dc.contributor.author | Nyborg, Karine | |
dc.contributor.author | Spangen, Inger | |
dc.date.accessioned | 2012-01-21T19:11:39Z | |
dc.date.available | 2012-01-21T19:11:39Z | |
dc.date.issued | 1997 | |
dc.identifier.issn | 1892-753x | |
dc.identifier.uri | http://hdl.handle.net/11250/180769 | |
dc.description.abstract | In traditional cost-benefit analyses of public projects, every citizen’s willingness to pay for a project is given an equal weight. This is sometimes taken to imply that cost-benefit analysis is a democratic method for making public decisions, as opposed to, for example, political processes involving log-rolling and lobbying from interest groups. Politicians are frequently criticized for not putting enough emphasis on the cost-benefit analyses when making decisions. In this paper we discuss the extent to which using cost-benefit analysis to rank public projects is consistent with Dahl’s (1989) criteria for democratic decision-making. We find several fundamental conflicts, both when cost-benefit analysis is used to provide final answers about projects’ social desirability, and when used only as informational input to a political process. Our conclusions are illustrated using data from interviews with Norwegian politicians.
Keywords: Democracy, cost-benefit analysis | no_NO |
dc.language.iso | eng | no_NO |
dc.publisher | Statistics Norway, Research Department | no_NO |
dc.relation.ispartofseries | Discussion Papers;No. 205 | |
dc.subject | Democracy | no_NO |
dc.subject | Cost-benefit analysis | no_NO |
dc.subject | JEL classification: A13 | no_NO |
dc.subject | JEL classification: D61 | no_NO |
dc.subject | JEL classification: D70 | no_NO |
dc.subject | JEL classification: H43 | no_NO |
dc.title | Cost-benefit analysis and the democratic ideal | no_NO |
dc.type | Working paper | no_NO |
dc.subject.nsi | VDP::Social science: 200::Economics: 210::Economics: 212 | no_NO |
dc.source.pagenumber | 25 s. | no_NO |