Weak and Strong Sustainability Indicators, and Regional Environmental Resources
view that there are moral (ethical) obligations which principally cannot be valued because there
is only „right“ or „wrong“. In this case, some economist have spoken about lexicographic
preferences (Hanley et. al., 1994; Spash and Hanley, 1995): These are preferences where a
trade-off between the good for which these preferences are held and other goods is denied on
(probably) ethical grounds. When natural goods are concerned, many respondents (up to one
quarter) hold preferences of that kind. This can be a serious flaw for the valuation approach
which is founded on neoclassical theory.
Sustainability in its „weak“ form is based on this willingness to exchange. Therefore, prefer-
ences in a lexicographic form, where there might be only one „right“ or „wrong“ development
decision, which can be the case with biodiversity or landscape protection, do not fit into the
model of substitutability of natural capital and man-made capital (money).
3.2 Consumer vs. Citizen
An additional argument against „weak“ sustainability indicators may be seen in the divergence
of socio-economic roles of economic agents as „consumers“ and „citizens“. There is a lively
debate in ecological economics and surrounding fields (e. g. institutional economics) to what
extent the individual choice may differ, depending on the „viewpoint“ or „role“. Sagoff (1988)
started this discussion with stating that individuals are not only consumers acting according to
their personal sacrifice when valuing natural goods. The monetary valuation operationalizing
the „weak“ sustainability approach is based on an individual utility function where the will-
ingness to pay depends on the different „utility“ levels obtained as consumer. Contrary, espe-
cially when dealing with public goods, economic agents do not only maximize their individual
utility but act as citizens concerned for the better of society.
Taking this divergence of roles into account, it becomes clear that a weak sustainability rule,
based on market prices and consumer choices lacks the preferences of economic agents which
they hold as citizens. With the „weak“ criteria some preferences may not be included, and
measuring only market values instead of values held by the „civil society“ may pose serious