IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/ecolec/v67y2008i2p281-310.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Sustainability economics: Where do we stand?

Author

Listed:
  • Ayres, Robert U.

Abstract

Environmental economics, which is a branch of resource economics - the environment as a scarce resource - is essentially about market failures, the costs of pollution and pollution abatement, and the economics of regulation. Sustainability economics includes the problem of maintaining economic growth, while reducing pollution and/or its impacts, with special attention to the linked problems of energy supply (not to mention the supply other exhaustible resources), climate change and - most urgently - fossil fuel consumption. There is a need for integration of resource and environmental economics under a new rubric, sustainability economics.

Suggested Citation

  • Ayres, Robert U., 2008. "Sustainability economics: Where do we stand?," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 67(2), pages 281-310, September.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:ecolec:v:67:y:2008:i:2:p:281-310
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0921-8009(07)00608-8
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    ---><---

    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. William D. Nordhaus, 1973. "The Allocation of Energy Resources," Brookings Papers on Economic Activity, Economic Studies Program, The Brookings Institution, vol. 4(3), pages 529-576.
    2. R. C. D'Arge & K. C. Kogiku, 1973. "Economic Growth and the Environment," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 40(1), pages 61-77.
    3. Martin L. Weitzman, 1999. "Pricing the Limits to Growth from Minerals Depletion," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 114(2), pages 691-706.
    4. J. Daniel Khazzoom, 1987. "Energy Saving Resulting from the Adoption of More Efficient Appliances," The Energy Journal, International Association for Energy Economics, vol. 0(Number 4), pages 85-89.
    5. Robert Ayres, 1994. "On economic disequilibrium and free lunch," Environmental & Resource Economics, Springer;European Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, vol. 4(5), pages 435-454, October.
    6. Stern, David I., 2004. "The Rise and Fall of the Environmental Kuznets Curve," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 32(8), pages 1419-1439, August.
    7. Ayres, Robert U., 1993. "Cowboys, cornucopians and long-run sustainability," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 8(3), pages 189-207, December.
    8. de Almeida, Edmar Luiz Fagundes, 1998. "Energy efficiency and the limits of market forces: The example of the electric motor market in France," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 26(8), pages 643-653, July.
    9. DeCanio, Stephen J, 1998. "The efficiency paradox: bureaucratic and organizational barriers to profitable energy-saving investments," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 26(5), pages 441-454, April.
    10. Newbery, David M G & Stiglitz, Joseph E, 1982. "The Choice of Techniques and the Optimality of Market Equilibrium with Rational Expectations," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 90(2), pages 223-246, April.
    11. Gowdy, John & O'Hara, Sabine, 1997. "Weak sustainability and viable technologies," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 22(3), pages 239-247, September.
    12. 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.
    13. Mills, Evan & Wilson, Deborah & Johansson, Thomas B., 1991. "Getting started: no-regrets strategies for reducing greenhouse gas emissions," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 19(6), pages 526-542.
    14. McKibbin, Warwick J. & Wilcoxen, Peter J., 1998. "The theoretical and empirical structure of the G-Cubed model," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 16(1), pages 123-148, January.
    15. Lomborg,Bjørn, 2001. "The Skeptical Environmentalist," Cambridge Books, Cambridge University Press, number 9780521010689, October.
    16. J. v. Neumann, 1945. "A Model of General Economic Equilibrium," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 13(1), pages 1-9.
    17. Selden Thomas M. & Song Daqing, 1994. "Environmental Quality and Development: Is There a Kuznets Curve for Air Pollution Emissions?," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 27(2), pages 147-162, September.
    18. John W. Kendrick, 1961. "Productivity Trends in the United States," NBER Books, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc, number kend61-1.
    19. David Gale, 1967. "On Optimal Development in a Multi-Sector Economy," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 34(1), pages 1-18.
    20. Ayres, Robert U., 2007. "On the practical limits to substitution," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 61(1), pages 115-128, February.
    21. Ayres, Robert U. & Ayres, Leslie W. & Pokrovsky, Vladimir, 2005. "On the efficiency of US electricity usage since 1900," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 30(7), pages 1092-1145.
    22. Robert M. Solow, 1973. "Is the End of the World at Hand?," Challenge, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 16(1), pages 39-50, March.
    23. Cabeza Gutes, Maite, 1996. "The concept of weak sustainability," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 17(3), pages 147-156, June.
    24. Robert M. Solow, 1974. "The Economics of Resources or the Resources of Economics," Palgrave Macmillan Books, in: Chennat Gopalakrishnan (ed.), Classic Papers in Natural Resource Economics, chapter 12, pages 257-276, Palgrave Macmillan.
    25. Brookes, L. G., 1992. "Energy efficiency and economic fallacies: a reply," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 20(5), pages 390-392, May.
    26. Lawrence Goulder, 1995. "Environmental taxation and the double dividend: A reader's guide," International Tax and Public Finance, Springer;International Institute of Public Finance, vol. 2(2), pages 157-183, August.
    27. Ayres, Robert U. & Warr, Benjamin, 2005. "Accounting for growth: the role of physical work," Structural Change and Economic Dynamics, Elsevier, vol. 16(2), pages 181-209, June.
    28. Joseph Stiglitz, 1974. "Growth with Exhaustible Natural Resources: Efficient and Optimal Growth Paths," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 41(5), pages 123-137.
    29. Gene M. Grossman & Alan B. Krueger, 1995. "Economic Growth and the Environment," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 110(2), pages 353-377.
    30. Kaldor, Nicholas, 1972. "The Irrelevance of Equilibrium Economics," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 82(328), pages 1237-1255, December.
    31. Common, Mick & Perrings, Charles, 1992. "Towards an ecological economics of sustainability," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 6(1), pages 7-34, July.
    32. Martin L. Weitzman, 1997. "Sustainability and Technical Progress," Scandinavian Journal of Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 99(1), pages 1-13, March.
    33. 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.
    34. Renaud Crassous, Jean-Charles Hourcade, Olivier Sassi, 2006. "Endogenous Structural Change and Climate Targets Modeling Experiments with Imaclim-R," The Energy Journal, International Association for Energy Economics, vol. 0(Special I), pages 259-276.
    35. Morton I. Kamien & Nancy L. Schwartz, 1978. "Optimal Exhaustible Resource Depletion with Endogenous Technical Change," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 45(1), pages 179-196.
    36. Renaud Crassous & Jean Charles Hourcade & Olivier Sassi, 2006. "Endogenous structural change and climate targets," Post-Print halshs-00009335, HAL.
    37. Nordhaus, William D, 1973. "World Dynamics: Measurement Without Data," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 83(332), pages 1156-1183, December.
    38. Ayres, Robert U & Ayres, Leslie W & Warr, Benjamin, 2003. "Exergy, power and work in the US economy, 1900–1998," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 28(3), pages 219-273.
    39. Stern, David I. & Common, Michael S. & Barbier, Edward B., 1996. "Economic growth and environmental degradation: The environmental Kuznets curve and sustainable development," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 24(7), pages 1151-1160, July.
    40. Ayres, Robert U & Kneese, Allen V, 1969. "Production , Consumption, and Externalities," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 59(3), pages 282-297, June.
    41. Pearce, David, 1997. "Substitution and sustainability: some reflections on Georgescu-Roegen," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 22(3), pages 295-297, September.
    42. del Río, Pablo & Unruh, Gregory, 2007. "Overcoming the lock-out of renewable energy technologies in Spain: The cases of wind and solar electricity," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 11(7), pages 1498-1513, September.
    43. Dorfman, Robert, 1969. "An Economic Interpretation of Optimal Control Theory," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 59(5), pages 817-831, December.
    44. Eriksson, K. -E. & Islam, S. & Karlsson, S. & Manson, B., 1984. "Optimal development of an economy with a bounded inflow of one essential resource input," Resources and Energy, Elsevier, vol. 6(3), pages 235-258, September.
    45. Jeroen C.J.M. van den Bergh (ed.), 1999. "Handbook of Environmental and Resource Economics," Books, Edward Elgar Publishing, number 801.
    46. Jaffe, Adam B. & Stavins, Robert N., 1994. "The energy-efficiency gap What does it mean?," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 22(10), pages 804-810, October.
    47. Roy Radner, 1961. "Prices and the Turnpike: III. Paths of Economic Growth that are Optimal with Regard only to Final States: A Turnpike Theorem," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 28(2), pages 98-104.
    48. R. Crassous & Jean Charles Hourcade & O. Sassi, 2006. "Endogenous structural change and climate targets modeling experiments with imaclim-R," Post-Print hal-00719272, HAL.
    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. Di Vita, Giuseppe, 2006. "Natural resources dynamics: Exhaustible and renewable resources, and the rate of technical substitution," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 31(3), pages 172-182, September.
    2. Giuseppe Di Vita, 2004. "Natural Resources Dynamics: Another Look," Working Papers 2004.110, Fondazione Eni Enrico Mattei.
    3. Brock, William A. & Taylor, M. Scott, 2005. "Economic Growth and the Environment: A Review of Theory and Empirics," Handbook of Economic Growth, in: Philippe Aghion & Steven Durlauf (ed.), Handbook of Economic Growth, edition 1, volume 1, chapter 28, pages 1749-1821, Elsevier.
    4. Garmendia, E. & Prellezo, R. & Murillas, A. & Escapa, M. & Gallastegui, M., 2010. "Weak and strong sustainability assessment in fisheries," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 70(1), pages 96-106, November.
    5. Alberto Quadrio Curzio & Fausta Pellizzari & Roberto Zoboli, 2011. "Resources and Technologies," CRANEC - Working Papers del Centro di Ricerche in Analisi economica e sviluppo economico internazionale crn1101, Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore, Centro di Ricerche in Analisi economica e sviluppo economico internazionale (CRANEC).
    6. Robinson, James A. & Srinivasan, T.N., 1993. "Long-term consequences of population growth: Technological change, natural resources, and the environment," Handbook of Population and Family Economics, in: M. R. Rosenzweig & Stark, O. (ed.), Handbook of Population and Family Economics, edition 1, volume 1, chapter 21, pages 1175-1298, Elsevier.
    7. David I. Stern, 2010. "The Role of Energy in Economic Growth," CCEP Working Papers 0310, Centre for Climate & Energy Policy, Crawford School of Public Policy, The Australian National University.
    8. Cameron Hepburn & Alex Bowen, 2013. "Prosperity with growth: economic growth, climate change and environmental limits," Chapters, in: Roger Fouquet (ed.), Handbook on Energy and Climate Change, chapter 29, pages 617-638, Edward Elgar Publishing.
    9. Costanza, Robert & Stern, David & Fisher, Brendan & He, Lining & Ma, Chunbo, 2004. "Influential publications in ecological economics: a citation analysis," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 50(3-4), pages 261-292, October.
    10. Daniele Schilirò, 2019. "Sustainability, Innovation, and Efficiency: A Key Relationship," Palgrave Studies in Impact Finance, in: Magdalena Ziolo & Bruno S. Sergi (ed.), Financing Sustainable Development, chapter 0, pages 83-102, Palgrave Macmillan.
    11. Ayres, Robert U. & van den Bergh, Jeroen C.J.M., 2005. "A theory of economic growth with material/energy resources and dematerialization: Interaction of three growth mechanisms," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 55(1), pages 96-118, October.
    12. Márcia J. Diniz & Marcelo B. Diniz, 2005. "Trajetórias Da Qualidade Ambiental E Do Desenvolvimento Econômico Sustentável," Anais do XXXIII Encontro Nacional de Economia [Proceedings of the 33rd Brazilian Economics Meeting] 134, ANPEC - Associação Nacional dos Centros de Pós-Graduação em Economia [Brazilian Association of Graduate Programs in Economics].
    13. Venkatachalam, L., 2007. "Environmental economics and ecological economics: Where they can converge?," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 61(2-3), pages 550-558, March.
    14. Kerschner, Christian & Ehlers, Melf-Hinrich, 2016. "A framework of attitudes towards technology in theory and practice," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 126(C), pages 139-151.
    15. Blackman, Allen & Nelson, Per-Kristian & Mathis, Mitchell, 2001. "The Greening of Development Economics: A Survey," RFF Working Paper Series dp-01-08, Resources for the Future.
    16. Drupp, Moritz A. & Baumgärtner, Stefan & Meyer, Moritz & Quaas, Martin F. & von Wehrden, Henrik, 2020. "Between Ostrom and Nordhaus: The research landscape of sustainability economics," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 172(C).
    17. 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.
    18. Theodore Panayotou, 2000. "Economic Growth and the Environment," CID Working Papers 56A, Center for International Development at Harvard University.
    19. Caviglia-Harris, Jill L. & Chambers, Dustin & Kahn, James R., 2009. "Taking the "U" out of Kuznets: A comprehensive analysis of the EKC and environmental degradation," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 68(4), pages 1149-1159, February.
    20. Barbier,Edward B., 2007. "Natural Resources and Economic Development," Cambridge Books, Cambridge University Press, number 9780521706513.

    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:eee:ecolec:v:67:y:2008:i:2:p:281-310. 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: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/locate/ecolecon .

    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.