What do you mean by “using discount rates on a case-by-case basis as a convenience for calculation”?
I don’t find your dissertation discussion very convincing (but then I’m an economist). I worry a lot more about the existing real children with glass in their feet right now (or intestinal worms or malaria or malnutrition or whatever) than the hypothetical potential children of the future who don’t exist yet, and in any case when they do will live in a substantially wealthier society in which everyone has access to good quality footwear.
Interesting stuff, but disappointed you don’t talk about discount rates.