This paper describes conditions under which one investment project dominates a second project in terms of net present value, irrespective of the choice of the discount rate. The resulting partial ordering of projects has certain similarities to stochastic dominance. However, the structure of the...

We study the underlying structure of the two-dimensional dynamical system generated by a class of dynamic optimization models, which allow for intertemporal complementarity between adjacent periods, but which preserve the time additively separable framework of Ramsey models. Specifically, we...

A definition of a utilitarian social welfare relation (SWR) for infinite utility streams is proposed. Such a relation is characterized in terms of the Pareto, Anonymity and Partial Unit Comparability Axioms. The merits of the utilitarian SWR, relative to the more restrictive SWR induced by the...

For a class of aggregative optimal growth models, which allow for a non-convex and non-differentiable production technology, this paper examines whether the set of utilitarian maximal programs coincides with the set of weakly maximal programs. It identifies a condition, called the...

We examine whether the Phelps-Koopmans theorem is valid in models with nonconvex production technologies. We show by example that a nonstationary path that converges to a capital stock above the smallest golden rule may indeed be efficient. This finding has the important implication that...

An intriguing problem in stochastic growth theory is as follows: even when the return on investment is arbitrarily high near zero and discounting is arbitrarily mild, long run capital and consumption may be arbitrarily close to zero with probability one. In a convex one-sector model of optimal...

In this paper we re-examine the axiomatic basis of the key result on weighted utilitarian representation of preference orders on finite utility streams. We show that a preference order satisfying the axioms of Minimal Individual Symmetry, Invariance and Strong Pareto need not have a...

This paper investigates the nature of paths in the standard neoclassical aggregative model of economic growth that are maximal according to the Suppes-Sen grading principle. This is accomplished by relating such paths to paths which are utilitarian maximal when an increasing (but not necessarily...

The paper examines the theory of optimal forest management with a view to describing its transition dynamics. In contrast to the literature's emphasis on long-run behavior of optimally managed forests, we focus on the nature of the optimal policy function, which describes the harvesting and...

The paper examines the problem of aggregating infinite utility streams with a social welfare function which respects the Anonymity and Weak Pareto Axioms. It provides a complete characterization of domains (of the one period utilities) on which such an aggregation is possible. A social welfare...