ABSTRACT
Determination of the federal government’s discount rate policy is one of the most basic economic policy choices. In principle, few choices have as potentially impor tant downstream impacts, yet few choices-particularly in the microeconomic area — have been as controversial and unresolved. The goal of this paper is to take an objective look at the discount rate policies of the three federal oversight and budget agencies-the Office of Management and Budget (OMB), the General Accounting Office (GAO), and the Congressional Budget Office (CBO)— and to discuss the economic issues that challenge the reform of these policies. In doing so the paper aims to suggest a series of issues deserving consideration from both researchers interested in policy and policymakers interested in principled economic analysis.
