Development Targets and Costs

This paper presents some analytical techniques to help policymakers gauge the technical and fiscal feasibility of development targets. While each of the techniques discussed below has deficiencies, taken together they have proven very useful in providing a sense of realism to target setting. The paper begins with a review of issues involved in target setting. It then presents three methods for assessing the technical viability of development targets, gradually moving from low data- and skill-intensive to more demanding tools. Next, the paper discusses two broad sets of techniques for estimating the cost and fiscal feasibility of reaching specific targets, as well as a number of issues to be considered when gauging a country’s capacity to implement the related program. The paper ends with some concluding remarks