Evidence that individuals have dynamically consistent preferences is usually generated by studying the discount rates of the individual over different horizons, but where those rates are elicited at a single point in time. If these elicited discount rates vary by horizon the individual is typically claimed to have preferences that imply a dynamic inconsistency, although this inference requires ...

If policy discounting is to have any welfare relevance, it must be a derivative of a social welfare function. If that derivative is to have a net present value (npv) form, the baseline allocation must be stationary. Given a stationary baseline in an overlapping generations growth economy the inter-generationally fair discount rate under the relative utilitarian welfare function equals the growt...

Abstract Social discount rates (SDRs) are crucial for evaluating the costs of climate change. We show that fundamental anchor market-based SDRs is equilibrium or steady-state real interest rate. Empirical rate models allow shifts in this find it has declined notably since 1990s, and decline implies entire term structure shifted lower as well. Accounting new normal persistently substantially boo...

We thank the editor and an anonymous referee. Any errors are our own. Abstract Using the WACC to Value Real Options We present a real option valuation using the weighted average cost of capital (WACC). This is an alternative to risk-neutral real option valuation. Using the WACC involves a marginal increase in mathematical complexity, but it is easy to implement in a spreadsheet, and it is easy ...

In a continuous time stochastic economy, this paper considers the problem of consumption and investment in a financial market in which the representative investor exhibits a change in the discount rate. The investment opportunities are a stock and a riskless account. The market coefficients and discount factor switches according to a finite state Markov chain. The change in the discount rate le...

Using a simple arbitrage argument, positivists claim that the interest rate provides the right basis to fix the discount rate to evaluate green investment projects. The real interest rate observed in the U.S. during the XXth century has been around 1% and 2%. On the contrary, ethicists estimate the discount rate by the marginal rate of substitution between current and future consumption. From c...

Intertemporal preferences are di¢ cult to measure. We estimate time preferences using a structural bu¤er stock consumption model and the Method of Simulated Moments. The model includes stochastic labor income, liquidity constraints, child and adult dependents, liquid and illiquid assets, revolving credit, retirement, and discount functions that allow short-run and longrun discount rates to di¤e...

Discount rate changes always receive considerable attention in financial markets. Two hypotheses compete to explain financial market reactions: the direct ‘borrowing cost effect’ and the announcement effect. This paper examines the issue for the Bundesbank’s discount rate changes after 1979. Summing up we find that market reactions cannot be attributed to a direct borrowing cost effect but excl...

The Impact of Education on the Subjective Discount Rate in Ugandan Villages Heterogeneity in time discounting may reinforce the existing barriers to save and invest faced by rural populations in developing countries. We elicit a subjective discount rate for a varied sample of Ugandan villagers. In accordance with other studies, we have found the discount rate to decrease with education. We exam...

Although there is a widespread agreement on the need to discount future costs in monetary-based evaluation techniques of long-term transportation projects, there is less agreement on the specific discount rate that should be employed in the analysis. The choice of the discount rate is ultimately a policy decision; but even when the philosophical approach is set by the policy makers and a genera...