Ethics and Sustainable Earth Economy: A Public Policy Analysis

Abstract

Ethical approach to public policy analysis in relation to the preservation, protection and the improvement of human environment is gaining currency as environmental degradation and pollution continue unabated. The paper examined the critical role of ethics in public policy choices and decision making with a view to provide a middle ground or a fair deal with respect to the contradiction between economic growth and sustainable economic development. Theoretical explanations were attempted to provide a framework for the discourse such as the ecological modernization theory. Similarly, an evaluation of the Pareto-optimality and the alternative measuring toolkit, the cost-benefit analytical approach was attempted using a particular case study with a view to also understand the strengths and weaknesses of the two policy decisional tools for public goods, putting into consideration market and welfare economics with particular emphasis on the environment. The paper established that no society has ever reduced environmental pollution to zero level, hence, the expectations of present generation to pay the costs of environmental degradation and pollution for the benefits of the future generation is an ethical issue. The paper argued that the damage already done to the Earth and the resolve to minimize any additional damage through policy of equity and fair deal are moral and ethical responsibilities of the present generation. The paper concluded that ethical judgments vary with situation confronting nation-states as Pareto-optimal rule  and the costs-benefits analysis cannot resolve the dilemmas of choice and decision making which require ethical criteria in the efficient allocation of resources (i.e. land resources) and fairness or equity on the issue of who pays for degradation and pollution control in public policy analysis given the character of politics, bureaucracies and economic interests that usually eclipse sound moral judgments and values of public policy actors.

Keywords: ethics,economic growth, sustainable development, public policy