Discounting Dollars, Discounting Lives: Intergenerational Distributive Justice and Efficiency / Louis Kaplow.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Kaplow, Louis.

Contributor:

National Bureau of Economic Research.

Series:

Working Paper Series (National Bureau of Economic Research) no. w12239.

NBER working paper series no. w12239

Language:

English

Physical Description:

1 online resource: illustrations (black and white);

Other Title:

Discounting Dollars, Discounting Lives

Place of Publication:

Cambridge, Mass. National Bureau of Economic Research 2006.

Summary:

The view that intergenerational distributive justice and efficiency should be treated separately is familiar, yet controversial. This article elaborates the often-implicit justifications for separate treatment and provides a more express statement of how and when such treatment is appropriate. Substantial attention is devoted to an approach that holds constant the intra- and intergenerational distribution of well-being, which proves to be a valuable analytical device even for intergenerational policies that are not distribution neutral. Also explored are possible interrelationships between intergenerational distributive justice and efficiency, the choice of interest rate for discounting dollars, and how the present approach relates to those that would employ direct social weights to dollars at different points in time.

Notes:

Print version record

May 2006.