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Properties of the Social Discount Rate in a Benthamite Framework with Heterogeneous Degrees of Impatience

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  • Diego Nocetti

    (School of Business, Clarkson University, Potsdam, New York 13699)

  • Elyès Jouini

    (Ceremade, Université Paris-Dauphine, F-75016 Paris, France)

  • Clotilde Napp

    (CNRS, UMR7088, F-75016 Paris, France, and DRM, Université Paris-Dauphine, F-75016 Paris, France)

Abstract

This paper derives the properties of the discount rate that should be applied to a public-sector project when the affected population has heterogeneous degrees of impatience. We show that, for any distribution of discount rates, the social discount rate has the following properties: it decreases over time, it is lower than the average of the discount rates in the population, and it converges to the discount rate of the most patient individual in the economy. These properties hold for both constant and decreasing individual discount rates. Finally, we evaluate how changes in the distribution of individual discount rates affect the social discount rate.

Suggested Citation

  • Diego Nocetti & Elyès Jouini & Clotilde Napp, 2008. "Properties of the Social Discount Rate in a Benthamite Framework with Heterogeneous Degrees of Impatience," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 54(10), pages 1822-1826, October.
    • Handle: RePEc:inm:ormnsc:v:54:y:2008:i:10:p:1822-1826
    DOI: 10.1287/mnsc.1080.0904
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    2. Elyès Jouini & Clotilde Napp, 2009. "Cognitive biases and the representative agent," Working Papers halshs-00488570, HAL.
    3. Mikhail Pakhnin, 2021. "Collective Choice with Heterogeneous Time Preferences," CESifo Working Paper Series 9141, CESifo.
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    5. Elyès Jouini & Clotilde Napp, 2008. "Aggregation of Discount Rates: an Equilibrium Approach," Working Papers halshs-00394035, HAL.
    6. Milo Bianchi & Rose-Anne Dana & Elyès Jouini, 2022. "Shareholder heterogeneity, asymmetric information, and the equilibrium manager," Economic Theory, Springer;Society for the Advancement of Economic Theory (SAET), vol. 73(4), pages 1101-1134, June.
    7. Jouini, Elyès & Napp, Clotilde, 2014. "How to aggregate experts' discount rates: An equilibrium approach," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 36(C), pages 235-243.
    8. Milo Bianchi & Rose-Anne Dana & Elyes Jouini, 2022. "Shareholder heterogeneity, asymmetric information, and the equilibrium manager," Post-Print hal-03693971, HAL.
    9. Elyès Jouini & Clotilde Napp, 2012. "Behavioral biases and the representative agent," Theory and Decision, Springer, vol. 73(1), pages 97-123, July.
    10. de La Bruslerie, Hubert & Pratlong, Florent, 2012. "La valeur psychologique du temps : une synthèse de la littérature," L'Actualité Economique, Société Canadienne de Science Economique, vol. 88(3), pages 361-400, Septembre.
    11. Grechuk, Bogdan & Zabarankin, Michael, 2014. "Risk averse decision making under catastrophic risk," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 239(1), pages 166-176.
    12. repec:dau:papers:123456789/4987 is not listed on IDEAS
    13. Geoffrey Heal & Antony Millner, 2013. "Discounting under Disagreement," NBER Working Papers 18999, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    14. Echazu Luciana & Nocetti Diego & Smith William T., 2012. "A New Look into the Determinants of the Ecological Discount Rate: Disentangling Social Preferences," The B.E. Journal of Economic Analysis & Policy, De Gruyter, vol. 12(1), pages 1-44, April.
    15. Jouini, Elyès & Marin, Jean-Michel & Napp, Clotilde, 2010. "Discounting and divergence of opinion," Journal of Economic Theory, Elsevier, vol. 145(2), pages 830-859, March.
    16. Dorje C. Brody & Lane P. Hughston, 2018. "Social Discounting And The Long Rate Of Interest," Mathematical Finance, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 28(1), pages 306-334, January.
    17. Mareike Schad & Jürgen John, 2012. "Towards a social discount rate for the economic evaluation of health technologies in Germany: an exploratory analysis," The European Journal of Health Economics, Springer;Deutsche Gesellschaft für Gesundheitsökonomie (DGGÖ), vol. 13(2), pages 127-144, April.
    18. repec:dau:papers:123456789/6511 is not listed on IDEAS
    19. Dorje C. Brody & Lane P. Hughston, 2013. "Social Discounting and the Long Rate of Interest," Papers 1306.5145, arXiv.org, revised Sep 2015.

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