In illustration, Posner weighs the costs and benefits of different outcomes in cases involving detention, interrogation, radical speech and privacy.
That means weighing the costs and benefits of different kinds of capital mobility, and setting policies accordingly.
Education ministers clearly did not think through the real risks, costs, and benefits of different levels of vetting.
Academic research has suggested that when doctors share hard information about the risks and benefits of different treatment options, it can affect patients' decisions.
Despite these complications, many economists have done work modelling the most likely economic costs and benefits of different approaches to dealing with climate change.
However, international development partners can play a key role in supporting universal healthcare in developing countries by supporting research on the costs and benefits of different financing methods.
It is clear that better communication about these issues and the relative benefits of different types of initial training courses is needed.
However, instead of continuing the ideologically charged 'organic versus conventional' debate, we should systematically evaluate the costs and benefits of different management options.
Not surprisingly, a number of analyses of the relative costs and benefits of different forms of power generation have been conducted.
We need to try to quantify the benefits of different government investments, and compare them with the benefits of private consumption and investment.
Nevertheless, estimation of the benefits of different coalitions can be challenging in complex multi-beneficiary systems.
