A Poverty of Reason: Sustainable Development and Economic Growth

Donald H. Stedman, professor of chemistry, University of Denver
"We now have an excellent book which carefully examines [the philosophical and scientific underpinnings of ‘sustainable development.’]"


Bruce Yandle, Alumni Distinguished Professor of Economics, Clemson University
"Wilfred Beckerman brings wisdom and wit to his examination of major themes found in today’s environmental policy."


P.J. Hill, chair of economics, Wheaton College
"Sustainable development has become a shield for special-interest arguments. Beckerman’s careful critique points out [its] crucial ethical and economic shortcomings."


Cass R. Sunstein, Distinguished Service Professor, law school and department of political science, University of Chicago
"Advocates of ‘sustainable development’ are unlikely to be convinced by all these claims; but they will learn a great deal."


Robert Nelson, professor of public affairs, University of Maryland
"Anyone who believes that ‘sustainable development’ is a meaningful intellectual construct needs to read this clear and concise book."


Book Description
In this detailed economic investigation of sustainable development, a noted professor of economics argues that many of the alarms commonly sounded by environmentalists are, in fact, unfounded, and that current sustainable development policies should be reconsidered in light of their effects on the earth's human population, such as increased poverty and environmental degradation in developing countries. In a rare balanced counterpoint to popular sustainable development rhetoric, Professor Beckerman forces policy makers to consider whether future generations have rights that morally constrain and trump the claims of those alive today, particularly the masses of people living in dire poverty, arguing that the current sustainable development program is a menace to the prosperity and freedom of both current and future generations.


About the Author
Wilfred Beckerman is an Emeritus Fellow of Balliol College at Oxford University. Dr. Beckerman is an economist and the author of many academic articles and several books including In Defence of Economic Growth, Small is Stupid and most recently Justice, Posterity and the Environment (with J. Pasek). Dr. Beckerman has served on Britain’s Royal Commission on Environmental Pollution, and chaired the Academic Panel of Economists for the UK Department of the Environment from 1991 to 1996.


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Beckerman, an Oxford economist, takes on three phrases frequently invoked in debates over environmental policy: "sustainable development," "the precautionary principle," and "intergenerational equity." He demonstrates that each is highly problematic — and that some interpretations of them could have detrimental effects on the world's poor and on future generations. Beckerman finds clear thinking and clear expression deficient in most public debate (even among those who know better), and his discussion of climate change and biodiversity has resonance well beyond those two illustrations. The notion of "sustainable development," for example, rests on two erroneous assumptions, according to Beckerman. First, he finds the claim that continuing growth will ultimately exhaust the world's resources (and therefore stifle future growth) deeply flawed, both empirically and conceptually; future generations are in fact likely to be much better off. Second, he disputes the term's claim to the moral high ground, based on a view of intergenerational equity that cannot, Beckerman argues, withstand scrutiny. Serious debate about current actions (or inactions) with long-term effects must take into account Beckerman's cogent arguments.


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