post keynesian economics and environmetal sustainablity

[RHolt1234@xxxxxxx]

Hopefully in the near future Bill Mitchell, Mat Forstater and I will start on a project of editing a volume on Post Keynesian economics and the environment. Thinking a little bit about the project let me throw out a basic issue to see how some of you will respond. A primary issue in environmental economics has to do with long-run sustainability. Using a very simple model of comparing marginal abatement costs with marginal damages to determine a socially efficient level of emissions of a pollutant assumes that all costs are estimated. A criticism given is that such a model has a tendencyto put more weight on costs and benefits for present generations compared to future generations. This would not be a problem if all resources were renewable and pollutants noncumulative, but as we know this is not the case. The neoclassical response is that through discounting we can come up with an estimated value of the marginal abatement cost and the marginal damage functions that takes into consideration all costs in the short-run and the long-run associated with pollution. But this analysis is based on an ergodic system. If we accept a non-ergodic system â a future that is uncertain how do we evaluate all future costs associated with pollution and carry out a policyof sustainability?

-Ric Holt