Diskontomarginaalist

Diskontomarginaalist is a theoretical concept in economics that describes an approach combining discounting of future outcomes with marginal analysis to evaluate intertemporal decisions and policy proposals. It treats time preference and incremental evaluation as jointly essential for rational choice, emphasizing how small changes at the margin interact with the value of future streams.

The core idea rests on two pillars. First, time preference is expressed through a discount rate that converts future benefits and costs into present value. Second, marginalism focuses on incremental changes, positing that rational decisions arise from comparing the marginal benefits and marginal costs of a proposed adjustment. Together, these elements create a framework for assessing decisions by their marginal, time-adjusted effects.

Formally, the framework discounts future benefits and costs to present value and analyzes marginal changes in inputs or policy. If the marginal discounted benefits exceed the marginal discounted costs, the change is considered favorable. In public policy and finance, this yields a discounted net present value criterion: projects or actions with positive marginal net benefits at the margin are preferred.

Variants of the diskontomarginaalist approach acknowledge different discounting models, such as exponential or hyperbolic discounting, which can lead to different practical conclusions while preserving the marginalist focus on incremental analysis.

Critics highlight sensitivity to the choice of discount rate, ethical concerns about discounting future welfare, and methodological challenges in measuring marginal effects. Proponents argue that the approach provides a coherent, transparent method for balancing time and increment in complex decisions.

See also: discount rate, marginalism, intertemporal choice, net present value, cost-benefit analysis.