cost-benefit analysis – Simon Taylor's Blog

6 Jun 2026

Key finance concepts: Net present value and cost benefit analysis

by Simon Taylor | posted in: Economics, Key finance concepts | 0

A key question in corporate finance is, how should companies decide when to invest the funds at their disposal? The best answer provided by financial economics is to use the net present value (NPV) rule. Here I want to show … Continued

Simon is Management Practice Professor of Finance at Cambridge Judge Business School. From 2008-2018 he was the first Director of the University of Cambridge Master of Finance (MFin) degree, and was later the first Director of the University's Global Executive MBA. An economist and former equities analyst at JPMorgan and Citigroup, he teaches on financial markets and institutions, infrastructure finance and the world financial system. He is a Fellow in Management at St Catharine's College, Cambridge, where he is a member of the investment committee, and a research associate of the Cambridge Energy Policy Research Group, where he specialises in nuclear finance.

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