In economic assessments, time poses some interesting dilemmas and problems for which no
ready-made answer exists.
The value of money, depreciation
The key element is that an amount of money you have now is worth more than the same
amount next year. Economic evaluation techniques that take money depreciation into account
and adjust for the future value of money (discounting) are available. Health effects need to be
discounted as well if a cost-effectiveness analysis is being done.