Week 2 Flashcards
Sustainable Development definition:
Development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs
What does sustainable development entail?
- Treating the environment as a form of natural capital
- Using a closed, circular economic system to respect the relationship between the environment and the economy
What are the 17 sustainable development goals?
the UN list of goals, first time they came up with a way to ensure sustainable development
UN also came up with targets and indicators to achieve these goals
Examples: no poverty, zero hunger, gender equality, clean water/sanitation…
What are the 3 categories of the SDG list?
Environmental, Economic and Social
(Unless you are meeting goals among all 3 categories simultaneously, you are on an unsustainable path)
What must economists do to move from linear to circular systems?
They must treat our environment as a stock of scarce capital.
What is intra-generational equity?
Equity within generations
What is inter-generational equity?
Equity across generations
What is the Hartwick Rule?
A rule for sustainable development that says that the constant level of consumption can be maintained into perpetuity if all the scarcity rent were reinvested in capital stock.
What is total capital stock?
Capital that includes natural, physical and human capital stock
What is a big issue with the Hartwick Rule?
It doesn’t account for natural capital being undervalued in pricing in our economy as well as some of it being irreplaceable or consequences being irreversible.
What is weak sustainability?
Environment treated as a form of natural capital
Maintain and/or enhance the capital stock
No difference between natural and other forms of capital
As long as depleted natural capital is replaced with even more valuable physical and human capital, then the value of the aggregate capital stock will increase
What is strong sustainability?
Environment treated as a form of natural capital
Maintain and/or enhance the capital stock
Cannot view natural, human and physical capital as a homogenous stock. Cannot be used as substitutes.
Strong sustainability means preserving some forms of natural capital
What is the Kuznets Curve (EKC)?
A graph that hypothesizes that as a country/economy grows, they reach a peak/turning point in their level of environmental degradation where the level of degradation starts to get lower as they grow more.
The capital approach to sustainability
- you treat nature as a form of capital
- Hartwick Rule
- Weak or strong sustainability
The systems approach to sustainability
Grouped into three categories of economic, environmental and social. In order to be sustainable, you must meet the needs of all 3 groups simultaneously
What are some issues with the EKC (Kuznets Curve)?
It doesn’t account of natural capital that is irreplaceable or environmental degradation that is irreversible
What is one issue of the no growth theory?
If we stop economic growth altogether in service to the environment, there will be social costs such as the lowering of technological innovation (which could help us further solve environmental issues) and further division of the economic classes (poor get more poor, rich get more rich).
What is the resource curse hypothesis?
Resource abundance may lead to slower economic growth
What are some issues in low income economies that contribute to their hindrance in economic growth?
The rely too much on natural capital and not enough on human capital and reproducible capital.
Because of this, they are very vulnerable to external factors such as natural disasters, etc.
What is the main issue in unsustainable development?
How we MANAGE our natural resources.
