Population, Impartiality and Sustainability in the Neoclassical Growth Model
Bibliographic record
Abstract
A resolution is offered to Koopmans’ (1965, 1967a) “paradox of the indefinitely postponed splurge” – i.e. the incompatibility of undiscounted utilitarianism and population weighting in the context of the infinite-horizon neoclassical growth model with exponential population growth. The resolution builds on the conflict between splurging (i.e. dissaving) and sustainability. Consumption paths which contain splurges are not sustained, because they involve reductions in consumption at some point. Thus disallowing unsustained paths removes the incentive to save for a splurge. A modified utilitarian objective is presented which embodies the commitment to sustainability, as well as impartiality and the golden rule. Maximization over the neoclassical technology yields a monotonically increasing path to the golden rule. The underlying ethical position is described as an intergenerational contract: early generations are willing to sacrifice some consumption to build up the capital stock while future generations are morally obligated to limit consumption to the golden rule. / On propose une solution au problème d’optimisation d’une fonction de bien-être utilitariste avec un taux d’escompte nul et une pondération temporelle par le niveau de population dans le contexte du modèle de croissance néoclassique. Ce problème fut d’abord soulevé par Koopmans (1965, 1967a). La solution se base sur le conflit entre la tendance à augmenter la consommation au prix d’une réduction du capital – dite la désépargne – et la durabilité. Interdire les sentiers de consommation qui incluent des épisodes de désépargne élimine la tendance à épargner pour de tels épisodes, ce qui est à la source du problème. On présente une fonction utilitariste modifiée qui répond aux critères de durabilité, d’équité et de la règle d’or. La maximisation de cette fonction sous contrainte de la technologie néoclassique donne une solution monotone qui mène à la règle d’or. Cette fonction peut être assimilée à un contrat intergénérationnel : les générations présentes consentent à sacrifier de la consommation pour augmenter le stock de capital pourvu que les générations futures se limitent à consommer au niveau de la règle d’or.
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How this classification was reachedexpand
Full frame machine prediction
Teacher imitationNot calibrated prevalence, not ground truth. Human validation pending. The Gemma side is a direct model label for every work in the frame, read from the title-only record. The Codex side is a classifier learned from the 10,348 direct Codex labels and calibrated to design-weighted sample rates; fields without enough sample support carry no Codex call. Candidate is the union of the two sides; consensus is their intersection. These outputs are machine_predicted_unvalidated and are not human labels.
Distilled classifier scores by category (both heads)
| Category | Codex | Gemma |
|---|---|---|
| Metaresearch | 0.001 | 0.002 |
| Meta-epidemiology (narrow) | 0.000 | 0.000 |
| Meta-epidemiology (broad) | 0.000 | 0.001 |
| Bibliometrics | 0.001 | 0.001 |
| Science and technology studies | 0.001 | 0.003 |
| Scholarly communication | 0.002 | 0.003 |
| Open science | 0.001 | 0.002 |
| Research integrity | 0.001 | 0.002 |
| Insufficient payload (model declined to judge) | 0.003 | 0.000 |
Machine scores (provisional)
The two teacher heads of the student model, read on this work. A score orders the frame for review; it never asserts a category, and the validation status ships verbatim with every row.
Baseline scores from an immature model (maturity gate not passed, 7 training rounds). Scores rank; they never assert a category.
score_only:v0-immature-baseline · verbatim from the scoring run: score_only means the number may rank works, and no category label ships from itClassification
machine, unvalidatedMachine predicted; a candidate call from one source (direct Gemma or distilled Codex), not a consensus.
How this classification was reached, model by model and score by score, is at the end of the page under "How this classification was reached".