Definition of "cost-benefit analysis" []

• A methodology to help appraise or assess the case for a project or proposal, by estimating the net cost or benefit of the project of proposal. (noun)
• Any comparison of costs and benefits. (noun)

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• "Professor Alan Dershowitz of Harvard Law School writes that "the simple cost-benefit analysis for employing such non-lethal torture [to extract time-sensitive information from a prisoner] seems overwhelming.""