Problems
Long-term BCRs, such as those involved in climate change, are very sensitive to the discount rate used in the calculation of net present value, and there is often no consensus on the appropriate rate to use.
The handling of non-monetary impacts also present problems. They are usually incorporated by estimating them in monetary terms, using measures such as WTP (willingness to pay), though these are often difficult to assess. Alternative approaches include the UK's New Approach to Appraisal framework.
A further complication with BCRs concerns the precise definitions of benefits and costs. These can vary depending on the funding agency.
Read more about this topic: Benefit-cost Ratio
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—Lawrence Kutner (20th century)
“I conceive that the leading characteristic of the nineteenth century has been the rapid growth of the scientific spirit, the consequent application of scientific methods of investigation to all the problems with which the human mind is occupied, and the correlative rejection of traditional beliefs which have proved their incompetence to bear such investigation.”
—Thomas Henry Huxley (1825–95)
“To be a philosopher is not merely to have subtle thoughts, nor even to found a school, but so to love wisdom as to live according to its dictates a life of simplicity, independence, magnanimity, and trust. It is to solve some of the problems of life, not only theoretically, but practically.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)