ANALYTICAL ROLES
Policy analysis, like life itself, forces us to confront conflicts among competing values.
Often conflicts arise inherently in the substantive question being considered. For example: Should a policy that would yield a great excess of benefits over costs for society as a whole be selected even if it would inflict severe costs on a small group of people? Our answers will depend on the relative weights we give to the values of efficiency (getting the greatest aggregate god from available resources) and equity (fairness In the way it is distributed). These values, along with others, such as the protection of human life and dignity and the promotion of individual choice and responsibility, provide criteria for evaluating specific policy proposals.