John Broome

As far as John Broome is concerned the discount rate concluded by Nicholas Stern is crap. The discount rate is the discount placed on the future by economists; the value of future goods is less than the value placed on present-day goods (p.13). As far as Broome is concerned we should take responsibility today to ensure a better tomorrow. Instead of making decisions that will benefit us in the now, we need to recognize that our decisions will effect us and those we are connected too. There are three ideas that arise when discussing people’s ethical judgments about the value of future well-being. They are prioritarianism, utilitarianism, pure discounting and the ide of being temporarily impartial. Prioritarianism is a condition in which less value is placed on future goods. Under utilitarianism conditions equality in the value of goods in both the present and the future is established. Pure discounting says that we should care more about people in the present rather than those in the future because the future is so far away. To be temporarily impartial is to insist that the date in which harm is inflicted does not make a difference to its value (p.14-16).

The money market simply reveals that people's ethical judgements stretch as far as the present. People take on the idea that "we will cross that bridge when we get there, so let's concentrate on the now." The danger in this is that every decision made has a consequence. All of the decisions made have consequences that may effect people now and definitely will affect people in the future. Yes these consequences can be good or bad, but consequences such as global warming should not be passed onto people in the future, nor should people in the present have to suffer.