Global environmental issues - like biodiversity conservation or climate change - are in reality long term issues that are not properly taken into account with traditional models that incorporate the impatience axiom manifested in fixed discount factors and in the use of present discounted...

This paper reviews recent research on the aggregation of heterogeneous time preferences. Main results are illustrated in simple Ramsey models with two or three agents who differ in their discount factors. We employ an intertemporal view on these models and argue that preferences of a decision...

It is often contended that there is a sharp conflict between the economist's and the ecologist's approach to the question of sustainability. This paper takes the opposite view. The paper attempts to show that both views can be formulated in a common analytical framework and that carried to its...