Economics for Sustainability Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Economics for Sustainability - Essay Example This essay analyzes and discusses the sustainable development process, that has turned into one of the topics in contemporary economics. The researcher states that over the past several years, the Club of Rome indicated the limitations of economic progress emanating from scarcity of natural resources and environmental destruction. Over the years, economic activities of western industrial nations have been to shun these limitations. These countries have strived to establish conditions that could ensure sustainable development in an ecological and economic sense. In the modern economics, the emergence of the term ‘sustainable development’ has led to modifications in nearly each aspect of production and consumption patterns. The discussion of the concepts of sustainable development usually generates heated debates especially among the arguments of neoclassical economics and environmentalists. The researcher of this essay seeks to discuss the basic, mainstream economics conc epts agreeing or disagreeing with the core concepts of sustainability. In conclusion, the researcher of this essay discusses two perspectives, that have different arguments regarding sustainability, although there are various complementing arguments. Weak sustainability, described in the essay necessitates a high level of substitutability between natural and reproducible resources. However, strong sustainability supposes that these forms of capital are complements instead of substitutes in various production functions.