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La Tasa de Descuento Revisitada

Author

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  • Felipe Zurita

    (Instituto de Economía. Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile.)

Abstract

The choice of an appropriate discount rate is of major importance in cost benefit analysis both, at the private and at the social levels. The theories that rationalize the NPV criterion also identify the appropriate rate. However, the question remains as to what should be done when the environment where the project is under appraisal does not accommodate well to the one described by the theory. This essay puts forward the idea that generally speaking, when there is no obvious rate to pick the NPV criterion lacks normative value.

Suggested Citation

  • Felipe Zurita, 2004. "La Tasa de Descuento Revisitada," Documentos de Trabajo 261, Instituto de Economia. Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile..
  • Handle: RePEc:ioe:doctra:261
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    File URL: https://www.economia.uc.cl/docs/doctra/dt-261.pdf
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Discount rate; NPV; cost-benefit analysis; social discount rate;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • D61 - Microeconomics - - Welfare Economics - - - Allocative Efficiency; Cost-Benefit Analysis
    • G31 - Financial Economics - - Corporate Finance and Governance - - - Capital Budgeting; Fixed Investment and Inventory Studies
    • H43 - Public Economics - - Publicly Provided Goods - - - Project Evaluation; Social Discount Rate

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