Lisa Robinson

Lisa A. Robinson’s research and teaching focus on the conduct of benefit-cost analysis, particularly for policies with outcomes that cannot be fully valued using market measures. She has led numerous assessments of the costs, benefits, and other impacts of environmental, health, and safety policies and regulations, developed related methods, and drafted guidance documents. She co-edited the National Academies book, Valuing Health for Regulatory Cost-Effectiveness Analysis, led the creation of benefit-cost analysis guidelines for the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, and developed approaches to estimate the value of mortality risk reductions (the value per statistical life, VSL) for several government agencies and other organizations. She has explored the implications of behavioral economics and happiness research for benefit-cost analysis, investigated approaches for assessing employment impacts, and addressed issues related to estimating the distribution of costs and benefits across advantaged and disadvantaged groups. She applies these methods in high-, middle-, and low-income settings.