INTERGENERATIONAL DISCOUNTING

A 'discount rate' for the consumption of future generations from curre nt investments for their benefit is typically composed of two parts: ' time preference' and an allowance for the lower marginal utility of co nsumption due to higher average levels of consumption in the future, T ime preference would be involved if one were postponing one's own cons umption; it has little or nothing to do with income redistribution, wh ich is what greenhouse abatement is about, A lower marginal utility of consumption is an anomaly in income redistribution: we rarely deliber ately transfer consumption from the less to the more well-to-do, Time may serve as a kind of measure of distance; we may prefer beneficiarie s who are closer in time, in geographical distance, in culture, surely in kinship, Perhaps to keep our thinking straight we should use a ter m like 'depreciation', rather than 'discounting'.