These books are numbers 4 and 5, respectively, in the series
"Studies in the Economic Development of India". The two books are
interesting complements to one another, both being concerned with the
analysis of projects within national plan formulation. However, they
treat different sorts of problems and do so on very different levels.
Marglin's Public Investment Criteria is a short treatise on the problems
of cost-benefit analysis in an Indian type economy, i.e., a mixed
economy in which the government accepts a large planning responsibility.
The book, which is wholely theoretical, explains the many criteria
needed for evaluation of projects. The work is aimed at beginning
students and government officials with some training in economics. It is
a clear and interesting "introduction to the special branch of economics
that concerns itself with systematic analysis of investment alternatives
from the point of view of a government".
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