Abstract
The social interest rate (SIR) is an important parameter in project appraisal in public sector economics. In this article a SIR is derived for the United Kingdom, the United States and Canada on the basis of an individualistic and two-period consumption utility function. The model yields an operational formula the component parameters of which are: a mortality based pure time discount rate; the growth rate of per capita consumption, in real terms; and the elasticity of marginal utility of consumption. The final results are: the United Kingdom 2.6%, the United States 5.3% and Canada 5.4%.

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