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The Social Discount Rate

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Author Info
Andrew Caplin
John Leahy

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Abstract

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 analysis has immediate implications for public policy: agents discount the future too much and the government should promote future oriented policies.

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Paper provided by National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc in its series NBER Working Papers with number 7983.

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Date of creation: Oct 2000
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Handle: RePEc:nbr:nberwo:7983

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D60 - Microeconomics - - Welfare Economics - - - General
D90 - Microeconomics - - Intertemporal Choice and Growth - - - General

References listed on IDEAS
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    Other versions:
    • Robert J. Barro & Paul M. Romer, 1991. "Economic Growth," NBER Books, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc, number barr91-1.
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(explanations, Please report citation or reference errors to , or , if you are the registered author of the cited work, log in to your RePEc Author Service profile, click on "citations" and make appropriate adjustments.)

  1. Isabelle Brocas & Juan D. Carrillo, 2005. "The Brain as a Hierarchical Organization," Levine's Bibliography 172782000000000073, UCLA Department of Economics. [Downloadable!]
  2. Isabelle Brocas & Juan D. Carrillo, 2005. "The Brain as a Hierarchical Organization," Levine's Bibliography 784828000000000205, UCLA Department of Economics. [Downloadable!]
  3. Alexander Ludwig & Michael Reiter, 2008. "Sharing Demographic Risk – Who is Afraid of the Baby Bust?," MEA discussion paper series 08166, Mannheim Research Institute for the Economics of Aging (MEA), University of Mannheim. [Downloadable!]
    Other versions:
  4. Claude Montmarquette & Iain Scott, 2007. "Taux d’actualisation pour l’évaluation des investissements publics au Québec," CIRANO Project Reports 2007rp-02, CIRANO. [Downloadable!]
  5. Hanming Fang & Dan Silverman, 2004. "Time-inconsistency and Welfare Program Participation: Evidence from the NLSY," Cowles Foundation Discussion Papers 1465, Cowles Foundation, Yale University. [Downloadable!]
    Other versions:
  6. Jonathan Gruber & Botond Koszegi, 2000. "Is Addiction "Rational"? Theory and Evidence," NBER Working Papers 7507, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  7. Ayse Imrohoroglu & Selahattin Imrohoroglu & Douglas H. Joines, 2000. "Time inconsistent preferences and Social Security," Discussion Paper / Institute for Empirical Macroeconomics 136, Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis. [Downloadable!]
    Other versions:
  8. Brunnermeier, Markus K & Gollier, Christian & Parker, Jonathan A, 2007. "Optimal Beliefs, Asset Prices and the Preference for Skewed Returns," CEPR Discussion Papers 6181, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
    Other versions:
  9. Felipe Zurita, 2004. "La Tasa de Descuento Revisitada," Documentos de Trabajo 261, Instituto de Economía. Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile.. [Downloadable!]
  10. Pivato, Marcus, 2008. "Sustainable preferences via nondiscounted, hyperreal intergenerational welfare functions," MPRA Paper 7461, University Library of Munich, Germany. [Downloadable!]
  11. Nick Davis & Richard Fabling, 2002. "Population Ageing and the Efficiency of Fiscal Policy in New Zealand," Treasury Working Paper Series 02/11, New Zealand Treasury. [Downloadable!]
  12. repec:bep:eapadv:v:5:y:2005:i:1:p:1323-1323 is not listed on IDEAS
  13. Emmanuel Farhi & Ivan Werning, 2005. "Inequality, Social Discounting and Estate Taxation," NBER Working Papers 11408, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  14. Arjan Lejour & Paul Veenendaal & Gerard Verweij & Nico van Leeuwen, 2006. "Worldscan; a model for international economic policy analysis," CPB Documents 111, CPB Netherlands Bureau for Economic Policy Analysis. [Downloadable!]
  15. Fiona Scott Morton & Sharon Oster, 2003. "Behavioral Decision-Making: An Application to the Setting of Magazine Subscription Prices," NBER Working Papers 10120, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  16. Ahmed Anwar, 2007. "The Apple Tree," ESE Discussion Papers 164, Edinburgh School of Economics, University of Edinburgh. [Downloadable!]
  17. Isabelle Brocas & Juan D. Carillo, 2006. "The Brain as a Hierarchical Organization," IEPR Working Papers 06.48, Institute of Economic Policy Research (IEPR). [Downloadable!]
  18. Jay Bhattacharya & Darius Lakdawalla, 2004. "Time-Inconsistency and Welfare," NBER Working Papers 10345, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  19. Markus K. Brunnermeier & Filippos Papakonstantinou & Jonathan A. Parker, 2008. "An Economic Model of the Planning Fallacy," NBER Working Papers 14228, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  20. Christopher Phelan, 2002. "Inequality and fairness," Quarterly Review, Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis, issue Spr. [Downloadable!]
  21. Manuel Amador & Ivan Werning & George-Marios Angeletos, 2003. "Commitment Vs. Flexibility," NBER Working Papers 10151, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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