Sustainability Constraints versus "Optimality" versus Intertemporal Concern, and Axioms versus Data

Sustainable, sustained, or survivable development are defined here as distinct "sustainability" constraints on intertemporal distribution, in a context which ignores uncertainty, environmental, and intratemporal concerns. Such constraints are neither self-contradictory; nor redundant, for...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Land economics 1997-11, Vol.73 (4), p.448-466
Main Author: Pezzey, John C. V.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Analysis
Axioms
Consumer economics
Consumption
Discount rates
Ecological sustainability
Economic conditions
Economic models
Economic theory
Environmental economics
Environmental policy
Environmental protection
Land economics
Natural resources
Optimization
Per capita
Population
Preferences
Present value
Renewable energy
Studies
Sustainability
Sustainable consumption
Sustainable development
Sustainable economic development
Sustainable economies
Sustainable global economy
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Summary:Sustainable, sustained, or survivable development are defined here as distinct "sustainability" constraints on intertemporal distribution, in a context which ignores uncertainty, environmental, and intratemporal concerns. Such constraints are neither self-contradictory; nor redundant, for they can conflict with maximizing the present value of utility ("optimality"); nor inferior, since the axioms underlying "optimality" are ethically arbitrary and refuted by empirical psychological data. Axiomatic arguments may clarify but cannot resolve debates about intertemporal concerns. Data suggest that sustainability constraints are not respected, and that intertemporal welfare functions containing a preference for "sustained improvement" may better reflect what bodies politic mean by sustainability.
ISSN:0023-7639
1543-8325
DOI:10.2307/3147239