Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/10419/57167 
Year of Publication: 
2012
Series/Report no.: 
Working Paper Series in Economics No. 234
Publisher: 
Leuphana Universität Lüneburg, Institut für Volkswirtschaftslehre, Lüneburg
Abstract: 
We develop and formalize a utilitarian notion of responsibility for sustainability which is inspired by Singer's (1972) principle and the Brundtland Commission's notion ofsustainability (WCED 1987). We relate this notion of responsibility to established criteria forthe assessment of intertemporal societal choice, namely Pareto-efficiency, (discounted) utilitarian welfare maximization, and Brundtland-sustainability. Using a two-generationsresource-model, we find the following. Sustainability and responsibility for sustainability are equivalent if and only if sustainability is feasible. If it is not, there still exists a responsible allocation which is also Pareto-efficient. Further, the utilitarian welfare maximum without discounting always fulfills the criterion of responsibility. Discounting may be responsible to a certain extent if sustainability is feasible. If sustainability is not feasible, discounting is not responsible.
Subjects: 
basic needs
Brundtland
discounting
ethics
natural resources
Pareto efficiency
responsibility
Singer
sustainability
utilitarianism
JEL: 
D63
D90
Q01
G56
Document Type: 
Working Paper

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