“Nachhaltige Entwicklung”– Zur Ökonomik des Bangens und des Hoffens

Abstract: The paper starts with a critical assessment of attempts to measure sustainability. Moreover, incentives for the present generation to follow a sustainable path are a key issue. Sustainability is threatened by discounting and by the open access structure of the relationship between present and future generations. On the other hand, there are economic causes for optimism. Particularly if the present generation corrects market failures, positive intertemporal externalities are generated. In addition to this „main stream” economic reasoning, the paper investigates whether sustainability is more likely if decision makers are not guided by the rules of homo oeconomicus.