Discounting and altruism to future decision-makers

• 成果类型: Article
• 署名作者: Saez-Marti, M; Weibull, JW
• 署名单位: Research Institute of Industrial Economics (IFN); Stockholm School of Economics
• 刊物名称: JOURNAL OF ECONOMIC THEORY
• ISSN/ISSBN: 0022-0531
• DOI: 10.1016/j.jet.2004.06.003
• 发表日期: 2005
• 页码: 254-266
• 关键词: Altruism; discounting; time preferences

摘要

Is discounting of future decision-makers' consumption utilities consistent with pure altruism toward those decision-makers, that is, a concern that they are better off according to their own, likewise forward-looking, preferences? It turns out that the answer is positive for many but not all discount functions used in the economics literature. In particular, hyperbolic discounting of the form used by Phelps and Pollak (Rev. Econ. Studies 35 (1968) 201) and Laibson (Quart. J. Econ. 112 (1997) 443) is consistent with exponential altruism towards future generations. More generally, we establish a one-to-one relationship between discount functions and altruism weight systems, and provide sufficient, as well as necessary, conditions for discount functions to be consistent with pure altruism. (c) 2004 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.