Environmental Values Environmental Values
Environmental Values 6(1997): 213-233. doi: 10.3197/096327197776679158
This paper presents a systematic discussion, mainly for non-economists, on economic approaches to the concept of sustainable development. As a first step, the concept of sustainability is extensively discussed. As a second step, the argument that it is not possible to consider sustainability only from an economic or ecological point of view is defended; issues such as economic-ecological integration, inter-generational and intra-generational equity are considered of fundamental importance. Two different economic approaches to environmental issues, i.e. neo-classical environmental economics and ecological economics, are compared. Some key differences such as weak versus strong sustainability, commensurability versus incommensurability and ethical neutrality versus different values acceptance are pointed out.
KEYWORDS: ecological economics, post-normal science, co-evolution, institutional economics, sustainability, incommensurability
CITATIONS in other Environmental Values articles:
The Development of Environmental Thinking in Economics. Clive L. Spash
Operationalising Strong Sustainability: Definitions, Methodologies and Outcomes. Begüm Özkaynak, Pat Devine and Dan Rigby
Territorial Equity and Sustainable Development. Bertrand Zuindeau
Non-Market Coordination: Towards an Ecological Response to Austrian Economics. Dan Greenwood
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