By the end of the course, participants should be
- familiar with the applicability of economic evaluation for social decision making
- familiar with main methods used in different types of economic appraisal
- able to critically assess analyses that are used as an aid in public decision making
- able to carry out standard cost-benefit or cost-effectiveness analyses.

The course gives an analytical viewpoint to the evaluation of multidisciplinary issues. It covers a range of economic approaches that can be described as cost-benefit or cost-effectiveness analyses, which are broadly used in assessing the social value of all kinds of public projects and policies. Such methods are commonly used in the health care sector, but the course surveys also other fields of application, such as social care, education, fire safety, traffic planning, etc. The need for economic appraisal is constantly increasing in all fields, and capability to conduct such analyses is a valuable asset for all whose work touches on social planning.

The course starts with an overview of the theory underlying economic evaluation, and presents some representative applications of the framework. Then, the course digs deeper into the practical applicability of the methods in various exemplary fields. In particular, the methodological and data-dependent pitfalls of the applications are discussed, and the examples are illustrated by computer aided exercises. The final part of the course shows how to generate cost-effectiveness information for using them in practical decision making (including applications in mass screening in public health, school dropout, etc.). 

The coursework is evaluated upon 
•    active participation in lectures 
•    completion of a given exercise task (individually or in small-groups) 
•    a written learning diary. 

This course is targeted for all doctoral researchers who find economic assessment of public policies relevant to their doctoral studies. Advanced graduate students are secondarily eligible to the course within the teaching group limits (about 30 students).