An environmental-economic measure of sustainable development

Abstract

A central issue in the study of sustainable development is the interplay of growth and sacrifice in a dynamic economy. This paper investigates the relationship among current consumption, growth, and sustained consumption in two canonical, stylized economies and in a more general context. It is found that the measure of what is sustainable is the maximin value. That value is interpreted as an environmentaleconomic carrying capacity and current consumption or utility as an environmentaleconomic footprint. The time derivative of maximin value is interpreted as total, net investment. It is called durable savings to distinguish it from genuine savings usually computed with discounted utilitarian competitive prices.

Spatial Variation of Regional Sustainable Development and its Relationship to the Allocation of Science and Technology Resources

“…Cairns and Martinet investigates the relationship among current consumption, sacrifice and sustainability improvement in a general context and in two canonical, stylized economies and argue that the maximum value of utility measures what is sustainable and provides the limit to growth. Maximum value is interpreted as a dynamic environmental-economic carrying capacity and current utility as an environmental-economic footprint [20]. Pires and Fidélis et al aimed to discuss the constraints and achievements of standardizing these sustainable development indicators [21].…”

Generous Sustainability

“…Chico Mendes, cited above, was killed for his vision, though his above quote shows a remarkably modest statement. While generosity is more demanding compared to existing concepts that require the maintenance of opportunity (Martinet 2011, Fleurbay 2013, Cairns and Martinet 2014, it is not too demanding. It does not require huge savings to increase wealth of a future generation that is richer than the present, as zero-discounting does (Nordhaus 1997).…”

“…First, it must not decrease maximin income, as in Cairns and Martinet (2014), who call the increase in maximin income sustainable savings (di¤erent from genuine savings). The second condition distinguishes generosity from the previous de…nitions of sustainability, and it is much more demanding, as we will see in our applications below.…”

“…Martinet (2011) and Cairns and Martinet (2014) de…ne sustainability as non-decreasing maximin income (de…ned in detail below).…”

Employment Policies for a Green Economy at the European Union Level

“…In the specialized literature, a lot of studies examine sustainable development based on specific indicators, such as a sustainability indicator that highlights the link between economic growth and costs of economic growth in a dynamic economy [6].…”