The welfare cost of ignoring the beta

Christian Gollier

No 16007, CEPR Discussion Papers from Centre for Economic Policy Research

Abstract: Because of risk aversion, any sensible investment valuation system should value less projects that contribute more to the aggregate risk, i.e., that have a larger income-elasticity of net benefits. In theory, this is done by adjusting discount rates to consumption betas. But in reality, for various reasons (Arrow-Lind and WACC fallacies, market failures), most public and private institutions and people use a discount rate that is rather insensitive to the risk profile of their investment projects. I show in this paper that the economic consequences of the implied misallocation of capital are dire. To do this, I calibrate a Lucas model in which the investment opportunity set contains a myriad of projects with different expected returns and risk profiles. The welfare loss of using a single discount rate is equivalent to a permanent reduction in consumption that lies somewhere between 15% and 45%, depending upon which familiar discounting system is used. Economists should devote more energy to support a reform of public discounting systems in favor of what has been advocated by the normative interpretation of modern asset pricing theories over the last four decades.

Keywords: Discounting; Investment theory; Asset pricing; Carbon pricing; Arrow-lind theorem; Wacc fallacy; Rare disasters; Capital budgeting (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: G12 H43 Q54 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021-04
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Related works:
Journal Article: The Welfare Cost of Ignoring the Beta (2026)
Working Paper: The welfare cost of ignoring the beta (2026)
Working Paper: The welfare cost of ignoring the beta (2025)
Working Paper: The welfare cost of ignoring the beta (2024)
Working Paper: The Welfare Cost of Ignoring the Beta (2021)
Working Paper: The Welfare Cost of Ignoring the Beta
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