Who has standing in cost‐benefit analysis?

The issues involved in deciding whose preferences are to be counted in cost‐benefit analysis are often misunderstood or controversial. This paper attempts to resolve the issues in a number of particular cases by looking to the fundamental value assumptions underlying cost‐benefit analysis. Cost‐benefit analysis is useful only to the extent that there exists a general consensus that the value assumptions are legitimate. Certain implications of the value assumptions prove useful in deciding what preferences have standing.