IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/grt/wpegrt/2018-17.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Introducing Environmental Ethics into Economic Analysis: Some insights from Hans Jonas’ Responsibility Principle

Author

Listed:
  • Damien J.A. BAZIN
  • Sylvie FERRARI
  • Richard B. HOWARTH

Abstract

This paper addresses how environmental ethics could be incorporated in economic analysis and more particularly how the Responsibility Principle of H. Jonas can provide useful insights into the analysis of sustainability issues. The challenges of environmental and social sustainability in terms of intergenerational fairness are analysed and involve a moral duty applicable to economic governance. The paper also explores to what extent responsibility, as an alternative to utilitarianism and as a principle facilitating the coordination of the agents involved, can be a first step towards the long-term and sustainable conservation of Nature.

Suggested Citation

  • Damien J.A. BAZIN & Sylvie FERRARI & Richard B. HOWARTH, 2018. "Introducing Environmental Ethics into Economic Analysis: Some insights from Hans Jonas’ Responsibility Principle," Cahiers du GREThA (2007-2019) 2018-17, Groupe de Recherche en Economie Théorique et Appliquée (GREThA).
    • Handle: RePEc:grt:wpegrt:2018-17
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://cahiersdugretha.u-bordeaux.fr/2018/2018-17.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Christian Gollier, 2005. "Quel taux d actualisation pour quel avenir ?," Revue Française d'Économie, Programme National Persée, vol. 19(4), pages 59-81.
    2. Howarth, Richard B., 2007. "Towards an operational sustainability criterion," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 63(4), pages 656-663, September.
    3. Stefan Bayer, 2003. "Generation-adjusted discounting in long-term decision-making," International Journal of Sustainable Development, Inderscience Enterprises Ltd, vol. 6(1), pages 1133-1149.
    4. John Hartwick, 1977. "Intergenerational Equity and the Investment of Rents from Exhaustible Resources in a Two Sector Model," Working Paper 281, Economics Department, Queen's University.
    5. Paul J. Crutzen, 2002. "Geology of mankind," Nature, Nature, vol. 415(6867), pages 23-23, January.
    6. Jérôme Ballet & Damien Bazin & Jean-Luc Dubois & François-Régis Mahieu, 2014. "Freedom, Responsibility and Economics of the Person," Post-Print halshs-00930924, HAL.
    7. 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.
    8. Sylvie Ferrari & J. Mery, 2008. "Equité intergénérationnelle et préoccupations environnementales. Réflexions autour de l'actualisation," Post-Print hal-00274276, HAL.
    9. Gregory M Mikkelson & Andrew Gonzalez & Garry D Peterson, 2007. "Economic Inequality Predicts Biodiversity Loss," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 2(5), pages 1-5, May.
    10. Padilla, Emilio, 2002. "Intergenerational equity and sustainability," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 41(1), pages 69-83, April.
    11. Richard S. J. Tol, 2009. "The Economic Effects of Climate Change," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 23(2), pages 29-51, Spring.
    12. repec:bla:scandj:v:88:y:1986:i:1:p:141-49 is not listed on IDEAS
    13. 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.
    14. Claude Henry, 1990. "Efficacité économique et impératifs éthiques : l'environnement en copropriété," Revue Économique, Programme National Persée, vol. 41(2), pages 195-214.
    15. Amartya Sen, 2013. "The Ends and Means of Sustainability," Journal of Human Development and Capabilities, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 14(1), pages 6-20, February.
    16. N. Gagnon & N. Lewis & Sylvie Ferrari, 2008. "Environnement et pauvreté : regards croisés entre l'éthique et la justice environnementales," Post-Print hal-00248520, HAL.
    17. Damien Bazin, 2007. "Une introduction au principe responsabilité de Hans Jonas," Post-Print halshs-00727582, 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. Damien Bazin & Sylvie Ferrari & Richard B. Howarth, 2021. "Introducing Environmental Ethics into Economic Analysis: Some Insights from Hans Jonas' Imperative of Responsibility," GREDEG Working Papers 2021-05, Groupe de REcherche en Droit, Economie, Gestion (GREDEG CNRS), Université Côte d'Azur, France.
    2. Koji Tokimatsu & Louis Dupuy & Nick Hanley, 2019. "Using Genuine Savings for Climate Policy Evaluation with an Integrated Assessment Model," Environmental & Resource Economics, Springer;European Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, vol. 72(1), pages 281-307, January.
    3. Nick Hanley & Louis Dupuy & Eoin McLaughlin, 2015. "Genuine Savings And Sustainability," Journal of Economic Surveys, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 29(4), pages 779-806, September.
    4. McGrath, Luke & Hynes, Stephen & McHale, John, 2019. "Augmenting the World Bank's estimates: Ireland's genuine savings through boom and bust," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 165(C), pages 1-1.
    5. Svartzman, Romain & Dron, Dominique & Espagne, Etienne, 2019. "From ecological macroeconomics to a theory of endogenous money for a finite planet," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 162(C), pages 108-120.
    6. Hoberg, Nikolai & Baumgärtner, Stefan, 2017. "Irreversibility and uncertainty cause an intergenerational equity-efficiency trade-off," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 131(C), pages 75-86.
    7. Joshua Farley, 2016. "The foundations for an ecological economy: an overview," Chapters, in: Joshua Farley & Deepak Malghan (ed.), Beyond Uneconomic Growth, chapter 1, pages 3-21, Edward Elgar Publishing.
    8. Hala Abu-Kalla & Ruslana Rachel Palatnik & Ofira Ayalon & Mordechai Shechter, 2020. "Hoard or Exploit? Intergenerational Allocation of Exhaustible Natural Resources," Energies, MDPI, vol. 13(24), pages 1-20, December.
    9. 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.
    10. Manel Kamoun & Ines Abdelkafi & Abdelfetah Ghorbel, 2019. "The Impact of Renewable Energy on Sustainable Growth: Evidence from a Panel of OECD Countries," Journal of the Knowledge Economy, Springer;Portland International Center for Management of Engineering and Technology (PICMET), vol. 10(1), pages 221-237, March.
    11. 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.
    12. 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.
    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. Issaka Dialga, 2017. "Changing the Africa's impoverishing economic model: Towards a rewarding sustainable specialization model with a new factor of production," Working Papers halshs-01500431, HAL.
    15. Alan Randall, 2020. "On Intergenerational Commitment, Weak Sustainability, and Safety," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(13), pages 1-18, July.
    16. Hart, Rob, 2016. "Non-renewable resources in the long run," Journal of Economic Dynamics and Control, Elsevier, vol. 71(C), pages 1-20.
    17. Klepper, Gernot & Stahler, Frank, 1998. "Sustainabilty in Closed and Open Economies," Review of International Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 6(3), pages 488-506, August.
    18. Rintaro Yamaguchi & Masayuki Sato & Kazuhiro Ueta, 2016. "Measuring Regional Wealth and Assessing Sustainable Development: An Application to a Disaster-Torn Region in Japan," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 129(1), pages 365-389, October.
    19. Giuseppe Cornelli, 2017. "Cosa s’intende per sostenibilità economica? Riflessione sul significato di sistema economicamente sostenibile/What is meant by economic ustainability? Reflection on the definition of today’s concept o," IRCrES Working Paper 201710, CNR-IRCrES Research Institute on Sustainable Economic Growth - Moncalieri (TO) ITALY - former Institute for Economic Research on Firms and Growth - Torino (TO) ITALY.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Environmental ethics; intergenerational fairness; responsibility principle; self-binding behaviour; sustainability.;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • Q01 - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics - - General - - - Sustainable Development
    • Q20 - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics - - Renewable Resources and Conservation - - - General
    • Q32 - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics - - Nonrenewable Resources and Conservation - - - Exhaustible Resources and Economic Development
    • Q57 - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics - - Environmental Economics - - - Ecological Economics

    NEP fields

    This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

    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:grt:wpegrt:2018-17. 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: Ernest Miguelez (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/ifredfr.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.