Paper Abstract
550. Louis Kaplow, Discounting Dollars, Discounting Lives: Intergenerational Distributive Justice and Efficiency, 6/2006; subsequently published in University of Chicago Law Review, Vol. 74, No. 1, Winter 2007, 79-118.
Abstract: The view that intergenerational distributive justice and efficiency should be treated
separately is familiar, yet controversial. This article elaborates the often-implicit justifications
for separate treatment and provides a more express statement of how and when such treatment is
appropriate. Substantial attention is devoted to an approach that holds constant the intra- and
intergenerational distribution of well-being, which proves to be a valuable analytical device even
for intergenerational policies that are not distribution neutral. Also explored are possible
interrelationships between intergenerational distributive justice and efficiency, the choice of
interest rate for discounting dollars, and how the present approach relates to those that would
employ direct social weights to dollars at different points in time.