Once More on Intergenerational Discounting in Climate-Change Analysis: Reply to Partha Dasgupta

John Roemer

Environmental & Resource Economics, 2013, vol. 56, issue 1, 148 pages

Abstract: Discounting the utilities of future generations in many problems, such as climate-change analysis, has several justifications, only one of which can be supported by ethics which postulate that every individual, no matter when born, has an equal right to well-being. That justification is that future generations may not exist. In an earlier article published here, I explained this view, and criticized economists who deviate from it: the practical aspect of this deviation is to choose discount rates which are far too high, thus relegating future generations to lower utility than they a priori have a right to. As well, many economists continue to rely upon a utilitarian ethic, a reliance which is independent of the discounting issue, but which I also criticize. Dasgupta responded to my article; the present article is a response to Dasgupta. Copyright Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht 2013

Keywords: Discounting; Climate-change; Utilitarianism; Sustainability; Intergenerational ethics (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2013
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DOI: 10.1007/s10640-013-9694-3

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