Prize in History of Economics

We at Land Economics are delighted to announce that Spencer Banzhaf has won the Best Article in the History of Economics Prize for 2009, presented by the History of Economics Society, for his article “Objective or Multi-Objective? Two Historically Competing Visions for Benefit-Cost Analysis,” published in Land Economics, volume 85, number 1.

David Levy, chair of the Best Article committee at the History of Economics Society, had this to say:

For the past 15 years, the History of Economics Society has awarded a prize for the best article published in the previous year. This year there were over two dozen articles nominated. The committee selected Spencer Banzhaf’s paper on benefit-cost analysis. One member, who described the paper as “fascinating,” wrote a brief summary that nicely catches the contribution: “Banzhaf [studies how] the benefitcost instrument was itself the object of debate; and the outcome of that debate is cast as a reflection of fundamental differences in perceptions regarding the capacity of political institutions to reach socially optimal decisions regarding competing policy goals.”

Daniel W. Bromley

Editor