The discounting of lives saved in future generations—some empirical results
通过瑞典850人的调查，估计了当前一代人对未来不同时间点拯救生命的折现率，发现20年、50年和100年时间跨度的年折现率分别为25%、12%和8%。
The aim of this note is to estimate the discount rates that individuals in the present generation in Sweden use to discount lives saved in future generations at different points in time. A binary survey question, where individuals choose between saving lives in their own generation versus saving lives in future generations, was administered in a general population sample of 850 individuals. Three time horizons of 20, 50 and 100 years were used in three different subsamples. Logistic regression analysis was used to estimate the discount rate. The estimated annual discount rate is 25% for the 20 year time horizon, 12% for the 50 year time horizon and 8% for the 100 year time horizon.