Saving the World but Saving Too Much? Pure Time Preference and Saving Rates in Integrated Assessment Modelling

* The current version of this paper was prepared with the support of the Australian Department of Climate Change and the Environmental Economics Research Hub at the Australian National University. Earlier versions were submitted to the London School of Economics and Political Science in partial completion of the MSc in Environment and Development, and to the 2009 annual conference of the Australian Agricultural and Resource Economics Society (AARES). The author is extremely grateful to Simon Dietz and the Commonwealth Scholarship Commission for supervision and funding of the MSc, respectively, and to Steve Hatfield-Dodds, Frank Jotzo, Jack Pezzey, Matthew Skellern, Daniel Veryard, and participants in seminars at the AARES conference, the Department of Climate Change and the Reserve Bank of Australia for helpful comments. All remaining errors are the author’s. The views expressed are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of the Australian Government or the Australian Department of Climate Change.