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Country Estimates of Social Discount Rates Based on Changes in Life Expectancies
Author(s) -
BRENT ROBERT J.
Publication year - 1993
Publication title -
kyklos
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.766
H-Index - 58
eISSN - 1467-6435
pISSN - 0023-5962
DOI - 10.1111/j.1467-6435.1993.tb00515.x
Subject(s) - life expectancy , intergenerational equity , discounting , economics , social discount rate , expectancy theory , social life , set (abstract data type) , time preference , numéraire , cost–benefit analysis , econometrics , microeconomics , sociology , demography , finance , population , political science , ecology , ethnology , management , computer science , sustainability , biology , programming language , law
"When time is the numeraire in a social evaluation of public projects, life expectancies are essentially the unit of account. Since different generations have different life expectancies, pursuing intergenerational equity requires discounting the extra time that future generations are likely to obtain. The result is a Social Discount Rate set by the growth rate in life expectancies. This is called the Life Expectancy Discount Rate (LEDR). After providing estimates of the LEDR for 120 countries, the paper discusses some of the implications of using this rate." (SUMMARY IN FRE AND GER)