IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/kap/theord/v63y2007i2p95-120.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Evaluating Time Streams of Income: Discounting What?

Author

Listed:
  • Manel Baucells
  • Rakesh Sarin

Abstract

For decisions whose consequences accrue over time, there are several possible techniques to compute total utility. One is to discount utilities of future consequences at some appropriate rate. The second is to discount per-period certainty equivalents. And the third is to compute net present values (NPVs) of various possible streams and to then apply the utility function to these net present values. We find that the best approach is to first compute NPVs of various possible income streams and then take the utility of such NPVs. We show the drawbacks of other alternative models of evaluating income streams. The article discusses the advantages of the power and logarithmic forms in the modeling of time preference. These are the only forms for which utility of income and utility of consumption are strategically equivalent. Further, these forms permit the flexibility in the choice of a time period (e.g., monthly or quarterly) without modifying the utility function, thus simplifying analysis. Copyright Springer Science+Business Media LLC 2007

Suggested Citation

  • Manel Baucells & Rakesh Sarin, 2007. "Evaluating Time Streams of Income: Discounting What?," Theory and Decision, Springer, vol. 63(2), pages 95-120, September.
    • Handle: RePEc:kap:theord:v:63:y:2007:i:2:p:95-120
    DOI: 10.1007/s11238-007-9045-3
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10.1007/s11238-007-9045-3
    Download Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1007/s11238-007-9045-3?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Peter A. Diamond & Tjalling C. Koopmans & Richard E. Williamson, 1962. "Stationary Utility and Time Preference," Cowles Foundation Discussion Papers 142, Cowles Foundation for Research in Economics, Yale University.
    2. James S. Dyer & Rakesh K. Sarin, 1982. "Relative Risk Aversion," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 28(8), pages 875-886, August.
    3. Manel Baucells & Rakesh K. Sarin, 2007. "Satiation in Discounted Utility," Operations Research, INFORMS, vol. 55(1), pages 170-181, February.
    4. Bell, David E, 1974. "Evaluating time streams of income," Omega, Elsevier, vol. 2(5), pages 691-699, October.
    5. Tjalling C. Koopmans, 1959. "Stationary Ordinal Utility and Impatience," Cowles Foundation Discussion Papers 81, Cowles Foundation for Research in Economics, Yale University.
    6. James E. Smith, 1998. "Evaluating Income Streams: A Decision Analysis Approach," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 44(12-Part-1), pages 1690-1708, December.
    7. Thaler, Richard, 1981. "Some empirical evidence on dynamic inconsistency," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 8(3), pages 201-207.
    8. MOSSIN, Jan, 1968. "Optimal multiperiod portfolio policies," LIDAM Reprints CORE 19, Université catholique de Louvain, Center for Operations Research and Econometrics (CORE).
    9. Christian Gollier, 2004. "The Economics of Risk and Time," MIT Press Books, The MIT Press, edition 1, volume 1, number 0262572249, December.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Grant G. Thompson & Lynn A. Maguire & Tracey J. Regan, 2018. "Evaluation of Two Approaches to Defining Extinction Risk under the U.S. Endangered Species Act," Risk Analysis, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 38(5), pages 1009-1035, May.
    2. Manel Baucells & Samuel E. Bodily, 2024. "The Discount Rate for Investment Analysis Applying Expected Utility," Decision Analysis, INFORMS, vol. 21(2), pages 125-141, June.
    3. Manel Baucells & Emanuele Borgonovo, 2013. "Invariant Probabilistic Sensitivity Analysis," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 59(11), pages 2536-2549, November.
    4. Mohammed Abdellaoui & Olivier l'Haridon & Corina Paraschiv, 2013. "Do Couples Discount Future Consequences Less than Individuals?," Economics Working Paper Archive (University of Rennes & University of Caen) 201320, Center for Research in Economics and Management (CREM), University of Rennes, University of Caen and CNRS.
    5. Pavlo R. Blavatskyy, 2022. "Intertemporal choice as a tradeoff between cumulative payoff and average delay," Journal of Risk and Uncertainty, Springer, vol. 64(1), pages 89-107, February.
    6. David J Johnstone, 2023. "Capital budgeting and Kelly betting," Australian Journal of Management, Australian School of Business, vol. 48(3), pages 625-651, August.
    7. Alexandre Street, 2010. "On the Conditional Value-at-Risk probability-dependent utility function," Theory and Decision, Springer, vol. 68(1), pages 49-68, February.
    8. James E. Smith & Canan Ulu, 2017. "Risk Aversion, Information Acquisition, and Technology Adoption," Operations Research, INFORMS, vol. 65(4), pages 1011-1028, August.
    9. Plischke, Elmar & Borgonovo, Emanuele & Smith, Curtis L., 2013. "Global sensitivity measures from given data," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 226(3), pages 536-550.
    10. Josef Schosser & Markus Grottke, 2013. "Nutzengestützte Unternehmensbewertung: Ein Abriss der jüngeren Literatur," Schmalenbach Journal of Business Research, Springer, vol. 65(4), pages 306-341, June.
    11. Ali Abbas, 2010. "Invariant multiattribute utility functions," Theory and Decision, Springer, vol. 68(1), pages 69-99, February.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Stefania Albanesi & Claudia Olivetti, 2006. "Gender roles and technological progress," 2006 Meeting Papers 411, Society for Economic Dynamics.
    2. Tapan Mitra & Kazuo Nishimura, 2012. "Intertemporal Complementarity and Optimality: A Study of a Two-Dimensional Dynamical System," Springer Books, in: John Stachurski & Alain Venditti & Makoto Yano (ed.), Nonlinear Dynamics in Equilibrium Models, edition 127, chapter 0, pages 195-233, Springer.
    3. Pavlo R. Blavatskyy, 2023. "Intertemporal choice with savoring of yesterday," Theory and Decision, Springer, vol. 94(3), pages 539-554, April.
    4. Barry Sopher & Arnav Sheth, 2006. "A Deeper Look at Hyperbolic Discounting," Theory and Decision, Springer, vol. 60(2), pages 219-255, May.
    5. Koopmans, Tjalling C, 1977. "Concepts of Optimality and Their Uses," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 67(3), pages 261-274, June.
    6. Lucy Gongtao Chen & Daniel Zhuoyu Long & Melvyn Sim, 2015. "On Dynamic Decision Making to Meet Consumption Targets," Operations Research, INFORMS, vol. 63(5), pages 1117-1130, October.
    7. Jean-Paul Chavas, 2004. "On Impatience, Economic Growth and the Environmental Kuznets Curve: A Dynamic Analysis of Resource Management," Environmental & Resource Economics, Springer;European Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, vol. 28(2), pages 123-152, June.
    8. Pavlo R. Blavatskyy, 2022. "Intertemporal choice as a tradeoff between cumulative payoff and average delay," Journal of Risk and Uncertainty, Springer, vol. 64(1), pages 89-107, February.
    9. Selçuk Onay & Ayse Öncüler, 2007. "Intertemporal choice under timing risk: An experimental approach," Journal of Risk and Uncertainty, Springer, vol. 34(2), pages 99-121, April.
    10. Manel Baucells & Rakesh K. Sarin, 2010. "Predicting Utility Under Satiation and Habit Formation," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 56(2), pages 286-301, February.
    11. Robert J. Barro, 1997. "Myopia and Inconsistency in the Neoclassical Growth Model," NBER Working Papers 6317, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    12. Basu, Kaushik & Mitra, Tapan, 2007. "Utilitarianism for infinite utility streams: A new welfare criterion and its axiomatic characterization," Journal of Economic Theory, Elsevier, vol. 133(1), pages 350-373, March.
    13. Ünsal Özdilek, 2021. "Sensing Happiness in Senseless Information," Applied Research in Quality of Life, Springer;International Society for Quality-of-Life Studies, vol. 16(5), pages 2059-2084, October.
    14. Efe A Ok & Yusufcan Masatlioglu, 2003. "A General Theory of Time Preferences," Levine's Bibliography 234936000000000089, UCLA Department of Economics.
    15. Post, Thomas & Gründl, Helmut & Schmit, Joan & Zimmer, Anja, 2008. "The impact of individual investment behavior for retirement welfare: Evidence from the United States and Germany," SFB 649 Discussion Papers 2008-037, Humboldt University Berlin, Collaborative Research Center 649: Economic Risk.
    16. Mohammed Abdellaoui & Han Bleichrodt & Olivier l'Haridon & Corina Paraschiv, 2013. "Is There One Unifying Concept of Utility?An Experimental Comparison of Utility Under Risk and Utility Over Time," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 59(9), pages 2153-2169, September.
    17. Meixing Dai, 2007. "Endogenous Wealth-Depending Time Preference and Fiscal Policy in Open Economy," Economics Bulletin, AccessEcon, vol. 8(7), pages 1-7.
    18. Han Bleichrodt & Umut Keskin & Kirsten I. M. Rohde & Vitalie Spinu & Peter Wakker, 2015. "Discounted Utility and Present Value—A Close Relation," Operations Research, INFORMS, vol. 63(6), pages 1420-1430, December.
    19. Tjalling C. Koopmans, 1966. "Structure of Preference over Time," Cowles Foundation Discussion Papers 206R, Cowles Foundation for Research in Economics, Yale University.
    20. John Creedy & Ross Guest, 2007. "Discounting and the Time Preference Rate: An Introduction," Department of Economics - Working Papers Series 993, The University of Melbourne.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:kap:theord:v:63:y:2007:i:2:p:95-120. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.springer.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.