This report estimates the "social rate of time preference" (SRTP) for New Zealand public policy appraisal using a Ramsey equation. It uses the Weitzman (1998) method to derive a declining discount rate schedule of 2% (real) for years 1-30, 1.5% for years 31-100, and 1% for years 101 on. The...

We study all theories of justice that disentangle ethical views on intergenerational discounting and intergenerational inequality. Each “modular” social welfare function is uniquely identified by a time-discounting function—capturing attitudes toward time—and an aggregator function—...

Dynamic consistency is crucial for credible evaluation of intergenerational choice plans that inherently lack commitment. We offer a general characterization for dynamically consistent intergenerational welfare aggregation. The aggregation is characterized by envy-guilt asymmetry in discounting...

This paper addresses the intricate challenge of establishing social discount rates across far-reaching generations, particularly in the face of divergent social viewpoints. We introduce several principles related to Dominant Unanimity, which enable non-dictatorial social discounting, and we...

Discount is the difference between the face value of a bond and its present value. I propose an arbitrage-free dynamic framework for discount models, which provides an alternative to the Heath–Jarrow–Morton framework for forward rates. I derive general consistency conditions for factor...

We demonstrate the social efficiency of investing in high-quality early childhood education using newly collected data from the HighScope Perry Preschool Project. The data analyzed are the longest follow-up of any randomized early childhood education program. Annual observations of participant...

We demonstrate the social efficiency of investing in high-quality early childhood education using newly collected data from the HighScope Perry Preschool Project. The data analyzed are the longest follow-up of any randomized early childhood education program. Annual observations of participant...

The appraisal of public investments is subject to formal guidelines which often require input prices, such as forecasted energy prices. Using Danish guidelines as a case study, we explore the discounting assumptions in these input prices and find rates ranging from 2.97% to 17.5%, markedly...

We demonstrate the social efficiency of investing in high-quality early childhood education using newly collected data from the HighScope Perry Preschool Project. The data analyzed are the longest follow-up of any randomized early childhood education program. Annual observations of participant...

The Ramsey (1928) equation decomposes the real discount rate into the pure rate of time preference plus a term that accounts for the changing marginal utility of consumption. Discussions about the appropriate discount rate to apply in Cost Benefit Analysis sometimes refer to variations induced...

A long-standing challenge for welfare economics is to develop welfare criteria that can be applied to allocations with different population levels. Such a criterion is essential to resolve the optimal population problem, i.e., the tradeoff between population size and the welfare of each person...

Current theories of the discount rate have a theoretical basis focused on risk; risk-free rate and risk premium. The basic component of the discount rate, the risk-free rate as purely empirical has a natural infirmity which consequently weakens the final theory. Similarly, the risk premium...

This paper argues that the price-dividend ratio variability is explained in a large proportion by shocks affecting the subjective distribution of capital gain expectations: sentimental discount rate shocks affecting average beliefs explain at least 30\% and disagreement shocks up to 20\% of the...

This research examines the ability of Earnings less Risk-free Interest Charge (ERIC) to predict stock returns. We find that that earnings, cash flow, and total income are more strongly associated with stock returns than ERIC or residual income. In conclusion, our research suggests that mandatory...

Expected utility of net present value is the practitioner's approach to incorporate risk aversion into the evaluation of a project's cash flows. The discount rate and the convergence with the risk-neutral beta-adjusted approach from finance have always been a question. To fill this gap, we adopt...

I study whether saving behavior reveals socially relevant intertemporal preferences. To this end, I decompose the present generation’s preference for the next into its dynastic and cross-dynastic components in a model of saving. If people are concerned about the next generation as such, then...

We explore intertemporal decision-making in later life by looking at temporal preference heterogeneity among older individuals. Using choice tasks responses from Poland collected as part of the Survey of Health, Ageing, and Retirement in Europe (SHARE), we elicit individual time preferences...

This paper studies the efficiency of the cryptocurrency market by looking at the distribution of bitcoin prices over time and across exchanges-currency pairs. We document persistent differences in relative bitcoin prices (or discounts), with a half-life of 1 day, and a distribution which is...

In welfare theory it is standard to pick the consumption stream that maximizes the welfare of the representative agent. We argue against this position, and show that a benevolent social planner will generally place a greater weight on future consumption than does the representative agent. Our...

This paper investigates the impact of Social Discount Rate (SDR) choice on intergenerational equity issues caused by Public-Private Partnerships (PPPs) projects. Indeed, more PPPs mean more debt being accumulated for future generations leading to a fiscal deficit crisis. The paper draws on how...

The estimated values to society from long-term public projects, including climate change mitigation and infrastructure construction, are highly sensitive to the social discount rate (SDR) employed. Governmental guidance on social discounting has predominantly been based on input from expert...

Most discussions on the social rate of discount have assumed that the economy under consideration is isolated from the rest of the world, and that there are no capital movements. This paper explicitly analyzes the determination of the social rate of discount in a small open developing economy....

We explore intertemporal decision-making in later life by looking at temporal preference heterogeneity among older individuals. Using choice tasks responses from Poland collected as part of the Survey of Health, Ageing, and Retirement in Europe (SHARE), we elicit individual time preferences...

This paper proposes a new discount rate that pension funds can use to discount their future obligations. If the payouts of a pension fund depend on the return of the fund's assets, then neither the risk-free rate nor the expected return is an equitable way to discount future liabilities. Using...

We provide the first estimate of the elasticity of marginal utility of consumption, μ, for Europe and for thirty individual European countries, using the income-tax individual-level data. Specifically, we rely on the absolute equal-sacrifice approach and CRRA utility function to elicit the...

A formula is derived for the social cost of carbon (SCC) that takes account of intragenerational income inequality and its evolution with economic growth. The social discount rate (SDR) should be adjusted to account for intragenerational and intergenerational inequality aversion and for risk...