Abstract:

The 1970s mark the beginning of political neoliberalism and, at the same time, represent a decade in which “limits to growth” and sustainability were put on the political agenda. Since then, different versions of sustainable market mechanisms have been invented and implemented: the welfare tax, emissions trading schemes, impact investing and nudging. This article draws upon the Économie des conventions in order to analyse the plurality of welfare economics and sustainable markets. The comparison shows how different forms of commensuration require and create diverse forms of bureaucracy and state forms. The article opposes the state vs. market paradigm in the design of sustainable markets. It shows that the state cannot be circumvented, no matter how hard welfare economists tried over a century. Conclusion: It is important to render the particular commensurateness of bureaucracies of sustainable market interventions visible, in order to enable an honest and transparent public debate about alternative state interventions, such as prohibitions.