Missing Participants, Missing Markets, and the Social Discount Rate: Borrowing Constraints, Intergenerational Transfers, Altruism, and the Desire for Legacy
本文论证市场利率因缺失参与者（如受约束的借款人或未来世代）而偏离社会最优贴现率，但政府仍应以市场利率为政策指南，同时指出利他主义和遗产效用可能支持更低的社会贴现率。
Market interest rates reflect the preferences of market participants. When market participants are missing, the average discount rate in the population may therefore differ from the market rate. Missing current market participants, such as constrained borrowers, tends to imply an average discount rate that is above the market rate, whereas missing future market participants, such as future generations, tends to imply an average rate below the market rate. Nonetheless, a government with the ability to transfer wealth intratemporally across agents will generally wish to use the market interest rate as a guide to policy. One robust argument for the use of a lower social discount rate is intrapersonal: Future selves discount the past, whereas current selves discount the future. Legacy utility may also justify a low social discount rate.