Preferring the present in order to attain social justice within and between generations

Cédric Rio

Table of Contents

Abstract

We advocate the application of a specific positive social time preference, consisting in giving a relative priority to the attainment of social justice within generations. According to us, it allows us to better reconcile both requirements of social justice between generations and within them. Such a priority is possible and desirable for the living and for future individuals when it is applied within a scheme of intergenerational cooperation, whose terms we specify.

JEL classification: D63, D99, Q56.

Keywords

  • social justice
  • intergenerational justice
  • global justice
  • social time preference