Socio-Economic Investment and Policy Appraisal

Course Tags: #NoPoverty#ZeroHunger#GoodHealthAndWellbeing#QualityEducation#GenderEquality#CleanWaterAndSanitation#AffordableAndCleanEnergy#DecentWorkAndEconomicGrowth#IndustryInnovationAndInfrastructure#ReducedInequality#SustainableCitiesAndCommunities#ResponsibleConsumptionAndProduction#ClimateAction#LifeBelowWater#LifeOnLand#PeaceAndJusticeStrongInstitutions#PartnershipsToAchieveSDGs

Institution: National and Kapodistrian University of Athens

Professor: Paraskevi Boufounou

Associate Professor: Paraskevi Boufounou

Level: Undergraduate

Course Outline


The course aims to present and familiarize students with the method of Cost Benefit Analysis, to assess the (positive and negative) impacts of development projects and policy measures into social welfare. The course is structured in 3 sections that be implemented in 13-week lectures.
  • In the first section, the criteria of investment decisions are presented together with the development project cycle and the interconnection of development projects to public investment and development policy. In particular, the following is introduced:
  • the basic concepts of investment appraisal from a private economic point of view, ie the concepts of investment, payoff, Present Net Value, investment criteria and financial analysis of an investment, and
  • the concepts of the project, the policy measure and the regulatory intervention of the state. Also the framework of the economic evaluation of a state intervention is presented.
In the second section, the theoretical foundation of the method is presented by extending microeconomic theory to prosperity economics, externalities and public goods with an emphasis on contemporary public policy issues such as the choice between efficiency and social justice and the economic evaluation of the regulatory policy. In the third section the application of the method in assessing the feasibility of the project in terms of national prosperity is presented. Particular emphasis is placed on shadow prices’ estimation, on the concept of social discount rate, on risk analysis and uncertainty and on impact assessment on income distribution and on the environment. Also, the concept of project feasibility in terms of national prosperity is distinguished from the concept of project viability in market conditions, and the role of the private sector in the financing of development projects is examined. At the same time, case-studies will be presented in various fields such as energy, transport, water resources, etc. E-class is used. A mixed evaluation system is applied, comprising of a project/essay assignment accompanied by classroom presentation
Skip to content