The social discount rate and the cost of public funds: a search for more consistency and better practice

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.