he State of Glottamora has $100 million remaining in the budget for the current year.
One alternative is to give Glottamorans a one-time tax rebate. Alternatively, two proposals have been made for state expenditures of these funds.

The first proposal project is to invest in a new power plant, costing $100 million and have an expected useful life of 20 years. Projected benefits accruing from this project are as follows:

years Benefits per year

($ millions)

1-5 $0

6-20 20

The second alternative is to undertake a job retraining program, also costing $100 million and generating the following benefits:

years Benefits per year

($ millions)

1-5 $20

6-10 14

11-20 4

The state Power Department argues that a 5 percent discount factor should be used in evaluating the projects, because that is the government's borrowing rate. The Human Resources Department suggests using a 12 percent rate, because that more nearly equals society's true opportunity rate.

What rate do you believe to be more appropriate?