POLS 351 Chapter Notes - Chapter 10: Social Discount Rate, Avoiding Dangerous Climate Change, Intergenerational Equity
14 Dec 2016
School
Department
Course
Professor
Document Summary
Climate change and the future; discounting for time, wealth, and risk. My purpose in this paper is to explore the issues of intergenerational equity raised by climate change the emission of greenhouse gases can last for up to 100 years. The social discount rate also bears on the question of how much current generations should mitigate and this remains hotly contested. A number of different reasons have been suggested as to why current generations may legitimately favour devoting resources to contemporaries rather than to future generations. These challenge the case for combating climate change. In this paper, i distinguish between three different reasons for favoring contemporaries. I argue that none of these arguments is persuasive. My answer in each case appeals to the concept of human rights. The social discount rate generations to resources currently held by current generations diminishes or increases or remains constant over time.
