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Sustainable Development and the Hawaii Clean Energy Initiative

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  • Lee Endress

    (UHERO, University of Hawaii at Manoa)

Abstract

The connection between the emerging field of sustainability science and the economics of sustainable development has motivated a line of interdisciplinary research inspired by the notion of oppositive sustainability.� This notion is founded on three principles or pillars: (1) adopting a complex systems approach to modeling and analysis, integrating natural resource systems, the environment, and the economy; (2) pursuing dynamic efficiency, that is, efficiency over both time and space in the management of the resource-environment-economy complex to maximize intertemporal well-being; and (3) enhancing stewardship for the future through intertemporal equity, which is increasingly represented as intergenerational neutrality or impartiality. This paper argues that the Hawaii Clean Energy Initiative (HCEI) fails to satisfy all three pillars of sustainability, and consequently fails to achieve the "sustainability criterion" put forward by Arrow, Dagupta, Daily et al: that total welfare of all future generations not be diminished. HCEI shrinks the economy, contributes negligibly to reduction of global carbon emissions, and sparks rent seeking activity (pursuit of special privilege and benefits) throughout the State of Hawaii.

Suggested Citation

  • Lee Endress, 2013. "Sustainable Development and the Hawaii Clean Energy Initiative," Working Papers 2013-4, University of Hawaii Economic Research Organization, University of Hawaii at Manoa.
    • Handle: RePEc:hae:wpaper:2013-4
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    File URL: https://uhero.hawaii.edu/wp-content/uploads/2019/08/WP_2013-4.pdf
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Kenneth Arrow & Partha Dasgupta & Lawrence Goulder & Gretchen Daily & Paul Ehrlich & Geoffrey Heal & Simon Levin & Karl-Göran Mäler & Stephen Schneider & David Starrett & Brian Walker, 2004. "Are We Consuming Too Much?," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 18(3), pages 147-172, Summer.
    2. 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.
    3. Lee Endress & Sittidaj Pongkijvorasin & James Roumasset & Basharat Pitafi, 2009. "Impatience and Intergenerational Equity in a Model of Sustainable Growth," Working Papers 200906, University of Hawaii at Manoa, Department of Economics.
    4. Stavins, Robert N. & Wagner, Alexander F. & Wagner, Gernot, 2003. "Interpreting sustainability in economic terms: dynamic efficiency plus intergenerational equity," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 79(3), pages 339-343, June.
    5. Martin L. Weitzman, 1976. "On the Welfare Significance of National Product in a Dynamic Economy," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 90(1), pages 156-162.
    6. Burton Peter S., 1993. "Intertemporal Preferences and Intergenerational Equity Considerations in Optimal Resource Harvesting," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 24(2), pages 119-132, March.
    7. Kimberly Burnett & Lee Endress & Majah-Leah Ravago & James Roumasset & Christopher Wada, 2011. "Islands of Sustainability in Time and Space," Working Papers 201112, University of Hawaii at Manoa, Department of Economics.
    8. James A. Roumasset & Kimberly M. Burnett & Arsenio M. Balisacan, 2010. "Sustainability Science for Watershed Landscapes," Books on Agricultural Research and Development, Southeast Asian Regional Center for Graduate Study and Research in Agriculture (SEARCA), number 2010:3.
    9. Arnold Harberger, 1964. "Taxation, Resource Allocation, and Welfare," NBER Chapters, in: The Role of Direct and Indirect Taxes in the Federal Reserve System, pages 25-80, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
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    Cited by:

    1. Majah-Leah Ravago & James Roumasset, 2016. "The Public Economics of Electricity Policy with Philippine Applications," Working Papers 201613, University of Hawaii at Manoa, Department of Economics.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    sustainability science; sustainable development; intertemporal welfare; complex systems; dynamic efficiency; time preference; intergenerational equity; renewable energy; rentseeking;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • O33 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Innovation; Research and Development; Technological Change; Intellectual Property Rights - - - Technological Change: Choices and Consequences; Diffusion Processes
    • Q01 - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics - - General - - - Sustainable Development
    • Q42 - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics - - Energy - - - Alternative Energy Sources

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