Abstract for: Sustainable development: from discounting to simulation

Management of global natural resources is important for sustainability. Two questions are central: what are the welfare effects of different resource policies, and how should one choose between different welfare developments over time? There are methodological challenges related to both macroeconomic analysis of policy effects and choice involving distribution over time, i.e. discounting. There is also a democratic challenge related to the complexity of macroeconomic analysis and discounting. To overcome or reduce these challenges a simulation approach is proposed and discussed. Its potential for democratic choice is tested on a subset of the UK population.