Intergenerational Bubbles of Beliefs for Sustainability

Abstract

We constructed a simple model of a dynamic economy in which the current generation chooses to excessively consume, thereby rendering society unsustainable. In such an economy, we assumed that a notional bubbly asset emerges, and its value grows if the current generation conserves adequate resources for future generations. Provided that the bubbly asset is considered valuable, the current generation chooses to conserve resources, rendering the economy sustainable. The condition for sustainability is that the value of this asset grows intergenerationally and indefinitely. The asset represents a belief system, such as a religious doctrine or a political ideology. Results imply that, to restore sustainability, a new intergenerational belief system must be identified, and its value grows indefinitely.

The 9-SRA Scale: A Simplified 9-Items Version of the SRA Scale to Assess Altruism

“…In a recent and very interesting article, Kobayashi and Chiba [61] show that sustainability in a dynamic economic model can only be achieved if the degree of intergenerational altruism is relatively high or if a new intergenerational belief system (valuing sustainability) emerges and grows over generations.…”