TY  - JOUR
AU  - Summers,Lawrence H.
AU  - Zeckhauser,Richard J.
TI  - Policymaking for Posterity
JF  - National Bureau of Economic Research Working Paper Series
VL  - No. 14359
PY  - 2008
Y2  - September 2008
UR  - http://www.nber.org/papers/w14359
L1  - http://www.nber.org/papers/w14359.pdf
N1  - Author contact info:
Lawrence H. Summers
Harvard Kennedy School of Government
79 JFK Street
Cambridge, MA 02138
Tel: 617/495-9322
Fax: 617/495-0436
E-Mail: lhs@harvard.edu

Richard J. Zeckhauser
John F. Kennedy School of Government
Harvard University
79 John F. Kennedy Street
Cambridge, MA  02138
Tel: 617/495-1174
Fax: 617/384-9340
E-Mail: richard_zeckhauser@harvard.edu
AB  - Policymaking for posterity involves current decisions with distant consequences.  Contrary to conventional prescriptions, we conclude that the greater wealth of future generations may strengthen the case for preserving environmental amenities; lower discount rates should be applied to the far future, and special effort should be made to avoid actions that impose costs on future generations.  --  Posterity brings great uncertainties.  Even massive losses, such as human extinction, however, do not merit infinite negative utility.  Given learning, greater uncertainties about damages could increase or decrease the optimal level of current mitigation activities.  --  Policies for posterity should anticipate effects on:  alternative investments, both public and private; the actions of other nations; and the behaviors of future generations.  Such effects may surprise.  --  This analysis blends traditional public finance and behavioral economics with a number of hypothetical choice problems.
ER  -