Dynasties and Destiny: On the Roles of Altruism and Impatience in the Evolution of Consumption and Bequests

Abstract: We study the joint role of altruism and impatience, and the impact of evolution in the formation of long-term time preferences and in the determination of optimal consumption and optimal bequests. We show how the consumption paths of dynasties relate to altruism and to impatience and we re...

Ausführliche Beschreibung

Bibliographische Detailangaben
Link(s) zu Dokument(en):IHS Publikation
Hauptverfasser: Stark, Oded, Falk, Ita
Format: IHS Series NonPeerReviewed
Sprache:Englisch
Veröffentlicht: Institut für Höhere Studien 2000
Beschreibung
Zusammenfassung:Abstract: We study the joint role of altruism and impatience, and the impact of evolution in the formation of long-term time preferences and in the determination of optimal consumption and optimal bequests. We show how the consumption paths of dynasties relate to altruism and to impatience and we reason that long-lived dynasties will be characterized by a higher degree of altruism and a lower degree of impatience than short-lived dynasties.;