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Some Theoretical Connections Among Wealth, Income, Sustainability, and Accounting

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  • Martin L. Weitzman

Abstract

In theory, and under some quite strong assumptions, there exists an important rigorous quantitative relationship among the following four fundamental economic concepts: (1) "wealth"; (2) "income"; (3) "sustainability"; (4) "accounting". These four basic concepts are placed in quotation marks here because a necessary first step will be to carefully and rigorously define what exactly is meant by each concept. In this paper, I review what is known about this important four-fold quantitative relationship in an ultra-simplified setting. I identify some basic applications of this simplified economic theory of wealth and income (and sustainability and accounting). While the contents of this paper are expressed at a very high level of abstraction and require some restrictive assumptions, I believe that the fundamental four-fold relationship it sharply highlights is useful for understanding, at least in principle, what is "wealth" and what is its theoretical relationship to "income," "sustainability," and "accounting."

Suggested Citation

  • Martin L. Weitzman, 2016. "Some Theoretical Connections Among Wealth, Income, Sustainability, and Accounting," NBER Working Papers 22060, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    • Handle: RePEc:nbr:nberwo:22060
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    1. World Commission on Environment and Development,, 1987. "Our Common Future," OUP Catalogue, Oxford University Press, number 9780192820808.
    2. 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.
    3. 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.
    4. Martin L. Weitzman, 1970. "Aggregation and Disaggregation in the Pure Theory of Capital and Growth: A New Parable," Cowles Foundation Discussion Papers 292, Cowles Foundation for Research in Economics, Yale University.
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    Cited by:

    1. McLaughlin, Eoin & Ducoing, Cristián & Hanley, Nick, 2024. "Challenges of wealth-based sustainability metrics: A critical appraisal," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 224(C).
    2. Eli P Fenichel & Yukiko Hashida, 2019. "Choices and the value of natural capital," Oxford Review of Economic Policy, Oxford University Press and Oxford Review of Economic Policy Limited, vol. 35(1), pages 120-137.
    3. Fangzhi Wang & Hua Liao & Richard S. J. Tol, 2023. "Baumol's Climate Disease," Papers 2312.00160, arXiv.org.
    4. Sugiawan, Yogi & Managi, Shunsuke, 2019. "New evidence of energy-growth nexus from inclusive wealth," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 103(C), pages 40-48.

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    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • Q01 - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics - - General - - - Sustainable Development
    • Q2 - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics - - Renewable Resources and Conservation
    • Q5 - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics - - Environmental Economics

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