Ethics of the Discount Rate in the Stern Review on the Economics of Climate Change
Ethics of the Discount Rate in the Stern Review on the Economics of Climate Change
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气候变化经济学严峻审查中的贴现率伦理
DOI：
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发表时间：
2007
期刊：
影响因子：
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通讯作者：
C. Hepburn
中科院分区：
文献类型：
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作者：
W. Beckerman;C. Hepburn
对气候变化的成本和收益的任何比较都取决于所选择的贴现率。但是，尽管《斯特恩评论》强调了选择相对较低贴现率的参数的道德性质，但它对“纯粹时间偏好”参数的讨论是不平衡的。特别是，没有考虑到“相对行为人伦理”的作用，这（一）有一个完善的哲学谱系可以追溯到大卫休谟;（二）可能密切对应于世界范围内公众对代际福利的态度;（三）将需要贴现一个单位的福利积累到后代相比，一个平等的单位积累到今天活着的人在一个积极的速度。作者还讨论了贴现率所依赖的另一个伦理参数，即边际效用对消费的弹性。在传统模型中，这同时反映了不平等厌恶和风险厌恶的不同方面，这使其解释复杂化。最后，他们讨论了市场贴现率与《评论》中选择的低利率之间的分歧，以及市场利率的规范意义的局限性，以及依赖精英或哲学家国王选择的利率的弊端。
Any comparison of the costs and benefits of climate change is dominated by the chosen discount rate. But, although the Stern Review emphasises the ethical nature of the parameters entering into its choice of a relatively low discount rate, its discussion of the ‘pure time preference’ parameter is unbalanced. In particular, no consideration is given to the role of ‘agent-relative ethics’, which (i) has a wellestablished philosophical pedigree going back to David Hume; (ii) is likely to correspond closely to world-wide public attitudes towards intergenerational welfare; and (iii) would entail discounting a unit of welfare accruing to future generations compared to an equal unit accruing to people alive today at a positive rate. The authors also discuss the other ethical parameter upon which the discount rate depends, namely the elasticity of marginal utility with respect to consumption. In the conventional model, this simultaneously reflects different aspects of inequality aversion as well as risk aversion, which complicates its interpretation. Finally, they discuss the divergence between market rates of discount and the low rate chosen in the Review, and the limitations—on the one hand—on the normative significance of market rates, as well as the danger—on the other hand—of relying on rates chosen by elites or philosopher kings.