MULTIATTRIBUTE UTILITY THEORY, MULTIPLE OBJECTIVES AND UNCERTAINTY IN EX ANTE PROJECT EVALUATION

A wide variety of methods have been suggested for ex ante project appraisal. The most logical and complete of these appears to be multiattribute utility theory (MAUT) which provides a formal procedure for handling the difficulties of ex ante evaluation arising from multiple objectives, intangibles, time-sequence effects and uncertainty. MAUT procedures, comprising an extension of subjective expected utility procedures to choice between multi attributed alternatives, are described and applied to an illustrative example.