Environmental Ethics and Cost-Benefit Analysis

Abstract:     
A heated debate has emerged among legal academics over the continued appropriateness of using cost-benefit analysis (CBA) as a decisionmaking tool in federal administrative agencies. Environmentalists and other progressive thinkers argue that regulators should abandon CBA in favor of more holistic procedures. In response, this manuscript provides three original defenses of cost-benefit analysis and hopes to show that CBA advances basic tenets of the environmental movement. Specifically, this Note argues that cost-benefit analysis 1) promotes thoughtful deliberation, 2) protects the dignity of those in contested policy debates, and, 3) improves the standing of environmental groups in the eyes of the public.

Number of Pages in PDF File: 46

Keywords: cost-benefit analysis, environmental law

JEL Classification: K32, K23

Accepted Paper Series