Economics of Sustainable Technologies: Private and Public Costs and Benefits

This article is focused on the economics of sustainable technologies from the mainstream and heterodox perspectives. The aim is to present major concepts, methodologies, and debates for public use. The paper is focused on decision making aiming at the development and use of sustainable technologies. Private and public decision making are covered in the seven subsections that address sustainable technologies. These subsections are (1) definition of environmental impacts and the sustainable technologies from the economic perspective; (2) use of the sustainable technologies from the mainstream and heterodox economic perspectives; (3) decision making about the use with regard to costs; (4) assessment of costs and benefits of sustainable technologies; (5) prices and qualities of transaction between suppliers and customers; (6) policy making with regard to environmental impacts; and (7) social decision making on sustainable innovations. Within each section, paragraphs are inserted that address various aspects of sustainable technologies.