Discounting and Growth

Christian Gollier ()

American Economic Review, 2014, vol. 104, issue 5, 534-37

Abstract: In a growing economy, the discount rate to evaluate a long-term investment is the minimum rate of expected return that compensates for the increased intergenerational inequalities. Because the growth rate is uncertain, there is a precautionary argument in favor of lowering the discount rate. If shocks to growth are persistent, this is a robust argument for using a smaller discount rate for more distant time horizons. If climate damages are positively correlated with future consumption, a risk premium should be added to the climate discount rate, which could have an increasing term structure.

JEL-codes: D61 G12 H43 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2014
Note: DOI: 10.1257/aer.104.5.534
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (15)

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