Nonpaternalistic intergenerational altruism

Abstract The paper develops a concept of equilibrium behaviour and establishes its existence in a model of nonpaternalistic intergenerational altruism. Each generation derives utility from its own consumption and the utilities of its successors. Equilibrium capital stocks are time-monotone and therefore converge to a steady state. Finally. when each generation's utility depends on that of at least two successors, equilibria may be inefficient. This is shown by an example, where feasible programs exist providing greater consumption (compared to the equilibrium path) for every generation.

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