IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/hai/wpaper/200009.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Sustainable Development Without Constraints

Author

Listed:
  • James A Roumasset

    (Department of Economics, University of Hawaii at Manoa)

  • Lee H Endress

    (Asia-Pacific Center for Security Studies)

Abstract

We explore the possibility of representing sustainability concerns in the objective function of an optimal growth problem instead of as a constraint. In a general model with capital accumulation and resource depletion, we represent intergenerational equity using the pure rate of time preference and the elasticity of the marginal social utility of income and that a sustainability constraint would be either redundant or render the optimization problem indeterminate. The model also provides a basis for evaluating the deprecation of natural capital for adjusted national income accounts such that maximizing adjusted national income is equivalent to a period- by - period solution of the intertemporal welfare problem. This approach to sustainability rests on the firm theoretical foundations establish by three pioneers of economic dynamics and growth: Frank Ramsey, Harold Hotelling, and Tjalling Koopmans.

Suggested Citation

  • James A Roumasset & Lee H Endress, 2000. "Sustainable Development Without Constraints," Working Papers 200009, University of Hawaii at Manoa, Department of Economics.
    • Handle: RePEc:hai:wpaper:200009
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.economics.hawaii.edu/research/workingpapers/009.pdf
    File Function: First version, 2000
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    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. Heal, Geoffrey M., 1993. "The optimal use of exhaustible resources," Handbook of Natural Resource and Energy Economics, in: A. V. Kneese† & J. L. Sweeney (ed.), Handbook of Natural Resource and Energy Economics, edition 1, volume 3, chapter 18, pages 855-880, Elsevier.
    3. Andrea Beltratti & Graciela Chichilnisky & Geoffrey Heal, 1993. "Sustainable Growth and the Green Golden Rule," NBER Working Papers 4430, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    4. Tjalling C. Koopmans, 1963. "On the Concept of Optimal Economic Growth," Cowles Foundation Discussion Papers 163, Cowles Foundation for Research in Economics, Yale University.
    5. Geir B. Asheim, 1988. "Rawlsian Intergenerational Justice as a Markov-Perfect Equilibrium in a Resource Technology," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 55(3), pages 469-483.
    6. Lewis, Tracy R, 1982. "Sufficient Conditions for Extracting Least Cost Resource First," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 50(4), pages 1081-1083, July.
    7. 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.
    8. Endress, Lee H & Roumasset, James A, 1994. "Golden Rules for Sustainable Resource Management," The Economic Record, The Economic Society of Australia, vol. 70(210), pages 267-277, September.
    9. Tjalling C. Koopmans, 1959. "Stationary Ordinal Utility and Impatience," Cowles Foundation Discussion Papers 81, Cowles Foundation for Research in Economics, Yale University.
    10. Solow, Robert M, 1986. " On the Intergenerational Allocation of Natural Resources," Scandinavian Journal of Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 88(1), pages 141-149.
    11. Xavier Sala-i-Martin, 1990. "Lecture Notes on Economic Growth(I): Introduction to the Literature and Neoclassical Models," NBER Working Papers 3563, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    12. Partha Dasgupta & Geoffrey Heal, 1974. "The Optimal Depletion of Exhaustible Resources," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 41(5), pages 3-28.
    13. Geoffrey Heal (ed.), 1993. "The Economics of Exhaustible Resources," Books, Edward Elgar Publishing, number 554.
    14. Johansson,Per-Olov, 1993. "Cost-Benefit Analysis of Environmental Change," Cambridge Books, Cambridge University Press, number 9780521447928.
    15. 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.
    16. P. Diamond & J. Mirrlees, 1976. "Private Constant Returns and Public Shadow Prices," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 43(1), pages 41-47.
    17. Diewert, W. E., 1983. "Cost-benefit analysis and project evaluation : A comparison of alternative approaches," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 22(3), pages 265-302, December.
    18. Olson, Mancur & Bailey, Martin J, 1981. "Positive Time Preference," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 89(1), pages 1-25, February.
    19. Dasgupta, Partha, 1974. "On some alternative criteria for justice between generations," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 3(4), pages 405-423, November.
    20. Lee H. Endress & James A. Roumasset, 1994. "Golden Rules for Sustainable Resource Management," The Economic Record, The Economic Society of Australia, vol. 70(210), pages 267-277, September.
    21. Solow, Robert, 1993. "An almost practical step toward sustainability," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 19(3), pages 162-172, September.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    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. Endress, Lee H. & Roumasset, James A. & Zhou, Ting, 2005. "Sustainable growth with environmental spillovers," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 58(4), pages 527-547, December.
    2. Mitra, Tapan, 2002. "Intertemporal Equity and Efficient Allocation of Resources," Journal of Economic Theory, Elsevier, vol. 107(2), pages 356-376, December.
    3. 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.
    4. Jeffrey A. Krautkraemer, 1998. "Nonrenewable Resource Scarcity," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 36(4), pages 2065-2107, December.
    5. Endress, Lee H. & Pongkijvorasin, Sittidaj & Roumasset, James & Wada, Christopher A., 2014. "Intergenerational equity with individual impatience in a model of optimal and sustainable growth," Resource and Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 36(2), pages 620-635.
    6. Doyen, L. & Martinet, V., 2012. "Maximin, viability and sustainability," Journal of Economic Dynamics and Control, Elsevier, vol. 36(9), pages 1414-1430.
    7. Lucas Bretschger & Simone Valente, 2011. "International trade and net investment: theory and evidence," International Economics and Economic Policy, Springer, vol. 8(2), pages 197-224, June.
    8. 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.
    9. 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.
    10. Andrea Beltratti & Graciela Chichilnisky & Geoffrey Heal, 1993. "Sustainable Growth and the Green Golden Rule," NBER Working Papers 4430, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    11. Lee H. Endress & Sittidaj Pongkijvorasin & James Roumasset & Christopher Wada, 2013. "Intergenerational Equity with Individual Impatience in an OLG Model of Optimal and Sustainable Growth," Working Papers 2013-9, University of Hawaii Economic Research Organization, University of Hawaii at Manoa.
    12. Nick Hanley & Louis Dupuy & Eoin McLaughlin, 2015. "Genuine Savings And Sustainability," Journal of Economic Surveys, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 29(4), pages 779-806, September.
    13. 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.
    14. 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.
    15. Bazhanov, Andrei, 2008. "Sustainable growth in a resource-based economy: the extraction-saving relationship," MPRA Paper 12350, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    16. Chichilnisky, Graciela & Beltratti, Andrea & Heal, Geoffrey, 1998. "Sustainable use of renewable resources, Chapter 2.1," MPRA Paper 8815, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    17. 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.
    18. 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.
    19. Withagen, C. A. A. M., 1996. "Sustainability and investment rules," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 53(1), pages 1-6, October.
    20. 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.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    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:hai:wpaper:200009. 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: Web Technician (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/deuhius.html .

    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.