inclusive evaluation works best, and perhaps only really works, when evaluators and economists interweave their efforts to support and learn from each other. So may most future endeavors to which multiple disciplines contribute.