English
This text is a slightly revised version of the opening lecture to the “Journées de l'Association Française de Science Économique” (Rennes, 2004). In keeping with the rules of the exercise, the article provides a broad assessment of the difficulties and usefulness of cost-benefit analysis as a tool for public decision-making today. The author emphasizes the changes in the institutional environment in which public cost-benefit analysis is performed, and the merits of its “software” (foundations) and “hardware” (implementation techniques).
Keywords
- cost-benefit analysis
- income redistribution
- public firms
- asymmetric information
- second-best optimum
- real options
