A social contract approach to sustainability

This paper asks whether it is possible to derive a concern for future generations (‘‘sustainability’’) from an account of the firm as a social contract (SC) among its stakeholders. Two aspects of a leading SC model of the firm limit its usefulness for an analysis of sustainability. First, the stakeh...

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Tipo de recurso:
Fecha de publicación:
2017
Institución:
Universidad del Rosario
Repositorio:
Repositorio EdocUR - U. Rosario
Idioma:
eng
OAI Identifier:
oai:repository.urosario.edu.co:10336/26021
Acceso en línea:
https://doi.org/10.1007/s12232-017-0275-6
https://repository.urosario.edu.co/handle/10336/26021
Palabra clave:
Social contract
Sustainability
Reciprocity
Future generations
John Rawls
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oai_identifier_str oai:repository.urosario.edu.co:10336/26021
network_acronym_str EDOCUR2
network_name_str Repositorio EdocUR - U. Rosario
repository_id_str
spelling 41869d58-b097-43c3-9fc0-0b104b5101ae-12020-08-06T16:20:28Z2020-08-06T16:20:28Z2017-05-30This paper asks whether it is possible to derive a concern for future generations (‘‘sustainability’’) from an account of the firm as a social contract (SC) among its stakeholders. Two aspects of a leading SC model of the firm limit its usefulness for an analysis of sustainability. First, the stakeholders provide investments to the firm over time. Second, the relationship between contemporaries and future generations is marked by asymmetries of power and knowledge that need to be considered while reconstructing the SC today. I discuss three reformulations of the SC that are all, in principle, capable of introducing within the SC a concern for future generations. The first describes the contractors as heads of families. The second envisages a grand meeting of stakeholders of all generations. The third, which I find most defensible, views the SC as an ahistorical agreement reached behind a thick veil of ignorance. This agreement is based on John Rawls’s norm of reciprocity, whereby the stakeholders adopt today the decision they wish all previous (and future) generations had made regarding the rate of consumption of natural resources and emission of pollutants.application/pdfhttps://doi.org/10.1007/s12232-017-0275-6ISSN: 1865-1704EISSN: 1863-4613https://repository.urosario.edu.co/handle/10336/26021engSpringer Nature339No. 4327International Review of EconomicsVol. 64International Review of Economics, ISSN: 1865-1704;EISSN:1863-4613, Vol.64, No.4 (2017-12);pp.327–339https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007%2Fs12232-017-0275-6Restringido (Acceso a grupos específicos)http://purl.org/coar/access_right/c_16ecInternational Review of Economicsinstname:Universidad del Rosarioreponame:Repositorio Institucional EdocURSocial contractSustainabilityReciprocityFuture generationsJohn RawlsA social contract approach to sustainabilityUn enfoque de contrato social para la sostenibilidadarticleArtículohttp://purl.org/coar/version/c_970fb48d4fbd8a85http://purl.org/coar/resource_type/c_6501Danese, Giuseppe10336/26021oai:repository.urosario.edu.co:10336/260212021-06-03 00:50:23.981https://repository.urosario.edu.coRepositorio institucional EdocURedocur@urosario.edu.co
dc.title.spa.fl_str_mv A social contract approach to sustainability
dc.title.TranslatedTitle.spa.fl_str_mv Un enfoque de contrato social para la sostenibilidad
title A social contract approach to sustainability
spellingShingle A social contract approach to sustainability
Social contract
Sustainability
Reciprocity
Future generations
John Rawls
title_short A social contract approach to sustainability
title_full A social contract approach to sustainability
title_fullStr A social contract approach to sustainability
title_full_unstemmed A social contract approach to sustainability
title_sort A social contract approach to sustainability
dc.subject.keyword.spa.fl_str_mv Social contract
Sustainability
Reciprocity
Future generations
John Rawls
topic Social contract
Sustainability
Reciprocity
Future generations
John Rawls
description This paper asks whether it is possible to derive a concern for future generations (‘‘sustainability’’) from an account of the firm as a social contract (SC) among its stakeholders. Two aspects of a leading SC model of the firm limit its usefulness for an analysis of sustainability. First, the stakeholders provide investments to the firm over time. Second, the relationship between contemporaries and future generations is marked by asymmetries of power and knowledge that need to be considered while reconstructing the SC today. I discuss three reformulations of the SC that are all, in principle, capable of introducing within the SC a concern for future generations. The first describes the contractors as heads of families. The second envisages a grand meeting of stakeholders of all generations. The third, which I find most defensible, views the SC as an ahistorical agreement reached behind a thick veil of ignorance. This agreement is based on John Rawls’s norm of reciprocity, whereby the stakeholders adopt today the decision they wish all previous (and future) generations had made regarding the rate of consumption of natural resources and emission of pollutants.
publishDate 2017
dc.date.created.spa.fl_str_mv 2017-05-30
dc.date.accessioned.none.fl_str_mv 2020-08-06T16:20:28Z
dc.date.available.none.fl_str_mv 2020-08-06T16:20:28Z
dc.type.eng.fl_str_mv article
dc.type.coarversion.fl_str_mv http://purl.org/coar/version/c_970fb48d4fbd8a85
dc.type.coar.fl_str_mv http://purl.org/coar/resource_type/c_6501
dc.type.spa.spa.fl_str_mv Artículo
dc.identifier.doi.none.fl_str_mv https://doi.org/10.1007/s12232-017-0275-6
dc.identifier.issn.none.fl_str_mv ISSN: 1865-1704
EISSN: 1863-4613
dc.identifier.uri.none.fl_str_mv https://repository.urosario.edu.co/handle/10336/26021
url https://doi.org/10.1007/s12232-017-0275-6
https://repository.urosario.edu.co/handle/10336/26021
identifier_str_mv ISSN: 1865-1704
EISSN: 1863-4613
dc.language.iso.spa.fl_str_mv eng
language eng
dc.relation.citationEndPage.none.fl_str_mv 339
dc.relation.citationIssue.none.fl_str_mv No. 4
dc.relation.citationStartPage.none.fl_str_mv 327
dc.relation.citationTitle.none.fl_str_mv International Review of Economics
dc.relation.citationVolume.none.fl_str_mv Vol. 64
dc.relation.ispartof.spa.fl_str_mv International Review of Economics, ISSN: 1865-1704;EISSN:1863-4613, Vol.64, No.4 (2017-12);pp.327–339
dc.relation.uri.spa.fl_str_mv https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007%2Fs12232-017-0275-6
dc.rights.coar.fl_str_mv http://purl.org/coar/access_right/c_16ec
dc.rights.acceso.spa.fl_str_mv Restringido (Acceso a grupos específicos)
rights_invalid_str_mv Restringido (Acceso a grupos específicos)
http://purl.org/coar/access_right/c_16ec
dc.format.mimetype.none.fl_str_mv application/pdf
dc.publisher.spa.fl_str_mv Springer Nature
dc.source.spa.fl_str_mv International Review of Economics
institution Universidad del Rosario
dc.source.instname.none.fl_str_mv instname:Universidad del Rosario
dc.source.reponame.none.fl_str_mv reponame:Repositorio Institucional EdocUR
repository.name.fl_str_mv Repositorio institucional EdocUR
repository.mail.fl_str_mv edocur@urosario.edu.co
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