O12 - Microeconomic Analyses of Economic DevelopmentReturn

The presented paper aims to point at the broader context of valuation using the methods of risk-adjusted discount rates (RADR) and certainty equivalents (CE), respectively, when dealing with negative risk cash flows. The article discusses different concepts of risk and uncertainty, presents an overview of the research (literature) on risk adjustment and discounting methods applicable on future uncertain cash flows published over the past 50+ years, and also addresses how the methods of certainty equivalents and risk-adjusted discount rates interlink and relate to the concept of utility function. The article concludes with a call for caution and critical view when the universally adopted RADR method is applied in valuation of negative risk cash flows (expenditures).