Benefit-cost analysis (BCA) is commonly viewed as either a mechanical tool for making decisions or as a failed technique of decision-making that avoids moral, interactive, and ethical components. It is properly neither. Benefit-cost analysis is an art form that can produce useful information...

Two comments in this issue of the Journal address our recent article in Volume 2, Issue 2. The fundamental issue with both comments is that they confuse the financial rate of return with the opportunity cost rate of return and therefore advocate for an inappropriate basis on which to calculate...

In order to be sensible about what discount rate to use one must be clear about its purpose.We suggest that its purpose is to help select those projects that will contribute more net benefits than some other discount rate. This approach, which is after all the foundation for benefit-cost...

This paper argues that the consistent application of benefit-cost analysis (BCA) is likely to enhance the well-being of all. Thus, the justification for its use in policy making lies directly in the Pareto test. The Pareto justification stems from a decision-rule perspective across a portfolio...