This article studies an axiomatic approach of inter-temporal utility streams that takes into account evaluations of stream's close future and distant future. A detailed characterization of sets of discount rates systems used to evaluate the close and distant future is presented. This is followed...

We extend the Lucas' 1988 model introducing two classes of agents with heterogeneous skills, discount factors and initial human capital endowments. We consider two regimes according to the planner's political constraints. In the first regime, that we call meritocracy, the planner faces...

We extend the Lucas' 1988 model introducing two classes of agents with heterogeneous skills, discount factors and initial human capital endowments. We consider two regimes according to the planner's political constraints. In the first regime, that we call meritocracy, the planner faces...

This study adresses time-dependent orders that are shown to lead to recursive representations based upon a Max-Min dichotomy and introduces a structure that is naturally based upon time-varying multiple discounts. It is argued that this setup naturally provides an enriched understanding of the...

We show that the interaction between political turnover and corruption significantly affects the inter-temporal optimization problems of governments by inducing a “corruption-temptation tax” in the Euler condition. Governments treat corruption in the same way that rational consumers treat a...