ABSTRACT
T h o s e who urge the use of cost-benefit analysis (CBA) in public decision making would have us use our limited resources intelligently and efficiently. It will be the argument of this paper, however, that CBA’s underlying normative standard of choice makes no room for intelligent deliberation about how best to use our resources. Hence, I will urge, CBA, taken seriously, defeats its own aims. The model of public choice that CBA holds out is, I will argue, a stupid one.
