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Sustainability for
Finance and Economics

Follow the questions from analytical foundations to public decisions, financial institutions and the choices households make over a lifetime.

5 parts21 chaptersChapter 2 preview available
Explore Chapter 2 Browse the chapter index

START WITH A QUESTION · CHAPTER 02

Who pays, who benefits,
and what counts?

Private and Social Appraisal

Work through a fictional community decision with clear equations, numerical figures and an interactive comparison.Read the chapter preview

THE LEARNING PATH

A connected course in five parts.

The complete chapter structure is below. Chapter 2 is available as a written preview; the remaining lectures and videos will follow as they are developed.

PART I

Common Analytical Foundations

Define the decision, keep the accounts clear and examine what the evidence can support.

  1. Sustainability as a Financial and Economic Decision Problem

    Frame choices through objectives, constraints, information and the consequences that matter.

    Lecture in preparation

  2. Private and Social Appraisal

    Separate who pays, what resources change and which consequences remain outside a monetary account.

    READ THE CHAPTER PREVIEW

  3. Decisions over Time under Uncertainty

    Connect present value, uncertain outcomes, learning and irreversible choices.

    Lecture in preparation

  4. Measuring Sustainability Performance

    Make boundaries, counterfactuals and the meaning of a sustainability measure explicit.

    Lecture in preparation

  5. Evaluating Evidence for Decisions

    Distinguish association, causal reasoning, prediction and the limits of a model.

    Lecture in preparation

PART II

Economics of Sustainability and Public Decisions

Work through incentives, resource limits and the institutions behind collective decisions.

  1. Policy for Externalities and Public Goods

    Examine how external effects and shared benefits shape incentives and policy choices.

    Lecture in preparation

  2. Managing Natural Capital

    Connect resource stocks and ecological conditions with decisions over time.

    Lecture in preparation

  3. Energy and Material Transitions

    Study the physical and economic constraints involved in changing energy and material systems.

    Lecture in preparation

  4. Development in a Global Transition

    Consider how trade, development and distribution affect the choices available during a transition.

    Lecture in preparation

  5. Financing Public Investment

    Bring public appraisal, financing and fiscal capacity into the same decision process.

    Lecture in preparation

PART III

Markets, Firms, and Financial Institutions

Connect sustainability questions with valuation, investment, banking and risk sharing.

  1. Asset Pricing and Portfolio Decisions

    Connect state-dependent payoffs, covariance and environmental constraints with investment choices.

    Lecture in preparation

  2. Corporate Investment Decisions

    Examine project cash flows, financing and governance alongside environmental consequences.

    Lecture in preparation

  3. Banking under Sustainability Risk

    Study how sustainability-related changes can enter lending, bank balance sheets and risk assessment.

    Lecture in preparation

  4. Managing Risk through Adaptation and Insurance

    Distinguish changes in physical exposure from the financial allocation of losses.

    Lecture in preparation

PART IV

Household Finance, Personal Finance, and Financial Planning

Follow decisions about housing, financial resilience and resources across the life cycle.

  1. Housing Decisions under Environmental Risk

    Examine housing, location, mortgages and recovery when financial constraints matter.

    Lecture in preparation

  2. Personal Finance under Environmental and Policy Change

    Consider how environmental conditions and policy changes interact with household financial resilience.

    Lecture in preparation

  3. Integrated Financial Planning across the Life Cycle

    Bring interconnected household decisions into a consistent plan across dates and scenarios.

    Lecture in preparation

  4. Financial Decisions in Later Life

    Connect retirement resources, pensions, longevity and transfers between generations.

    Lecture in preparation

PART V

Economy-Wide Interactions and Integrated Decisions

Trace interactions across the economy and bring the analytical tools together.

  1. Macroeconomic Adjustment under Environmental Constraints

    Study how environmental constraints interact with growth, prices and employment.

    Lecture in preparation

  2. Systemic Risk in Connected Economies

    Examine how connected decisions can transmit risk and create collective-action problems.

    Lecture in preparation

  3. Integrated Decision Capstones

    Combine accounting, evidence, constraints and uncertainty in a defensible decision.

    Lecture in preparation