10. The computer program product of claim 9 , wherein the computer readable program code configured to select the preferred access path from the plurality of access paths based on the total execution costs for each given access path is further configured to: select the given critical access path with a highest total benefit as the preferred access path for the query statement.
10. The computer program product of claim 9 , wherein the computer readable program code configured to select the preferred access path from the plurality of access paths based on the total execution costs for each given access path is further configured to: select the given critical access path with a highest total benefit as the preferred access path for the query statement. 11. The computer program product of claim 10 , wherein the computer readable program code configured to select the given critical access path with a highest total benefit as the preferred access path for the query statement is further configured to: for each given critical access path, determine whether the total benefit for the given critical access path exceeds a pre-defined threshold; for each given critical access path, in response to determining that the total benefit for the given critical access path does not exceed the pre-defined threshold, discard the given critical access path; and select, from the non-discarded given critical access paths, the given critical access path with the highest total benefit as the preferred access path for the query statement.