its so obvious and yet so deep. never seemed to realize it. cost-benefit analyses assume that the marginal utility from a unit of money is constant and the same for everyone involved in the study. which is kind of restrictive.
you would think a rich guy wouldn't care to earn a dollar and someone else may consider that very important.
and yet counter to this is Edgeworth's argument that a rich guy can enjoy an extra dollar more than a poor guy can. meaning a rich person because he has already satisfied his basic wants, can get more pleasure out of extra money where as someone who really needed that money will maybe not break even with it. so in that case, sensitivity of the rich to additional money is higher than that of the poor.
so, welfare considerations get confused. obviously
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http://www.cbe.csueastbay.edu/~lkahane/6101/Stigler_Utiltiy_JPE_1950%28II%29.pdf
George Stigler on the same topic 60 years ago.
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