Cost-benefit analysis: what practical use can it be to education reform?

Cost-benefit analysis offers standard yardsticks for assessing value-for-money from development investment. But its use in connection with upgrading education systems in developing countries has attracted controversy. It has much to commend it and is widely preferred over other assessment techniques. Yet some critics regard the assumptions it makes as oppressively rigid and are uneasy about practical problems of applying balance-sheet values to situations that have complex human dimensions. Could a modified version of cost-benefit analysis avoid such snags?