Which type expresses both costs and benefits in monetary terms?

• A. Cost-minimization analysis
• B. Cost-effectiveness analysis
• C. Cost-benefit analysis
• D. Cost-consequence analysis

Answer: (C)

Expressing both costs and benefits in monetary terms is the defining feature of a cost-benefit analysis. This approach monetizes health and other outcomes so you can directly compare what is spent with what is gained, producing a net benefit (benefits minus costs) or a benefit-cost ratio. With everything in dollars, you can rank interventions on overall value and compare options on a common scale. Other methods look at different endpoints: cost-minimization analysis assumes identical outcomes so only costs matter; cost-effectiveness analysis links costs to outcomes measured in natural units (like cases prevented or lives saved) rather than dollars; cost-consequence analysis presents multiple outcomes without aggregating them into a single monetary metric. In practice, monetizing benefits and costs requires careful valuation, and some benefits are hard to price, which can affect the conclusions.