Allocating Scarce Resources — Tools for Priority Setting

Given the number of priority setting tools available, which should decision-makers use and when? The choice depends critically on the nature of the decision problem. In particular, the decision-maker needs to be clear on what is to be maximized (e.g. health or welfare more generally), whether there is a budget constraint and whether any other factors (e.g. equity) need to be considered. This chapter summarizes the key strengths and limitations of commonly applied priority setting tools with a particular focus on how they differ in terms of the elements of benefit considered, how these are valued or combined, the extent to which budgetary constraints are recognized and the implicit or explicit criteria used to make a decision on adoption of the programmes being evaluated.