This is a collection of theoretical papers, including contributions by Partha Dasgupta and three Nobel prize-winning economists: Kenneth Arrow, Amartya Sen, and Joseph Stiglitz. Originally published in 1982.

1: Introduction; 2: A Primer on the Major Issues Relating to the Discount Rate for Evaluating National Energy Options; 3: A Reader's Guide to the Papers in this Volume; 4: The Rate of Discount on Public Investments with Imperfect Capital Markets; Comment; Comment; 5: The Rate of Discount for Benefit-Cost Analysis and the Theory of the Second Best; 6: Risk Measurement of Public Projects; 6a: Comment; 7: Measuring the Social Rate of Return on Private Investment; 8: Resource Depletion, Research and Development, and the Social Rate of Discount; Comment; Comment; Comment; Comment; 9: Approaches to the Choice of Discount Rates for Social Benefit-Cost Analysis; Comment; Comment; Comment; 10: Plant Investment Decision Making in the Electric Power Industry; 10a: Comment; 11: The Social Efficiency of Electric Utility Decision Criteria; 12: The Rate of Discount and the Application of Social Benefit-Cost Analysis in the Context of Energy Policy Decisions