PROTECTED VALUES ON PUBLIC WORKS AND THEIR ACCEPTANCE

Abstract

Values which are protected against being trade-offs with other values can make an appropriate judgment regarding public works impossible. The purpose of this study was to examine the nature of such protected values and explore under what kinds of decision making processes people with protected values could accept public works. For this purpose, we conducted a questionnaire survey. The results showed that protected values are associated with unconsequential deontological rules. It was also suggested that people with protected values become more likely to possess a negative attitude towards public works if these public works were accepted according to cost-benefit analysis than when they were accepted according to other methods. Finally, implications of the present results for consensus building regarding public works were discussed.