In this detailed economic investigation of sustainable development, a
noted professor of economics argues that many of the alarms commonly
sounded by environmentalists are, in fact, unfounded, and that current
sustainable development policies should be reconsidered in light of
their effects on the earth's human population, such as increased poverty
and environmental degradation in developing countries. In a rare
balanced counterpoint to popular sustainable development rhetoric,
Professor Beckerman forces policy makers to consider whether future
generations have rights that morally constrain and trump the claims of
those alive today, particularly the masses of people living in dire
poverty, arguing that the current sustainable development program is a
menace to the prosperity and freedom of both current and future
generations.