Intergenerational Equity in Natural Resource Extraction: Rhetoric or Rationality?

T. Kowal
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Abstract

Whether we would rather live in a world that takes a more responsible ecological approach is a moot point. Whether we like it or not, the world we have is the world we inherited. Judging by the frenzy of growth in the world market, future generations might start to bear some heavy burdens due to our choices with regards to natural resources. The problem is that, while we may lament this state of affairs, it is perhaps not in our nature to change our course, at least in our private choices. The market works on economic principles, and these principles are based upon the innate and irrepressible human tendency to maximize his wealth. Only if mankind shared the norm that sustainability and intergenerational equity are of utmost value could the market effect a change in extraction behaviors. This paper explores the ways in which norms inform our decision-making, and how they are still highly useful today, since we still suffer from an incomplete data set from which to make complex ecological decisions. Logging and mining (renewable and nonrenewable resources) both illustrate the inability of industry to take stock of intergenerational equity. Although the arguments in favor of taking up the cause of intergenerational equity are, at bottom, rhetorical, they seem to strike a chord with us. The problem that is left, then, is how to take what we believe to be right, and incorporate that value into the economics of natural resources extraction. That is, how can we rationalize the rhetoric?
自然资源开采的代际公平:修辞还是理性?
我们是否愿意生活在一个采取更负责任的生态方式的世界里,这是一个有争议的问题。不管我们喜欢与否,我们拥有的世界是我们继承的世界。从世界市场的疯狂增长来看,由于我们对自然资源的选择,子孙后代可能会开始承担一些沉重的负担。问题是,虽然我们可能会对这种状况感到遗憾,但我们的本性也许不会改变我们的路线,至少在我们的个人选择上是这样。市场是根据经济原则运作的,而这些原则是建立在人类追求财富最大化的固有的、不可抑制的倾向之上的。只有当人类共享可持续性和代际公平是最大价值的规范时,市场才能改变开采行为。本文探讨了规范为我们的决策提供信息的方式,以及它们在今天如何仍然非常有用,因为我们仍然受到不完整的数据集的影响,无法做出复杂的生态决策。伐木和采矿(可再生资源和不可再生资源)都说明了工业无法评估代际公平。尽管支持实现代际平等的论点,从根本上说,是一种修辞,但它们似乎引起了我们的共鸣。剩下的问题是,如何将我们认为正确的东西纳入自然资源开采的经济学中。也就是说,我们如何使修辞合理化?
本文章由计算机程序翻译,如有差异,请以英文原文为准。
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