Name File Type Size Last Modified
  Matlab-code 09/25/2019 12:39:PM
Drupp_data.xlsx application/vnd.openxmlformats-officedocument.spreadsheetml.sheet 11.2 KB 09/24/2019 03:03:PM
readme.pdf application/pdf 17.9 KB 09/25/2019 08:51:AM

Project Citation: 

Millner, Antony. Data & Code for: Non-dogmatic Social Discounting. Nashville, TN: American Economic Association [publisher], 2020. Ann Arbor, MI: Inter-university Consortium for Political and Social Research [distributor], 2020-02-25. https://doi.org/10.3886/E111681V1

Project Description

Summary:  View help for Summary This repository contains the Matlab code and data used to plot the figures in "Non-dogmatic social discounting". There are three files:

a) “Drupp_data.xlsx” — data provided by the authors of Drupp et. al. (2018). The original paper contains a code book, available at https://aeaweb.org/doi/10.1257/pol.20160240.data

b) "deltaeta_data.mat" -- a Matlab data file containing the surveyed values of "delta" (pure rate of social time preference) and "eta" (elasticity of marginal utility), reported in the Excel file above.

c) "NDSD.m" -- a Matlab script that plots the figures displayed in the paper, and the online appendix. (Depends on deltaeta_data.mat)

To replicate the figures, place “NDSD.m” and “deltaeta_data.mat” in the same folder, and execute NDSD.m from the Matlab command line.

The paper's abstract is as follows:

The long-run social discount rate has an enormous effect on the value of climate mitigation, infrastructure projects, and other long-term public policies.  Its value is however highly contested, in part because of normative disagreements about social time preferences.  I develop a theory of `non-dogmatic' social planners, who are insecure in their current normative judgments and entertain the possibility that they may change.  Although each non-dogmatic planner advocates an idiosyncratic theory of intertemporal social welfare, all such planners agree on the long-run social discount rate.  Non-dogmatism thus goes some way towards resolving normative disagreements, especially for long-term public projects.

Scope of Project

Subject Terms:  View help for Subject Terms Social discount rate; normative uncertainty; interdependence; cost-benefit analysis
JEL Classification:  View help for JEL Classification
      D61 Allocative Efficiency • Cost–Benefit Analysis
      D90 General
      H43 Project Evaluation • Social Discount Rate
      D90
Data Type(s):  View help for Data Type(s) survey data

Methodology

Data Source:  View help for Data Source "Discounting disentangled", Drupp et. al. (2018). American Economic Journal: Economic Policy. 10(4) pp 109-134.

I thank the authors of this paper for providing me with the data at an early stage of this project.

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