Benefit-cost analysis (BCA) is typically defined as an implementation of the potential Pareto criterion, which requires inclusion of any impact for which individuals have willingness to pay (WTP). This definition is incompatible with the exclusion of impacts such as rights and distributional concerns, for which individuals do have WTP. I propose a new definition: BCA should include only impacts for which consumer sovereignty should govern. This is because WTP implicitly preserves consumer sovereignty, and is thus only appropriate for ‘sovereignty-warranting’ impacts. I compare the high cost of including non-sovereignty-warranting impacts to the relatively low cost of excluding sovereignty-warranting impacts.

中文翻译：

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什么进，出什么？对收益成本分析的边界进行严格定义

收益成本分析 (BCA) 通常被定义为潜在帕累托标准的实施，该标准需要包括个人愿意支付的任何影响 (WTP)。这个定义与排除个人确实有 WTP 的权利和分配问题等影响是不相容的。我提出了一个新定义：BCA 应仅包括消费者主权应管辖的影响。这是因为 WTP 隐含地保留了消费者主权，因此仅适用于“主权保证”影响。我比较了包含非主权保证影响的高成本与排除主权保证影响的相对较低成本。