The standing of foreign lenders in cost-benefit analysis: some implications for environmental appraisals

Abstract

ABSTRACT International loans often finance projects with environmental benefits and costs. Cost–benefit analysis (CBA) is the default tool to determine the societal economic value of investment projects or policies producing environmental externalities. Standing in CBA concerns whose benefits and costs count in the calculation of societal value. Common practice is to grant standing only to nationals of the country hosting the policy or investment project under appraisal. Foreign lenders therefore do not stand. The social opportunity cost (SOC) approach to the social discount rate (SDR) addresses foreign loans. In the SOC approach, the SDR incorporates the opportunity cost of foreign loans associated to a marginal change in government borrowing, while foreign lenders implicitly do not stand. However, the literature has not addressed the treatment of foreign loans in appraisals following the social time preference (STP) method of discounting. This paper argues that CBA appraisals following the STP approach to the SDR would need to model loan cash flows explicitly as the loan itself may be a source of societal gain or loss. It then discusses implications for projects with long-term benefits or costs and with cross-border externalities, epitomising environmental appraisals. A case study of a forest harvesting project is also included.