ABSTRACT
The two questions of method that may be raised in connection with Guidelines for Project Evaluation (Dasgupta et al., 1972) are not particular to that volume. They arise also in connection with other recent books on project evaluation, for instance, Dasgupta and Pearce (1972), and Little and Mirrlees (1969). But in view of the authoritative nature of this work, the weight it will carry among economic agencies in the Third World, and the respect in which each of the distinguished authors is justly held, it seems to me that these basic differences in method, possibly also in conception, of cost-benefit analysis should be made as explicit as possible. It should be noted that apart from the controversial methodological issues raised in this paper, Guidelines offers a more thorough treatment of cost-benefit techniques applied to poor countries than can be found today in any other volume or monograph. Though perhaps rather less accessible to the intelligent layman than the authors imagine, it is for the most part judiciously written and should be regarded as an essential work of reference for all students interested in project selection for economically backward countries.
