Claude Henry

Investment projects and natural resources: Economic rationality in Janus' role

Abstract The evaluation of a public project or a public policy is in general based on scientific principles and methods. However, such an evaluation is not simply a logical and computational exercise. There are uncertainties, often severe ones, in the way scientific knowledge is to be used. Hence there are degrees of freedom available to the promoters of the project or policy, and possibly to other parties involved. This paper discusses what use of these degrees of freedom has been made in Western Europe in situations where the conservation of natural resources has been a significant issue at stake. We examine how scientific requirements on one hand, and on the other hand the particular views held by the promoter and by other parties involved, interact and how main features of the methodology of evaluation are influenced by this interaction, which in some cases takes the form of an elaborated negotiation on methodological points.

Public service and competition in the European Union

In recent years, the Treaty of the European Union and the European institutions have had a rapidly increasing impact on the reorganization of commercial public services within the Member States. The trend has been dual—toward liberalization and toward harmonization of standards and national legislations. Progress is reported and analyzed in telecommunications, rail services, and electricity. A general concern is to reconcile legitimate public service obligations with the rules of competition that are prominent in the Treaty. New forms of regulation are tested in various countries preparing for the emergence of a European regulation framework.