Reviews the discount rate controversy, and examines sustainability theory and optimal growth theory, tracing the rise in prominence of the former and the decline of the latter. Presents the rule‐of‐thumb interpretation of sustainability criteria, and proposes a utilitarian approach,...

"Among the 'wicked problems' facing policymakers and voters today, the threat of catastrophic climate change, also called global heating, is so challenging that it was labelled as 'super-wicked'. The scientific evidence is clear-cut, and most of the technologies needed to stabilize the global...