Gollier and Weitzman (2010) show that if future consumption discount rates are uncertain and persistent, the consumption discount rate should decline to its lowest possible value for events in the most distant future. In this paper, I argue that the lowest possible growth rate of consumption per capita in the distant future is zero (assuming that humans do not die out). Substituting in the Rams...

The present study first investigates the asymmetry of speedup - delay (gain and loss) and Sign Effect in Tehran Stock Exchange, then examine the effect of gender on the discount rate and explain it with the loss aversion. The sample is 403 investors in Tehran Stock Exchange, and the nonparametric Tests are used to test the research hypotheses. The research results show that there is an asymmetr...

A mathematical formalism is developed for the existence of unique invariants associated with wide classes of observed discounting behavior. These invariants are ‘exponential discount rate spectra,’ derived from the theory of completely monotone functions. Exponential discounting, the empirically important case of hyperbolic discounting, and so-called sub-additive discounting are each special ca...

Disagreements about the value of the utility discount rate--the rate at which our concern for the welfare of future people declines with their distance from us in time--are at the heart of the debate about the appropriate intensity of climate policy. Seemingly small differences in the discount rate yield very different policy prescriptions, and no consensus "correct" value has been identified. ...

The Policy Research Working Paper Series disseminates the findings of work in progress to encourage the exchange of ideas about development issues. An objective of the series is to get the findings out quickly, even if the presentations are less than fully polished. The papers carry the names of the authors and should be cited accordingly. The findings, interpretations, and conclusions expresse...

Following the Stern review of climate change the numerical choice of the social discount rate has been identified as one of the most crucial determinants of optimal policy recommendations for greenhouse gas mitigation policies. In this paper I point out two closely related contributions to the social discount rate in an uncertain world that have been overlooked in the debate. First, the standar...