Consideration of keys to solving problems in long-term fiscal policy through laboratory research

What Do People Say When They Become “Future People”?―Positioning Imaginary Future Generations (IFGs) in General Rules for Good Decision-Making

“…Nakagawa et al [14] reported that younger people were more likely to choose fiscal policies that take future generations into account. Hiromitsu [18,19], through an experimental study that made subjects choose hypothetical fiscal policy options, also confirmed that there was a tendency for older people to make short-sighted choices that postponed the burden for the future. We could not confirm concerns around decreasing consideration for the future with age.…”

“…We could not confirm concerns around decreasing consideration for the future with age. Hiromitsu [18,19] affirmed the existence of a decrease but pointed out that the degree of decrease was not as strong as that among selfish individuals. Hiromitsu [18,19] argued that the reason that the decrease was not so strong was that the older one was, the closer they are to nirvana and the more likely they are to make a public judgment.…”

“…Social decisions involving multiple generations are not about choosing good policies for those who are living now, but whether they can choose policies that may be negative for those who are living now but positive for those who are in the future. In this regard, Hi-romitsu [18,19] conducted an experiment in which subjects were asked to make long-term fiscal policy choices and to make collective decisions through deliberations among the subjects. Hiromitsu [18,19] showed that deliberations have the power to change people's opinions, but in an environment where there are few people who originally have opinions that consider the interests of future generations, simple deliberations are not enough for future-oriented decisions.…”

“…In this regard, Hi-romitsu [18,19] conducted an experiment in which subjects were asked to make long-term fiscal policy choices and to make collective decisions through deliberations among the subjects. Hiromitsu [18,19] showed that deliberations have the power to change people's opinions, but in an environment where there are few people who originally have opinions that consider the interests of future generations, simple deliberations are not enough for future-oriented decisions. This point is consistent with Charness and Matthias' [20] finding that group decisions are more self-interesting than individual decisions.…”

Future Design: Bequeathing Sustainable Natural Environments and Sustainable Societies to Future Generations

“…Returning to a topic mentioned previously, public debt sustainability is an important issue in Japan and many other countries. Hiromitsu [46] and Nakagawa et al [47] carried out subject experiments using an imaginary future generation. Hiromitsu conducted experiments in different parts of Japan, considering two scenarios: Whereby the burden is postponed for 30 years or more (Option A) or shared between the current and future generations (Option B).…”