ECO.10:4.2 - Follow the responses that can change the answer

Ask how the improvement changes attainable action. Can users buy more of the same service, providers expand output, released funds support other activity, or a previously infeasible use become practical? Do prices, capacity, time, access rules or a resource cap limit these responses? Trace the mechanism before choosing a demand estimate.

Keep resource use within the focal activity separate from consequential use elsewhere. Add effects only within the declared total, avoid counting the same effect twice, and retain uncertainty where the effect is not known. Consider a new model, causal study or measurement only when its result can change the choice, supported conclusion or warranted use, and its attainable value warrants the burden.

For a simple unchanged service with resource use per unit e and volume q, total use is e × q. Compare improved total use with the counterfactual total, not just with last year’s observed value. If per-unit use falls from e0 to e1, the fixed-boundary break-even volume is q0 × e0/e1 when e1 is positive. This is a threshold under the stated assumptions, not a demand forecast. When additional terms matter, compare the full totals instead of extending this simple threshold unchanged.