Application of social discount rate for assessment of public investment projects

The article is aimed to analyse problems of determination of social discount rate (hereafter SDR) used for cost-benefit analysis of public investment projects. The relevance of this problem analysis is determined by both discussions and different viewpoints of scientists on the choice of the most appropriate approach to determine SDR and absence of methodically based SDR on the Lithuania's national level. In this article the critical analysis of SDR determination approaches has been performed and examples of foreign countries' practice in determining SDR have been analysed. References for further researches related to SDR application in assessment of investment projects in Lithuanian public sector are presented. This article seeks to encourage discussions of Lithuanian scientists related to assessment of SDR in the investment projects cost-benefit analysis. The results of this article provide presumptions for further SDR researches aimed to prepare the methodology for determining SDR based on Lithuanian data. (C) 2015 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.