A Poverty of Reason: Sustainable Development and Economic Growth - Softcover

Beckerman, Wilfred

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0945999852 ISBN 13: 9780945999850

Publisher: Independent Institute, 2002

Synopsis

Environmental activists, politicians and celebrities have touted the wisdom of "sustainable development" as though its meaning and value were clear. But the concept has barely been defined, let alone subjected to scientific, economic, and philosophical scrutiny.

Oxford University economist Wilfred Beckerman puts "sustainable development" to the test, questioning several of its core claims: Will economic growth burn itself out by depleting the natural resources it requires? Will global warming wreak widespread havoc? Does human activity threaten to throw a delicate planet dangerously "out of balance"? Do future generations possess rights that morally override the claims of those alive today? At what price?

After examining the evidence, Beckerman finds "sustainable development" lacking on both scientific and moral grounds. Although millions of people lack clean air and water, and are plagued by deteriorating ecosystems, these problems are caused not by "unsustainable development" but by poverty, poorly defined property rights, and lack of freedom of opportunity. And, Beckerman concludes, because "sustainable development" recommends policies that would worsen these conditions (for present and future generations), it hardly occupies the moral high ground, as its supporters claim.

A Poverty of Reason provides a critical examination of this highly controversial topic and will prove essential in the ongoing debate about environmental and economic practices.

About this title

About the Author

Wilfred Beckerman (1925–2020) was Emeritus Fellow at Balliol College, Oxford University, England. He received his Ph.D. from Oxford University and D.Phil. from Cambridge University, and he has been Honorary Visiting Professor of Economics at University College London, where he held the Chair in Political Economy. He has been a Member of the Royal Commission on Environmental Pollution; Chair of the United Kingdom’s Department of the Environment’s Advisory Panel of Academic Economists; Research Director and a Member of the Council and the Executive Committee of the National Institute for Economic and Social Research; Economic Advisor to the President of the British Board of Trade; and Head of Division of the Organisation of Economic Cooperation and Development.

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.

A Poverty of Reason

Sustainable Development and Economic Growth

By Wilfred Beckerman

The Independent Institute

Copyright © 2003 The Independent Institute
All rights reserved.

ISBN: 978-0-945999-85-0

Contents

Preface, 
Introduction, 
Chapter 1 What Is Sustainable Development Supposed to Mean?, 
Chapter 2 Finite Resources and the Prospects for Economic Growth, 
Chapter 3 Energy and Biodiversity, 
Chapter 4 Climate Change, 
Chapter 5 The Precautionary Principle, 
Chapter 6 Bureaucratic Regulation and Protectionism, 
Chapter 7 The "Ethics" of Sustainable Development, 
Notes, 
References, 
Index, 
About the Author, 

CHAPTER 1

What Is Sustainable Development Supposed to Mean?

Sustainable Development and Conceptual Chaos

The first question that has to be asked about sustainable development is, What exactly does it mean? The second question is, What is so good about it? This chapter focuses on the first question.

One of the most famous definitions of sustainable development is that contained in the Brundtland Report, Our Common Future: "development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs" (World Commission on Environment and Development [WCED] 1987: 43). But such a criterion is not very helpful. Not every need of the present generation is being met, so why should future generations be any different? Moreover, people at different points in time or at different income levels or with different cultural or national backgrounds differ about the importance they attach to different needs. The injunction that we should enable future generations to meet their needs does not provide any clear guidance as to what has to be preserved in order that future generations may do so.

Furthermore, this injunction seems to leave no room for trade-offs. Suppose we accept the claim of some environmental activists that future generations will face more serious environmental problems than those we currently face. How many of the needs (and wants, if such things differ) of the current generation are to be sacrificed in order to help future generations meet their needs? The urgency of needs varies enormously, even for a given individual, let alone for different individuals and then different generations. The term needs does not stand for some objective, homogeneous, and indivisible entity. So no guidance is provided by the statement that the ability of the present generation to meet its needs must not be sacrificed at all in order to enable future generations to meet their needs.

The Brundtland Report also contains another concept of sustainable development that is not so much meaningless as morally outrageous. The report states that "The loss of plant and animal species can greatly limit the options of future generations; so sustainable development requires the conservation of plant and animal species" (WCED 1987: 43). But, we might ask, how far does the Brundtland Report's injunction really go? What price must we pay to conserve all plant and animal species for posterity? Are we supposed to mount a large operation, at astronomic cost, to ensure the survival of every known and unknown species on the grounds that they may give pleasure to future generations or may turn out, in a hundred years' time, to have medicinal properties? Approximately 98 percent of all the species that have ever existed are believed to have become extinct already, but most people do not suffer any great sense of loss as a result. How many people lose sleep

Edition details

• Publisher: Independent Institute
• Publication date: 2002
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0945999852
• ISBN 13: 9780945999850
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 112