An Economic Perspective

This chapter gives an economic perspective on the assessment of the election programmes by CPB Netherlands Bureau for Economic Policy Analysis (CPB). There are at least two ways for giving such economic perspective. The first way is to consider what body of economic knowledge is used in the assessment and to see whether the use of these economic methods is viable for the purpose of the exercise. In so far as this contribution takes this broad perspective, there is some overlap with the other chapters in this book. Another way is, however, to look at the assessment from a more narrow economic perspective, namely to consider the value of the exercise and to see whether its social benefits exceed the costs. In this chapter I will consider the CPB assessment mainly from the latter perspective, although I will not try to conduct a formal cost-benefit analysis. All-in-all it seems to me that this exercise adds enough value to the process of policy making as to be regarded as valuable. Yet it does not serve the most obvious purpose, namely that it helps the citizens of the Netherlands to decide about their votes.