> --- Anton Sherwood <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > John Perich wrote: > > . . . here's a thought: in six billion years, the sun will burn out, > > making all research into sustainability and environmental / resource > > economics a waste of time. . . . > > But what is the present value of something 6 billion years in the future? > > Fred Foldvary
Depends on your discount rate! ;-) I suspect radical environmentalists, to the extent that they are time-rational at all, do not discount very steeply. They might well have a zero discount rate, or even a negative one -- meaning a pristine environment 6 billion years from now might be worth more to them than one now. After all, by then the human race, the "cancer on the planet" might be gone and the environment will be "truly natural" according to some points of view. --Robert
