Can law and economics stand the purchase of moral satisfaction?
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Published:2002
Richard O. Zerbe, 2002. "Can law and economics stand the purchase of moral satisfaction?", An Introduction to the Law and Economics of Environmental Policy: Issues in Institutional Design, Timothy Swanson
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In recent years there has been a debate over whether or not moral sentiments should be included in normative economic analysis. This paper compares the standard normative criteria for benefit cost analysis, Kaldor-Hicks, that does not include moral sentiments with a modification that does called KHZ. The choice between these criteria should rest on which is the most acceptable and useful. The conclusion is that KHZ dominates KH even by the standards of KH itself and that its use illuminates certain problems in environmental law and economics such as comparing projects with compensation and those without and whether discount rates should be used in evaluating the far future.
