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Intergenerational equity and the discount rate for policy analysis

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  • MERTENS, Jean-François
  • RUBINCHIK, Anna

Abstract

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. Office of Management and Budget. To prove this, we develop a simple tool to evaluate small policy changes affecting several generations, by reducing the dynamic problem to a static one. A necessary condition is time invariance, which is satisfied by any common solution concept in an overlapping-generations model with exogenous growth. This tool is applied to derive the discount rate for cost-benefit analysis under two different utilitarian welfare functions: classical and relative. It is only with relative utilitarianism, and assuming time-invariance of the set of alternatives (policies), that the discount rate is well defined for a heterogeneous society at a balanced growth equilibrium, is corroborated by an independent principle equating values of human lives, and equals the growth rate of real per-capita income.
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  • MERTENS, Jean-François & RUBINCHIK, Anna, 2012. "Intergenerational equity and the discount rate for policy analysis," LIDAM Reprints CORE 2438, Université catholique de Louvain, Center for Operations Research and Econometrics (CORE).
  • Handle: RePEc:cor:louvrp:2438
    DOI: 10.1017/S1365100510000386
    Note: In : Macroeconomics Dynamics, 16(1), 61-93, 2012
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    1. Jean-François Mertens & Anna Rubinchik, 2017. "Discounting and welfare evaluation of policies," Journal of Public Economic Theory, Association for Public Economic Theory, vol. 19(5), pages 903-920, October.
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    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • D31 - Microeconomics - - Distribution - - - Personal Income and Wealth Distribution
    • D61 - Microeconomics - - Welfare Economics - - - Allocative Efficiency; Cost-Benefit Analysis
    • D63 - Microeconomics - - Welfare Economics - - - Equity, Justice, Inequality, and Other Normative Criteria and Measurement
    • E60 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Macroeconomic Policy, Macroeconomic Aspects of Public Finance, and General Outlook - - - General
    • H43 - Public Economics - - Publicly Provided Goods - - - Project Evaluation; Social Discount Rate

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