Skip to main content

Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles and JavaScript.

Discounting: An eye on the future

Nature volume 419, pages 673–674 (2002)Cite this article

Decisions made today usually have impacts both now and in the future. But in carrying out policy evaluations to help decision-makers, economic analysts typically discount future impacts. In the environmental realm, many of the future impacts are benefits from policy-induced improvements. Thus, in the environmental-policy context, future benefits (as well as costs) are often discounted.

This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution

Relevant articles

Open Access articles citing this article.

Access options

Rent or buy this article

Get just this article for as long as you need it

$39.95

Learn more

Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. the Department of Economics and the Institute for International Studies, Stanford University, Stanford, 94305, California, USA

    Lawrence H. Goulder

  2. the John F. Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University, 79 John F. Kennedy Street, Cambridge, 02138, Massachusetts, USA

    Robert N. Stavins

Authors
  1. Lawrence H. Goulder
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Robert N. Stavins
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Rights and permissions

Reprints and Permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Goulder, L., Stavins, R. Discounting: An eye on the future. Nature 419, 673–674 (2002). https://doi.org/10.1038/419673a

Download citation

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/419673a

This article is cited by

Search

Advanced search

Quick links

Nature Briefing

Sign up for the Nature Briefing newsletter — what matters in science, free to your inbox daily.

Get the most important science stories of the day, free in your inbox. Sign up for Nature Briefing