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Generous Sustainability

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  • Reyer Gerlagh

Abstract

I define “generous sustainability” as a combination of two conditions: neither instantaneous maximin income nor attainable maximin income should decrease over time. I provide a formal definition and study applications to an AK economy, a Ramsey economy, and a Climate Economy. Generosity is shown to impose substantially stronger conditions on current actions compared to existing sustainability concepts. As a rule of thumb, generosity requires that GHG emissions are limited to levels that do not cause irreversible system damages if some group of people systematically value these systems.

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  • Reyer Gerlagh, 2014. "Generous Sustainability," CESifo Working Paper Series 5092, CESifo.
    • Handle: RePEc:ces:ceswps:_5092
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    Cited by:

    1. Periyasami Anbarasan & Sushil, 2018. "Stakeholder Engagement in Sustainable Enterprise: Evolving a Conceptual Framework, and a Case Study of ITC," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 27(3), pages 282-299, March.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    intertemporal choice and growth; intergenerational distribution; sustainable development.;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • D63 - Microeconomics - - Welfare Economics - - - Equity, Justice, Inequality, and Other Normative Criteria and Measurement
    • D90 - Microeconomics - - Micro-Based Behavioral Economics - - - General
    • Q01 - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics - - General - - - Sustainable Development

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