The Cost-Benefit Analysis for the Validation of Next Generation EU Investments: An Application to the Healthcare Sector

During the last decades, the public investments have very often determined "white elephants" whose initial costs have increased during construction phase and, at the end of project realization, the necessary financial resources for the operation of the investment have not been available. Starting from these bankruptcy initiatives, different technique for an accurate ex ante planning of the investment costs, and for a detailed analysis of the financial sustainability have been implemented. The Cost-Benefit Analysis is the most used tool for the public investments validation as it is able to verify the financial intervention convenience, and it allows an optimal allocation of available resources in order to guarantee the highest return on investment in the reference area. In this research, the Cost-Benefit Analysis potential and limits have been highlighted through a specific case study.