Rational benefit assessment for an irrational world: Toward a behavioral transfer test (W. Kip Viscusi, Ted Gayer, Brookings)

Behavioral economists have identified certain biases in decision making that lead people to make decisions that harm themselves, but there is insufficient guidance for estimating benefits in the presence of such behavioral failures. This gap in principles and standards for benefit-cost analysis has led government agencies at times to adopt arbitrary and excessive benefit valuations

http://www.brookings.edu/research/papers/2016/05/19-rational-benefit-assessment-for-an-irrational-world-gayer