Sustainable development and technology

Amongst economists, politicians, environmentalists and others a relatively new phrase has come to the fore, a new cliche: sustainable development. Its meaning is, however, somewhat obscure often unique to the speaker. This paper clarifies some of the ideas that surround the concept of sustainable development, the role that technology plays in the ideas and how these concepts can be best put to use in terms of policy. Often the preconceived notions of the authors are imbedded in their idea of sustainable development, sometimes explicitly and othertimes implicitly and, as a result, the policy prescriptions they espouse are also affected. The paper begins with the evolution of the concept of sustainable development, examines economists' decision rules, evaluates the role of the state vis-a-vis technology and then attempts to ferret out the policy implications. Finally, the paper concludes that sustainability should be a goal of any development plan and should include an explicit technology policy. A range of policy options exists to help pursue these goals, some of which are discussed.