School of Economics and Management, Kochi University of Technology, Kochi, 780-8515, Japan.
Research Institute for Future Design, Kochi University of Technology, Kochi, 780-0842, Japan.
Sci Rep. 2021 Jan 28;11(1):2437. doi: 10.1038/s41598-021-81835-y.
The intergenerational sustainability dilemma (ISD) is a situation of whether or not a person sacrifices herself for future sustainability. To examine the individual behaviors, one-person ISD game (ISDG) is instituted with strategy method where a queue of individuals is organized as a generational sequence. In ISDG, each individual chooses unsustainable (or sustainable) option with her payoff of [Formula: see text] ([Formula: see text]) and an irreversible cost of [Formula: see text] (zero cost) to future generations in [Formula: see text] situations. Future ahead and back (FAB) mechanism is suggested as resolution for ISD by taking the perspective of future generation whereby each individual is first asked to take the next generation's standpoint and request what she wants the current generation to choose, and, second, to make the actual decision from the original position. Results show that individuals choose unsustainable option as previous generations do so or [Formula: see text] is low (i.e., sustainability is endangered). However, FAB prevents individuals from choosing unsustainable option in such endangered situations. Overall, the results suggest that some new institutions, such as FAB mechanisms, which induce people to take the perspective of future generations, may be necessary to avoid intergenerational unsustainability, especially when intergenerational sustainability is highly endangered.
代际可持续性困境（ISD）是一个人是否为未来的可持续性牺牲自己的情况。为了研究个人行为，引入了单人代际可持续性困境博弈（ISDG），其中策略方法是将一系列个体组织成代际序列。在 ISDG 中，每个个体都选择不可持续（或可持续）的选项，其收益为 [公式：见文本] ([公式：见文本])，对未来几代人造成不可逆转的成本为 [公式：见文本]（零成本），在 [公式：见文本] 情况下。通过从未来世代的角度提出未来向前和向后（FAB）机制来解决 ISD，每个个体首先被要求站在下一代的立场上，要求当前一代选择什么，其次，从原始立场做出实际决策。结果表明，个体选择不可持续的选项，要么是因为前几代人这样选择，要么是因为 [公式：见文本] 较低（即可持续性受到威胁）。然而，FAB 在这种濒危情况下阻止个体选择不可持续的选项。总体而言，结果表明，一些新的制度，如 FAB 机制，可能需要诱导人们从未来世代的角度考虑问题，以避免代际的不可持续性，特别是当代际可持续性受到高度威胁时。
