IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/kap/enreec/v5y1995i4p393-411.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Sustainable development, the Hartwick rule and optimal growth

Author

Listed:
  • Kirk Hamilton

Abstract

Defining sustainable development as non-declining utility, the consistency of this concept with the Hartwick rule and optimal growth is explored when resources are exhaustible. A simple proof that a generalized Hartwick rule is necessary and sufficient for constant consumption is derived. The existence of a maximal constant consumption path is shown to depend critically on the elasticity of substitution; if this is less than 1, consumption declines; if it is greater than 1 then consumption is not maximal; if it is equal to 1 (the Cobb-Douglas case) then existence is proved. Consumption can increase along an optimal path if the pure rate of time preference is 0; if it is non-zero then consumption declines. Copyright Kluwer Academic Publishers 1995

Suggested Citation

  • Kirk Hamilton, 1995. "Sustainable development, the Hartwick rule and optimal growth," Environmental & Resource Economics, Springer;European Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, vol. 5(4), pages 393-411, June.
    • Handle: RePEc:kap:enreec:v:5:y:1995:i:4:p:393-411
    DOI: 10.1007/BF00691576
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10.1007/BF00691576
    Download Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1007/BF00691576?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Avinash Dixit & Peter Hammond & Michael Hoel, 1980. "On Hartwick's Rule for Regular Maximin Paths of Capital Accumulation and Resource Depletion," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 47(3), pages 551-556.
    2. John M. Hartwick, 1978. "Substitution Among Exhaustible Resources and Intergenerational Equity," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 45(2), pages 347-354.
    3. Hartwick, John M, 1977. "Intergenerational Equity and the Investing of Rents from Exhaustible Resources," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 67(5), pages 972-974, December.
    4. John Aird & W. Borrle & Janet Salaff, 1974. "Review symposium," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 11(4), pages 695-708, November.
    5. George Masnick & Jean Bourgeois-Pichat & T. Schultz, 1974. "Review symposium," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 11(2), pages 337-360, May.
    6. R. M. Solow, 1974. "Intergenerational Equity and Exhaustible Resources," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 41(5), pages 29-45.
    7. Hartwick, John M., 1990. "Natural resources, national accounting and economic depreciation," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 43(3), pages 291-304, December.
    8. repec:bla:scandj:v:88:y:1986:i:1:p:141-49 is not listed on IDEAS
    9. Dasgupta, Swapan & Mitra, Tapan, 1983. "Intergenerational Equity and Efficient Allocation of Exhaustible Resources," International Economic Review, Department of Economics, University of Pennsylvania and Osaka University Institute of Social and Economic Research Association, vol. 24(1), pages 133-153, February.
    10. Thomas Burch & A. Keir Nash, 1974. "Review symposium," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 11(1), pages 151-166, February.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Santopietro, George D., 1998. "Alternative methods for estimating resource rent and depletion cost: the case of Argentina's YPF," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 24(1), pages 39-48, March.
    2. Asheim, Geir B. & Buchholz, Wolfgang & Tungodden, Bertil, 2001. "Justifying Sustainability," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 41(3), pages 252-268, May.
    3. Alessio Emanuele BIONDO, 2010. "A Growth Rate for a Sustainable Economy," Journal of Applied Economic Sciences, Spiru Haret University, Faculty of Financial Management and Accounting Craiova, vol. 5(2(12)/Sum), pages 7-20.
    4. Geir Asheim & Wolfgang Buchholz & Cees Withagen, 2003. "The Hartwick Rule: Myths and Facts," Environmental & Resource Economics, Springer;European Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, vol. 25(2), pages 129-150, June.
    5. Perrings, Charles, 2014. "Environment and development economics 20 years on," Environment and Development Economics, Cambridge University Press, vol. 19(3), pages 333-366, June.
    6. John L. Pender, 1998. "Population growth, agricultural intensification, induced innovation and natural resource sustainability: An application of neoclassical growth theory," Agricultural Economics, International Association of Agricultural Economists, vol. 19(1-2), pages 99-112, September.
    7. Pezzey, John C.V. & Toman, Michael, 2002. "The Economics of Sustainability: A Review of Journal Articles," Discussion Papers 10683, Resources for the Future.
    8. Wolfgang Buchholz & Swapan Dasgupta & Tapan Mitra, 2005. "Intertemporal Equity and Hartwick's Rule in an Exhaustible Resource Model," Scandinavian Journal of Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 107(3), pages 547-561, September.
    9. David Pearce & Giles Atkinson, 1998. "The concept of sustainable development: An evaluation of its usefulness ten years after Brundtland," Swiss Journal of Economics and Statistics (SJES), Swiss Society of Economics and Statistics (SSES), vol. 134(III), pages 251-269, September.
    10. Thomas Aronsson & Karl-Gustaf Löfgren (ed.), 2010. "Handbook of Environmental Accounting," Books, Edward Elgar Publishing, number 12796.
    11. Kirk Hamilton & John M. Hartwick, 2005. "Investing exhaustible resource rents and the path of consumption," Canadian Journal of Economics/Revue canadienne d'économique, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 38(2), pages 615-621, May.
    12. Wei, Zhao & Huang, Lihua, 2022. "Does renewable energy matter to achieve sustainable development? Fresh evidence from ten Asian economies," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 199(C), pages 759-767.
    13. Withagen, Cees & B. Asheim, Geir, 1998. "Characterizing sustainability: The converse of Hartwick's rule," Journal of Economic Dynamics and Control, Elsevier, vol. 23(1), pages 159-165, September.
    14. Randall, Alan, 2008. "Is Australia on a sustainability path? Interpreting the clues," Australian Journal of Agricultural and Resource Economics, Australian Agricultural and Resource Economics Society, vol. 52(1), pages 1-19.
    15. Anil Markandya & Suzette Pedroso-Galinato, 2007. "How substitutable is natural capital?," Environmental & Resource Economics, Springer;European Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, vol. 37(1), pages 297-312, May.
    16. Yu, Yun & Lei, Yalin, 2017. "China's provincial exhaustible resources rent and produced capital stock—Based on Hartwick's rule," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 52(C), pages 114-121.
    17. Asheim, Geir B. & Buchholz, Wolfgang & Hartwick, John M. & Mitra, Tapan & Withagen, Cees, 2007. "Constant savings rates and quasi-arithmetic population growth under exhaustible resource constraints," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 53(2), pages 213-229, March.
    18. Mitra, Tapan, 2002. "Intertemporal Equity and Efficient Allocation of Resources," Journal of Economic Theory, Elsevier, vol. 107(2), pages 356-376, December.
    19. Jeroen C.J.M. van den Bergh & Marjan W. Hofkes, 1997. "A Survey of Economic Modelling of Sustainable Development," Tinbergen Institute Discussion Papers 97-107/3, Tinbergen Institute.
    20. Kirk Hamilton & Esther Naikal, 2014. "Genuine saving as an indicator of sustainability," Chapters, in: Giles Atkinson & Simon Dietz & Eric Neumayer & Matthew Agarwala (ed.), Handbook of Sustainable Development, chapter 22, pages 336-347, Edward Elgar Publishing.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Toman, Michael & Pezzey, John C., 2002. "The Economics of Sustainability: A Review of Journal Articles," RFF Working Paper Series dp-02-03, Resources for the Future.
    2. Nick Hanley & Louis Dupuy & Eoin McLaughlin, 2015. "Genuine Savings And Sustainability," Journal of Economic Surveys, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 29(4), pages 779-806, September.
    3. Mitra, Tapan, 2002. "Intertemporal Equity and Efficient Allocation of Resources," Journal of Economic Theory, Elsevier, vol. 107(2), pages 356-376, December.
    4. Mikesell, Raymond F., 1995. "The limits to growth : A reappraisal," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 21(2), pages 127-131, June.
    5. van der Ploeg, Frederick, 2010. "Why do many resource-rich countries have negative genuine saving?: Anticipation of better times or rapacious rent seeking," Resource and Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 32(1), pages 28-44, January.
    6. Vincent, Jeffrey R. & Panayotou, Theodore & Hartwick, John M., 1997. "Resource Depletion and Sustainability in Small Open Economies," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 33(3), pages 274-286, July.
    7. Pezzey, John C.V., 2001. "Optimality, Hartwick’s Rule, and Instruments of Sustainability Policy and Environmental Policy," 2001 Conference (45th), January 23-25, 2001, Adelaide, Australia 125833, Australian Agricultural and Resource Economics Society.
    8. Geir B. Asheim, 2003. "Green national accounting for welfare and sustainability:A Taxonomy Of Assumptions And Results," Scottish Journal of Political Economy, Scottish Economic Society, vol. 50(2), pages 113-130, May.
    9. Doyen, L. & Martinet, V., 2012. "Maximin, viability and sustainability," Journal of Economic Dynamics and Control, Elsevier, vol. 36(9), pages 1414-1430.
    10. Frederick Ploeg, 2011. "Rapacious Resource Depletion, Excessive Investment and Insecure Property Rights: A Puzzle," Environmental & Resource Economics, Springer;European Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, vol. 48(1), pages 105-128, January.
    11. Verchère, Alban, 2011. "Le développement durable en question : analyses économiques autour d’un improbable compromis entre acceptions optimiste et pessimiste du rapport de l’Homme à la Nature," L'Actualité Economique, Société Canadienne de Science Economique, vol. 87(3), pages 337-403, septembre.
    12. Geir B. Asheim & Wolfgang Buchholz, 2004. "A General Approach to Welfare Measurement through National Income Accounting," Scandinavian Journal of Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 106(2), pages 361-384, June.
    13. Mircea Saveanu, 2014. "Sustainability as a Resource Distribution Constraint," Acta Universitatis Danubius. OEconomica, Danubius University of Galati, issue 10(2), pages 139-151, April.
    14. Cansier, Dieter & Richter, Wolfgang, 1994. "Erweiterung der volkswirtschaftlichen Gesamtrechnung um Indikatoren für eine nachhaltige Umweltnutzung," Tübinger Diskussionsbeiträge 37, University of Tübingen, School of Business and Economics.
    15. Perrings, Charles, 2014. "Environment and development economics 20 years on," Environment and Development Economics, Cambridge University Press, vol. 19(3), pages 333-366, June.
    16. Mitra, Tapan & Asheim, Geir B. & Buchholz, Wolfgang & Withagen, Cees, 2013. "Characterizing the sustainability problem in an exhaustible resource model," Journal of Economic Theory, Elsevier, vol. 148(5), pages 2164-2182.
    17. Asheim, Geir B., 2000. "Green national accounting: why and how?," Environment and Development Economics, Cambridge University Press, vol. 5(1), pages 25-48, February.
    18. Batabyal, Amitrajeet A., 2000. "An interdisciplinary research agenda for the study of ecological-economic systems in the American West," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 26(2), pages 69-75, June.
    19. Asheim, Geir B. & Hartwick, John M. & Mitra, Tapan, 2021. "Investment rules and time invariance under population growth," Journal of Economic Dynamics and Control, Elsevier, vol. 123(C).
    20. Martinet, Vincent, 2007. "A step beside the maximin path: Can we sustain the economy by following Hartwick's investment rule?," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 64(1), pages 103-108, October.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:kap:enreec:v:5:y:1995:i:4:p:393-411. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.springer.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.