Three, mutually inconsistent approaches to social discounting and the cost of public funds have persisted for fifty years. All have distinguished academic support. All present problems of concept and/or application. This leads to a global loss of cost effectiveness in public spending and regulation. This essay reviews the issues and offers a practitioner’s view on what limited but realistic potential there may be for more consistency and better practice.

Spackman, M. (2023). The social discount rate and the cost of public funds: a search for more consistency and better practice. Journal of Environmental Economics and Policy13(2), 228–242. https://doi.org/10.1080/21606544.2023.2236062

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