We investigate the systematic intergenerational discounting of climate policy on basis of the neo-classical benefit-cost analysis. Reference point is the Ramsey-rule which results from optimal growth theory. The agents live infinitely long. This signifies that intergenerational comparisons do...

We analyze the role of "the" utility discount rate and its implications to generation-specific and societal altruism and egoism, respectively, in a neoclassical framework. It is worked out clearly, that two different utility discount rates have to be distinguished: An (inverse)...

Current Office of Management and Budget (OMB) guidelines use the interest rate as a basis for the discount rate, and have nothing to say about an intergenerationally fair discount rate. We derive this discount rate by differentiating a social welfare function with respect to perturbations in...