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Accounting for Sustainability: A Dissenting Opinion

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  • Robert D. Cairns

    (Department of Economics, McGill University, 855 Sherbrooke St. W., Montreal QC H3A 2T7, Canada)

Abstract

Discounted-utilitarian welfare, the commonest social objective studied by economists, is the basis for the theory of green accounting in terms of social utility. Sustainability is a different type of social objective. Consequently, green accounting as derived in many empirical models is not appropriate for studying sustainability. Maximin is a consistent foundation for the analysis of sustainability, both weak and strong, that provides conceptually correct accounting prices. These prices are not yet practicable for real economies, however, and must await further advances. Sustainable development is a generalization of the notion of sustainability and can be analyzed using a generalization of maximin.

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  • Robert D. Cairns, 2011. "Accounting for Sustainability: A Dissenting Opinion," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 3(9), pages 1-16, August.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:3:y:2011:i:9:p:1341-1356:d:13757
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    Cited by:

    1. Cairns, Robert D. & Del Campo, Stellio & Martinet, Vincent, 2019. "Sustainability of an economy relying on two reproducible assets," Journal of Economic Dynamics and Control, Elsevier, vol. 101(C), pages 145-160.
    2. Tatiana Ponomarenko & Marina Nevskaya & Izabela Jonek-Kowalska, 2021. "Mineral Resource Depletion Assessment: Alternatives, Problems, Results," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(2), pages 1-15, January.
    3. Fabio Zagonari, 2016. "Four Sustainability Paradigms for Environmental Management: A Methodological Analysis and an Empirical Study Based on 30 Italian Industries," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 8(6), pages 1-34, May.
    4. Marc A. Rosen, 2013. "Engineering and Sustainability: Attitudes and Actions," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 5(1), pages 1-15, January.
    5. Bazhanov, Andrei V., 2022. "A comment on Hamilton (2016) “Measuring sustainability in the UN System of Environmental-Economic Accounting”," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 76(C).

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