Publications by Year: 2010

2010
Weitzman ML, Gollier C. How Should the Distant Future be Discounted When Discount Rates are Uncertain?. Economic Letters. 2010;107 (3) :350-353. Publisher's VersionAbstract

It is not immediately clear how to discount distant-future events, like climate change, when the distant-future discount rate itself is uncertain. The so-called “Weitzman-Gollier puzzle” is the fact that two seemingly symmetric and equally plausible ways
of dealing with uncertain future discount rates appear to give diametrically opposed results with the opposite policy implications. We explain how the “Weitzman-Gollier puzzle” is resolved. When agents optimize their consumption plans and probabilities
are adjusted for risk, the two approaches are identical. What we would wish a reader to take away from this paper is the bottom-line message that the appropriate long run discount rate declines over time toward its lowest possible value.

howshoulddistantfuture.pdf
Weitzman ML. Some Dynamic Economic Consequences of the Climate Sensitivity Inference Dilemma. In: Aronsson T, Lofgren K-G Handbook of Environmental Accounting. Edward Elgar ; 2010. pp. Chapter 8. Publisher's Version somedynamiceconomicconsequences.pdf
Weitzman ML. What is the "Damages Function" for Global Warming – and What Difference Might it Make?. Climate Change Economics. 2010;1 (1) :57-69. Publisher's Version damagesfunctionglobalwarming.pdf
Weitzman ML. Risk-Adjusted Gamma Discounting. Journal of Environmental Economics and Management. 2010;60 :1-13. Publisher's Version riskadjustedgammadiscounting.pdf
Weitzman ML. Book Review of Bjorn Lomborg‟s Smart Solutions to Climate Change: Comparing Costs and Benefits. Nature. 2010;467 (7317) :784-785. Publisher's Version 467784a.pdf