Bequests and the Intergenerational Degree of Altruism

We consider an OLG model with production and altruistic agents initially developed by Barro (1974). Through a simple example, we show that, contrary to the intuition of Abel (1987) and Weil (1987), an increase in the degree of altruism can result in a decrease in the stationary level of bequests even if the Diamond model has a unique and stable steady state. To rule out this counterintuitive case, an assumption on the curvature of the production function is necessary.OLG models, Bequest motive, Degree of altruism

Intergenerational altruism and neoclassical growth models

This paper surveys intergenerational altruism in neoclassical growth models. It first examines Barro's approach to intergenerational altruism, whereby successive generations are linked by recursive altruistic preferences. Individuals have an altruistic concern only for their children, who in turn also have altruistic feelings for their own children. The conditions under which the Ricardian equivalence (debt neutrality) theorem applies are specified. The effectiveness of fiscal policy is further analysed in the context of an economy populated by heterogeneous families differing with respect to their degree of intergenerational altruism. Other forms of altruism, referred to as ad hoc altruism, are also examined, along with their implications for fiscal policy. JEL Classification: E13, D64, E62, C60altruism, fiscal policy, Neoclassical general aggregative models

Labor productivity and dynamic efficiency

This note exhibits sufficient conditions concerning the skills of old workers ruling out overaccumulation stationnary equilibria in an OLG model with productive capital. Using a Cobb-Douglas economy, we show that such conditions seem to be largely fullfilled in the industrialized countries.learning-by-doing

Is GDP a Relevant Social Welfare Indicator? A Savers-Spenders Theory Approach

The use of GDP as the main index of progress and welfare of a country has been the subject of a long debate amongst economists. Using and extending the saversspenders theory recently popularized by Mankiw (2000, AER), we analyze the theoretical relationships between GDP and the welfare of a society. This analysis is undertaken using several different overlapping generations models which all take into account the great heterogeneity of consumer behavior observed in the data (different labor supply choices, different degrees of altruism and/or different degrees of impatience to consume). The results indicate that GDP (per capita) is often a relevant index and is always a decent social welfare indicator

The spenders-hoarders theory of capital accumulation, wealth distribution and fiscal policy

This paper proposes a simple OLG model which is consistent with the essential facts about consumer behavior, capital accumulation and wealth distribution, and yields some new and surprising conclusions about fiscal policy. By considering a society in which individuals are distinguished according to two characteristics, altruism and wealth preference, we show that those who in the long run hold the bulk of private capital are not so much motivated by dynastic altruism as by preference for wealth. Two types of social segmentation can result with different wealth distribution. To a large extent our results seem to fit reality better than those obtained with standard optimal growth models in which dynastic altruism (or rate of impatience) is the only source of heterogeneity: overaccumulation can appear, public debt and unfunded pensions are not neutral, estate taxation can improve the welfare of the top wealthy

Design of optical systems with toroidal curved detectors

We consider using toroidal curved detectors to improve the performance of imaging optical systems. We demonstrate that some optical systems have an anamorphic field curvature. We consider an unobscured re-imaging three-mirror anastigmat as an example (f'=960 mm, F/5.3, FoV 4x4 degrees). By assuming that the image is focused on a toroidal detector surface and perform re-optimization, it becomes possible to obtain a notable gain in the image quality - up to 40 % in terms of the spot RMS radius. Through analytic computations and finite-element analysis, we demonstrate that this toroidal shape can be obtained by bending of a thinned detector in a relatively simple setup.Comment: 4 pages, 7 figure