Testing for a Change in the Social Discount Rate Around 1970
I have a recent paper, "U.S. Infrastructure, Government Deficits ,Social Discount Rate," https://fairmodel.econ.yale.edu/rayfair/pdf/2019d.PDF arguing that there might have been an increase in the social discount rate in the United States around 1970. One test of this would be to examine speeches in the U.S. Congress in the 1960's and 1970'a to see if there was a change in attitude about the future. This can be done using the software of Gentzkow, Shapiro, and Taddy, https://data.stanford.edu/congress_text by searching for various words and phrases. Was there less interest in Congress about future generations in the 1970's than in the 1960's?
Requisite Skills and Qualifications
The student should be familiar with the Gentzkow, Shapiro, and Taddy work, on how to search for words and phases. He or she should also be familiar with the U.S. political system and have read carefully my infrastructure paper. Knowledge of the Woodstock generation would also be helpful, perhaps obtained from your grandparents.