Sustainability and the Infinite Future: A Case Study of a False Modeling Assumption in Environmental Economics.

This essay examines the issue of false assumptions in models via a case study of a prominent economic model of sustainable development, wherein the assumption of an infinite future plays a central role. Two proposals are found to be helpful for this case, one based on the concept of derivational rob...

Descripción completa

Detalles Bibliográficos
Publicado en:Erkenntnis Vol. 82; no. 5; pp. 1065 - 1085
Autor principal: Steel, Daniel
Formato: Artículo
Publicado: Springer Nature Oct2017
Materias:
Acceso en línea:Ver este registro en EBSCOhost
fields @attributes:
  recordID: 1
pdfLink:
plink: https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=hlh&AN=125871926&site=ehost-live
header:
  @attributes:
    shortDbName: hlh
    uiTerm: 125871926
    longDbName: Humanities International Complete
    uiTag: AN
  controlInfo:
    bkinfo:
    jinfo:
      jid:
        01650106
        5KZ
      jtl: Erkenntnis
      issn: 01650106
      maglogo: N
    pubinfo:
      dt: Oct2017
      vid: 82
      iid: 5
      pid: 237
      pub: Springer Nature
    artinfo:
      ui:
        125871926
        10.1007/s10670-016-9859-x
      ppf: 1065
      ppct: 20
      formats:
        fmt:
          @attributes:
            type: P
            size: 445KB
      tig:
        atl: Sustainability and the Infinite Future: A Case Study of a False Modeling Assumption in Environmental Economics.
      aug:
        au: Steel, Daniel
        affil: The W. Maurice Young Centre for Applied Ethics , University of British Columbia , 2206 East Mall Vancouver V6T 1Z9 Canada
      su:
        Sustainability
        Environmental economics
        Sustainable development
        Infinite groups
        Environmental ethics
      sug:
        subj:
          Sustainability
          Environmental economics
          Sustainable development
          Infinite groups
          Environmental ethics
      ab: This essay examines the issue of false assumptions in models via a case study of a prominent economic model of sustainable development, wherein the assumption of an infinite future plays a central role. Two proposals are found to be helpful for this case, one based on the concept of derivational robustness and the other on understanding. Both suggest that the assumption of an infinite future, while arguably legitimate in some applications of the model, is problematic with respect to what I call 'Parfitian' welfare functions. This result is relevant to debates about discounting the future in economics and environmental ethics.
      pubtype: Academic Journal
      doctype: Article
      src: R
    language: English
    refInfo:
    copyright:
      @attributes:
        flag: Y
      custom: Erkenntnis is a copyright of Springer, 2017. All Rights Reserved.
      item: Erkenntnis
      holder: Springer Nature
      dt:
        @attributes:
          year: 2017
    holdings:
      @attributes:
        islocal: N