Time and the Generations

Partha Dasgupta is Frank Ramsey Professor Emeritus of Economics at the University of Cambridge; a fellow of St John’s College, Cambridge; and visiting professor at the New College of the Humanities, London. His books include Human Well-Being and the Natural Environment (2001) and Economics: A Very Short Introduction (2007).

• In Memoriam: Kenneth Joseph Arrow (1921–2017)Foreword, by Robert M. SolowPrefaceRandom Thoughts on “Birth and Death,” by Kenneth J. ArrowBirth and Death: Arrow Lecture1. Economic Demography2. Utilitarian Ethics3. Ends and Means4. SynopsisPart I: Foundations5. Genesis Under Total Utilitarianism6. Death7. A Problem Like Sleeping Beauty8. Generation-Centered Prerogatives in the Timeless World9. Generations Across the Indefinite FuturePart II: Applications10. The Biosphere as a Renewable Natural Resource11. Estimates of Globally Optimum Population12. Technology and Institutions13. Existential Risks and Informed EndsAppendix 1: Socially-Embedded Well-Being FunctionsAppendix 2: Common Property Resources and Reproductive ChoicesAppendix 3: Notes on Rawls’ Principle of Just SavingAppendix 4: Modeling the BiosphereAppendix 5: Inclusive Wealth and Social Well-BeingAppendix 6: Valuing Freedom of ChoiceReferencesCommentary on Birth and Death, by Scott BarrettCommentary on Birth and Death, by Eric MaskinCommentary on Birth and Death, by Joseph StiglitzResponse to CommentariesEpilogueSocially Embedded Preferences, Environmental Externalities, and Reproductive Rights, with Aisha Dasgupta—Reprinted from Population and Development Review (September 2017)ContributorsAuthor IndexSubject Index

With this wonderfully wide-ranging, brilliant, and generous book, Partha Dasgupta joins his admired mentor, Kenneth Arrow, in the elite band of economists who have appreciated and contributed to the philosophical underpinnings of their subject. The relationship goes both ways, for by bringing in an economist’s sense of ecological and biological realities, he is able to modify and transcend the contributions of philosophers such as Mill, Sidgwick, Ramsey, Rawls, and Parfit. The result is an astonishing monument to a lifetime of hard thought about population, sustainability, savings, and human welfare.