Here’s a case of a strange hole in the
Dewey listing: cost benefit analysis, which could be financial, economic, or
social. Usually, we think of CBA in the sphere of public projects: this is
where ‘social’ or ‘economic’ prices come in (shadow prices, as they are
called). For private proposals, we would talk of investment analysis,
break-even, and so on. But the general topic of CBA seems to have been missed
in the DDC.
Let’s start with the Index, which gives the
following suggestions for ‘cost-benefit analysis’: 658.1554, and a sub-entry in
‘public administration’, 352.43 (there’s also ‘cost control’, 352.85). The
first number, 658.1554, is of course in the domain of business management, and
is repeated under the index entry ‘cost effectiveness; financial management’
658.1554, ‘cost reduction’ 658.1552, ‘cost-volume-profit analysis’ 658.1554. If
we go to the DDC entry, we find these numbers under 658.15 Financial
management, then 658.155Management of income and expense, which has 658.1552 Cost
analysis and control, 658.1553 Kinds of costs, and 658.1554 Income (Revenue),
with the note “Including break-even analysis, cost-benefit analysis,
cost-volume-profit analysis”. If this is what we are looking for, we’re home
and dry: the very phrase CBA is reproduced here, so it should fit.
But what if we are looking for a more
general, strategic, conceptual sort of slot where the theoretical stuff can be
put? What about extension to all types of costs and returns, not just
financial? If we want to stick with 658 management, we can try in 658.4
Executive management, especially where project management or decision tools are
provided for. A promising heading would be 658.401 Planning, policy making,
control, quality management, but it has general themes like strategic
management, and not CBA specifically. Another entry may be at 658.403 Decision
making and information management, since CBA is, after all, a decision tool for
choosing between options. Again, it doesn’t quite answer: there’s Mathematical
techniques, Systems theory, Operations research, Group decision making, but not
CBA. Perhaps we may have to settle for a generic 658.404 Project management,
but we are actually looking for CBA as a tool of analysis even before choosing
a project alternative, so it doesn’t quite fit.
Let’s look at the other location suggested
in the Index, 352.43 or 352.85. This is not even in Economics, but under
352-354 Specific topics of public administration, 352.4 Financial
administration and budgets. 352.43 is Financial control, including
non-financial managerial accounting, performance auditing, etc. This again is
too narrowly focused, as is 352.85, Price and cost controls. We want something
more generalised, broader, more conceptual and theoretical. We would like to
see such a slot under Economics, rather than in the applied (techniques) parts
of the schedules. According to E.J. Mishan (Cost-Benefit
Analysis, 3rd edition), it is not enough to judge projects
merely by financial profitability because “…what counts as a benefit or a loss
to one part of the economy – to on or more persons or groups – does not
necessarily count as a benefit or a loss to the economy as a whole. And in
cost-benefit analysis we are concerned with the economy as a whole, with the
welfare of a defined society, and not any smaller part of it.”
One hint is that CBA is especially relevant
in the case of public projects, where
costs or benefits (not necessarily financial) accrue to a wide range of
persons, most of whom are not even remotely concerned with the project or its
objectives (bystanders, in a way, who are willy-nilly dragged into the
process). So we may expect to see some slot in parts of Economics like Investment,
Public expenditure or Welfare economics. There is no alternative, then, to
scanning through the entire schedule under Economics to see if there is a
likely slot missed out by the Index.
Starting with 332.6 Investment, we find
these numbers are more narrowly focused on the mechanics of investing finances,
rather than on conceptual treatises on what constitutes costs and returns and
how to compare unlike items accruing to non-identical persons. We do have
332.678 Investment guides, but these are not about different criteria (of which
CBA might be one), but information for different types of investors (private,
individual, institutional etc.), or different types of industry.
This brings us to 336 Public finance, which
really should be the home of CBA and assessment criteria for public projects. Much
of it, however, deals with the actual inflow of funds (Public finance as a
species, not as a subject of study!), then specifically Revenue, Taxes, etc.
The section 336.3 Public debt and expenditure looks promising, especially
336.39 Public expenditure, but this has no subdivisions at all to cater to CBA
as a decision tool.
The next possibility is under 338
Production (economics), where costs and returns should surely be treated in a
general fashion. There are some promising locations: 338.06 Production
efficiency (including cost-output ration, which may be taken as the obverse of B/C
ratio which is another way of expressing the results of CBA); and similar
subclass numbers for ‘Production efficiency’ under different sectors, such as
338.16 under Agriculture, 338.26 Extraction of minerals, 338.3 Other extractive
industries (strangely, no 338.36), 338.45 under Secondary industries and
services (why not 338.46?). This brings us to 338.5 General production
economics, which refers actually to microeconomics (economics of the firm), but
I suppose we could extend it to society as a large firm! We have 338.51 Costs, 338.516
Profits (which is the closest they get to C/B!) 338.52 Prices, 338.521 Price
theories (class here law of supply and demand, theories of value), but no CBA
as a criterion. There doesn’t seem to be any number for the field of Welfare Economics,
unless you count this one in macroeconomics, 339.2 Distribution of income and
wealth, or the Index entry 330.1556 Welfare economics school. There are some
other numbers for economic theory, such as 330.157 Marginal utility school
(neoclassical school, utility theory), 330.16 Theories of wealth, 330.17
Theories of property, but no specific number for theories of value, especially
for “unpriced” values where there are no market transactions (so important for
a social CBA; but see 338.521 cited above, which includes theories of value).
So there are cases where you may not find a
suitable slot; I wonder whether this reflects some underlying ideological bias
in the founders of the DDC! Bottom line: where have CIP (cataloguing-in-publication)
entries slotted CBA books? The Mishan volume I cited above has been put by CIP
(by the Library of Congress) under the business management class 658.1554 Income
(Revenue), which has the note “Including break-even analysis, cost-benefit
analysis, cost-volume-profit analysis”, as already quoted.
Looking over my shelves, I find that I have
put all my books on CBA under 350.1556 Welfare economics school, since most of
them go on to deal with the social costs and benefits (not just the returns to
the investing institution or entity), and these are for the most part treatises
on theory and concept, rather than descriptions of the economy. There is, of
course, another underlying consideration in this, as in all my classification
decisions: it is more useful to group together items on a broad area of
interest, even if some should have strictly gone to some other location.
Especially in a smallish home collection, it may be better to sacrifice a
theoretical precision for the sake of convenience in usage. On the other hand,
where the treatise deals with a particular sector, I have tended to class it
under that subject, with the nearest standard subdivision to approximate the subject
of CBA. Thus, books on forest economics, including those dealing with social
costs and benefits (SCBA, the subject of my PhD) have gone to the location
333.75’0681 Forest lands – Organization and financial management, even though
the exact slot should have provided for economic
or social rather than financial, analysis rather than management. Books on
the financial and business economics of forest management, however, have gone
to 634.92 Forest management (or, if they are heavy on financial management,
such as the classic Forest Planning by
Johnston, Grayson and Bradley, 1967, to 634.92’0681), if they are not much
concerned about social and welfare aspects. I guess I have still to sort out my
ideas on 634.9 (left-brain) versus 333.75 (right-brain) for forestry!
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