I. Falk et O. Stark, Dynasties and destiny: On the roles of altruism and impatience in the evolution of consumption and bequests, ECONOMICA, 68(272), 2001, pp. 505-518
We study the joint role of altruism and impatience, and the impact of evolu
tion in the formation of long-term time preferences and in the determinatio
n of optimal consumption and optimal bequests. We show how the consumption
paths of dynasties relate to altruism and to impatience. and we reason that
long-lived dynasties will be characterized by a higher degree of altruism
and a lower degree of impatience than short-lived dynasties.