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An arrow in the Achilles' heel of sustainability and wealth accounting

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  30 May 2012

Sjak Smulders
Sjak Smulders
Affiliation:
Department of Economics and Tilburg Sustainability Center, Tilburg University, P.O. Box 90153, 5000 LE Tilburg, The Netherlands. Tel: +31 13 466 3653. Fax: +31 13 466 3042. Email: [email protected]
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Abstract

How sustainable is the growth pattern of a national economy? At first, answering this question seems almost impossible, since this would require knowing what happens and what can happen in the future. One needs to assess whether the investments we make today will be sufficient to provide future generations with the means to cope with imminent disasters like the exhaustion of minerals and vital resources, or other problems like increasing population pressure and climate change. One also needs to assess which combination of investment leads to the desired result. If entrepreneurs, managers and households already have problems in finding out what is the best mix of investment for them in their micro-environment, how can we answer the aggregate question that needs so much more information?

Type
Commentary
Information
Environment and Development Economics , Volume 17 , Issue 3 , June 2012 , pp. 368 - 372
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2012

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