The current political opinions of social scientists do not always match up with these conclusions. Many advocates of greater state spending—especially non-economists—seem to like the idea of a very low discount rate. Many of these individuals would like our government to devote more resources to education, to infrastructure, and to improving the environment, all positions associated with the political left overall, at least in the United States. They see a lower discount rate as supporting all of these policies. Yet they also tend to favor redistribution, even when such policies conflict with
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