Ex-ante and ex-post evaluation of agri-environmental policies

A wide variety of different methodologies can be used to evaluate agrienvironmental policies. Both “ex-ante” and “ex-post” evaluations have been used in the policy development process (OECD, 2005a). This chapter focuses on three decision-making aids: cost-benefit analysis, costeffectiveness analysis and multi-criteria analysis. Rational appraisal of agrienvironmental policy requires a comparison of costs and benefits. Benefits may or may not be measured in monetary terms. Where they are not so measured, the relevant methodologies are cost-effectiveness analysis (CEA) and multi-criteria analysis (MCA)1. Where they are measured in monetary terms, the relevant evaluation procedure is cost-benefit analysis (CBA) (Pearce, 2005).