The latest UK Treasury guidance on appraisal and evaluation in central government raises the status of the elasticity of marginal utility of consumption (e). While estimates of e are sensitive to a measurement approach, a case is made for placing some emphasis on a method based on consumer...

Social discount rates are estimated for six major economies: Australia, France, Germany, Japan, the UK and the USA. A common methodology based on social time preference is employed and the information required is taken from the same OECD database. The main policy implications of applying...

Each of the member countries of the European Union should, ideally, employ the same approach to measuring a discount rate for application in the appraisal of social projects. This, however, is far from the case! The German rate is based on financial market data, the British measure reflects...