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The Ethics of Intergenerational Risk

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  • Paolo G. Piacquadio

    (Statistics Norway and University of Oslo)

Abstract

This paper re-examines the evaluation of intergenerational allocations in an uncertain world. It axiomatically characterizes a class of criteria that avoid serious drawbacks of expected discounted utilitarianism concerning the choice of the discount factor and the insensitivity to ex-ante and ex-post distributional concerns. The distinctive feature of the proposed criteria is to assess alternatives based on specific information about the evolution of technology, the intensity and timing of resolution of risk, and the scarcity of resources.

Suggested Citation

  • Paolo G. Piacquadio, 2017. "The Ethics of Intergenerational Risk," RIEEM Discussion Paper Series 1701, Research Institute for Environmental Economics and Management, Waseda University.
    • Handle: RePEc:was:dpaper:1701
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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Intergenerational justice; risk; welfare criterion; discounting;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • D63 - Microeconomics - - Welfare Economics - - - Equity, Justice, Inequality, and Other Normative Criteria and Measurement
    • D81 - Microeconomics - - Information, Knowledge, and Uncertainty - - - Criteria for Decision-Making under Risk and Uncertainty
    • H43 - Public Economics - - Publicly Provided Goods - - - Project Evaluation; Social Discount Rate

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