文章基本信息

标题：Interpreting Sustainability in Economic Terms: Dynamic Efficiency Plus Intergenerational Equity
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作者：Stavins, Robert N. ; Wagner, Alexander F. ; Wagner, Gernot 等
期刊名称：Journal of Food Distribution Research
印刷版ISSN：0047-245X
出版年度：2002
期号：SUPPL
出版社：Food Distribution Research Society
摘要：Economists have expended considerable effort to develop economically meaningful definitions of the somewhat elusive concept of "sustainability." We relate such a definition of sustainability to well known concepts from neoclassical economics, in particular, potential Pareto improvements (in the Kaldor-Hicks sense) and interpersonal compensation. In the inter-temporal realm, we find that dynamic efficiency is a necessary but not sufficient condition for a notion of sustainability that has normative standing as a goal for public policy. We define sustainability as dynamic efficiency plus intergenerational equity. Further, we argue that it is not unreasonable for economists to focus on the efficiency element, leaving equity considerations to the political process. The analogy to the relationship between potential Pareto improvements and (intragenerational) transfers can facilitate discussions about sustainability, both within the economics community and as part of an interdisciplinary discourse, and makes the basic concepts easier to operationalize.