SOCIAL DISCOUNT RATES FOR SIX TRANSITION COUNTRIES

The key role of public sector investments in economic transformations makes the choice of social discount rate especially crucial for transition countries. The aim of this study is to estimate the social discount rates of six transition economies – Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Poland and Slovak Republic – by using two different approaches. We observe that the estimates produced by tax approach are concentrated in a band between 3.3% (Hungary) and 6.91% (Estonia). In comparison with tax approach estimations, the social discount rates obtained by food demand approach are lower for all selected countries: the lowest value is 1.94% (Czech Republic) and the highest is 3.5% (Latvia).