Population, Productivity, and Sustainable Consumption
研究了可持续消费如何依赖于生产率增长、人口规模与增长率及其不确定性，发现可持续消费远低于最优福利水平，引发对可持续性作为社会目标的质疑。
How does sustainable consumption depend on productivity growth, the size and growth rate of the population, and uncertainty over these growth rates? I address these questions using a model in which productivity and population growth are stochastic and human lives can have (positive or negative) intrinsic social value. I show how sustainable consumption depends on expected rates of productivity and population growth, the volatility of those rates, and the dependence of welfare on population. For plausible parameter values, sustainable consumption is well below the optimal welfare-maximizing level. This raises a question: given its cost, should sustainability be a social objective?