This paper studies the design of the optimal linear taxation of bequests when individuals differ in wage as well as in their risks of both mortality and old-age dependence. We assume that the government cannot distinguish between bequests motives, that is whether bequests resulted from...

This paper studies the design of an optimal non linear inheritance taxation when individuals differ in wage as well as in their risks of both mortality and old-age dependance. We assume that the government cannot distinguish between bequests motives, that is whether bequests result from...

In this paper I offer a fairly complete account of the idea of social discount rates as applied to public policy analysis. I show that those rates are neither ethical primitives nor observables as market rates of return on investment, but that they ought instead to be derived from economic...

A resolution is offered to Koopmans’ (1965, 1967a) "paradox of the indefinitely postponed splurge"-i.e. the incompatibility of undiscounted utilitarianism and population weighting in the context of the infinite-horizon neoclassical growth model with exponential population growth. The...

The paper sketches an argument for a classical liberal view of the "natural rights" of life, liberty, property and the pursuit of happiness, albeit one based in a semi-"rule-utilitarian" approach, where the defense is based in a "hypothetical imperative" and circumscribed by what social science...

For two independent principles of intergenerational equity, the implied discount rate equals the growth rate of real per-capital income, say 2%, thus falling right into the range suggested by the U.S. Office of Management and Budget. To prove this, we develop a simple tool to evaluate small...

Current Office of Management and Budget (OMB) guidelines use the interest rate as a basis for the discount rate, and have nothing to say about an intergenerationally fair discount rate. We derive this discount rate by differentiating a social welfare function with respect to perturbations in...

For two independent principles of intergenerational equity, the implied discount rate equals the growth rate of real per-capita income, say 2%, thus falling right into the range suggested by the U.S. Offce of Management and Budget. To prove this, we develop a simple tool to evaluate small policy...

In an exogenous-growth economy with overlapping generations (OG) we analyse local stability of the balanced growth equilibria with respect to perturbations of consumption endowments, thought of as the "monetised" value of a government policy to individuals. We show that perturbed economies have...