Scandinavian Working Papers in Economics
Memorandum,
Oslo University, Department of Economics
No 08/2014: Project Evaluation with Democratic Decision-making: What Does Cost-benefit Analysis Really Measure?
Karine Nyborg ()
Additional contact information
Karine Nyborg: Dept. of Economics, University of Oslo, Postal: Department of Economics, University of Oslo, P.O Box 1095 Blindern, N-0317 Oslo, Norway
Abstract: It is often argued that projects involving public good changes should be chosen on the basis of monetary valuation and cost-benefit analysis (CBA). In democratic project selection processes, however,decision-makers cannot generally interpret CBA as measuring projects’ social welfare effects.The reason is partly that decision-makers’views of the good society differ –that is, they typically do not hold the same social welfare function – and partly because separating efficiency anddistribution is even less straightforward in democratic than in dictatorial decision-making processes.
Keywords: Environmental cost-benefit analysis; ethics; democratic decision-making
19 pages, July 4, 2014
Full text files
memo-08-2014.pdf
Questions (including download problems) about the papers in this series should be directed to Mari Strønstad Øverås ()
Report other problems with accessing this service to Sune Karlsson ().
RePEc:hhs:osloec:2014_008This page generated on 2024-09-13 22:16:46.