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"On the Role of Preferences and Values in Public Decisions" Social Theory and Practice, Vol. 33, No. 2 (April 2007)
Abstract
According to its proponents, cost-benefit analysis (CBA) is a tool well suited for evaluating public policy proposals, especially those concerning regulations and public investment projects. However, a number of critics have argued against CBA on the grounds that it inappropriately treats people just as consumers. Voting, they claim, is superior as a decision mechanism because it engages people in their role as citizens. A related charge is that CBA is flawed because it bases public policy decisions on mere individual preferences rather than on social values. I argue that though there are genuine problems with CBA, distinctions between consumers and citizens and between individual preferences and social values do not help us properly identify these problems. Further, I maintain that while important differences between CBA and voting exist, they are fewer than some of CBA’s critics suggest. Opponents of CBA must take a different tack in order successfully to impugn either the role that CBA gives to individual preferences or its commitment to expressing these preferences in monetary terms.
Click here for a .pdf of the entire paper (roughly 11,000 words). |