Managing large-scale transportation infrastructure projects is difficult due to frequent misinformation about the costs which results in large cost overruns that often threaten the overall project viability. This paper investigates the explanations for cost overruns that are given in the...

Most cost-benefit analyses assume that the estimates of costs and benefits are more or less accurate and unbiased. But what if, in reality, estimates are highly inaccurate and biased? Then the assumption that cost-benefit analysis is a rational way to improve resource allocation would be a...

Private and public mega projects — whether new plant facilities, IT systems, railways, or the Olympics — frequently entail dramatic cost and schedule overruns. Root causes are behavioral biases, such as optimism and deliberate deception, accompanied by principal–agent issues and a lack of...