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Article: Benefit-cost analysis.(response to Scott Farrow and Michael Toman, Environment, March 1999)
- Article from:
- Environment
- Article date:
- May 1, 1999
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 1999 Heldref Publications. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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HOW CAN WE DEPOLITICIZE THE USE OF BENEFIT-COST ANALYSIS IN ENVIRONMENTAL DECISIONMAKING?
Scott Farrow and Michael Toman's article in the March issue, "Using Benefit-Cost Analysis to Improve Environmental Regulations," is a helpful overview of the usefulness of this type of analysis in environmental decisionmaking, and I agree with almost everything they say. Benefit-cost analysis can indeed be a useful tool in helping society allocate its resources between environmental protection and other activities as well as among various environmental goals. But it is only one such tool, and its limitations must be acknowledged. For this reason, I also join the authors in ...