Abstract

The aim of this paper is to facilitate informed choice about indicators of economic sustainability and intergenerational fairness and decisions about their uses. We focus on four issues. First; we found that the same type of indicator measured at different levels – such as the general government; the economy or the total economy; which includes both the market economy and the household economy – often leads to different conclusions. Second; sustainability analysis is frequently built on exogenously set age limits even though it is obvious that old age does not everywhere start at age 65; it did not always start there where it does today; and most likely it will not start there in the future. Third; we use our taxonomy of more than 80 indicators to spot holes; shortcomings and absences. Fourth; we show some structural differences between indicators of sustainability and fairness.