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Present Value of the Past

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Abstract

One of the seminal ideas in economics is that future events have a present value, which is calculable through a private or social rate of discount. Nevertheless, present valuation is not of much help for solving some problems, and can lead to erroneous results in others. For these problems, it is as important to have a method for evaluating the past as the future.

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Bibliography

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  • Wolf Jr., C. 1970. The present value of the past. Journal of Political Economy 78(4): 783–792.

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© 2018 Macmillan Publishers Ltd.

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Wolf, C. (2018). Present Value of the Past. In: The New Palgrave Dictionary of Economics. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-349-95189-5_1777

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