Application of Analytic Network Process (ANP) Methodology for Public Funding Decisions: Case Study of Latvia Education Sector

Abstract:

The development of access to public funding in today's economy creates new challenges in the decision-making process, as it is necessary not only to assess the validity and return of an investment, but actually to evaluate its intangible impact on benefits of society in the future. The non-monetary indicators used for decision-making, which are often mutually unrelated, form datasets whose management efficiency has a direct impact both on taxpayers and the development of public capital.

To ensure an efficient decision-making process, aim of the studies was to find solutions for combination of non-monetary benefits and sets of criteria into a single decision-making system which allows to determine the projects with the highest potential public benefits, and then, applying cost-benefit analysis, to develop a strategy for allocating public funding. The ANP methodology was used within the framework of the study to develop a criteria system to obtain multi-criteria evaluation results, and economic analysis of data to assess the validity of actual investments against this multi-criteria matrix. SuperDecisions digital solutions were used within the study framework, thus allowing not only for quick processing of the study data arrays, but also for creation of preconditions to apply the matrix in other decision-making processes related to the public funding.