Weak versus strong sustainability: exploring the limits of two opposing paradigms / Eric Neumayer

Incluye bibliografía: páginas 208-262 e índice: páginas 63-275

List of Figures.. List of Tables.. List of Variables.. List of Abbreviations and Acronyms.. Preface to the Fourth Edition.. 1 INTRODUCTION AND OVERVIEW.. 2 SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT: CONCEPTUAL, ETHICAL AND PARADIGMATIC ISSUES.. 2.1 Definitions, assumptions, methodology.. 2.2 The ethics of sustainable development.. 2.2.1 Reasons for committing to sustainable development.. 2.2.2 The time- inconsistency problem of sustainable development.. 2.2.3 Two misunderstandings about sustainable development resolved.. 2.3 Weak versus strong sustainability.. 2.3.1 The paradigm of weak sustainability.. 2.3.2 The paradigm of strong sustainability.. 2.4 The importance of the substitutability assumption: the case of climate change.. 2.4.1 The Nordhaus approach towards climate change.. 2.4.2 Critique of the Nordhaus approach (I: discounting the future.. 2.4.3 Critique of the Nordhaus approach (II: extreme outcomes.. 2.4.4 Critique of the Nordhaus approach (III: substitutability of natural capital.. 2.4.5 The real controversy.. 2.5 Conclusion.. 3 RESOURCES, THE ENVIRONMENT AND ECONOMIC GROWTH: IS NATURAL CAPITAL SUBSTITUTABLE?.. 3.1 A short history of resource and environmental concern.. 3.2 Resource availability.. 3.2.1 Substitution with other resources.. 3.2.2 The role of prices in overcoming resource constraints.. 3.2.3 Substitution with man-made capital.. 3.2.4 Technical progress.. 3.3 Environmental degradation.. 3.3.1 Can future generations be compensated for long- term environmental degradation?.. 3.3.2 Economic growth and the environment.. 3.4 Conclusion..

4 PRESERVING NATURAL CAPITAL IN A WORLD OF RISK, UNCERTAINTY AND IGNORANCE.. 4.1 Distinctive features of natural capital.. 4.2 Risk, uncertainty and ignorance.. 4.3 Coping with risk, uncertainty and ignorance.. 4.3.1 Option and quasi-option values.. 4.3.2 The precautionary principle.. 4.3.3 Safe minimum standards (SMSs.. 4.4 Which forms of natural capital should be preserved?.. 4.5 The problem of opportunity cost.. 4.6 Conclusion.. 5 MEASURING WEAK SUSTAINABILITY.. 5.1 Genuine savings (GS.. 5.1.1 GS in a closed economy: a dynamic optimisation model.. 5.1.2 GS in an open economy.. 5.1.3 Problems with measuring GS in practice.. 5.1.4 GS in practice: the World Bank's computations.. 5.2 Index of Sustainable Economic Welfare (ISEW and Genuine Progress Indicator (GPI.. 5.2.1 A review of ISEW and GPI studies.. 5.2.2 Methodological problems.. 5.3 Conclusion.. 6 MEASURING STRONG SUSTAINABILITY.. 6.1 Physical indicators.. 6.1.1 Ecological footprints: measuring sustainability by land area.. 6.1.2 Material flows: measuring sustainability by weight.. 6.2 Hybrid indicators.. 6.2.1 The starting point: Hueting's pioneering work.. 6.2.2 Sustainability gaps.. 6.2.3 Greened National Statistical and Modelling Procedures.. 6.2.4 'Sustainable national income according to Hueting'.. 6.2.5 Critical assessment.. 6.3 Conclusion.. 7 CONCLUSIONS.. Appendix 1 How present- value maximisation can lead to extinction.. Appendix 2 The Hotelling rule and Ramsey rule in a simple general equilibrium model.. Appendix 3 The Hotelling rule and the Ramsey rule in a more complex model.. Bibliography.. Index

This fourth edition of an enduring and popular book has been fully updated and revised, exploring the two opposing paradigms of sustainability in an insightful and accessible way. Eric Neumayer contends that central to the debate on sustainable development is the question of whether natural capital can be substituted by other forms of capital. Proponents of weak sustainability maintain that such substitutability is possible, whilst followers of strong sustainability regard natural capital as non-substitutable. The author examines the availability of natural resources for the production of consumption goods and the environmental consequences of economic growth. He identifies the critical forms of natural capital in need of preservation given risk, uncertainty and ignorance about the future and opportunity costs of preservation. He goes on to provide a critical discussion of measures of sustainability. Indicators of weak sustainability such as Genuine Savings and the Index of Sustainable Economic Welfare - also known as the Genuine Progress Indicator - are analysed, as are indicators of strong sustainability, including ecological footprints, material flows and sustainability gaps. This book will prove essential reading for students, scholars and policymakers with an interest in ecological and environmental economics and sustainable development. eng