Rule gives every generation same share of its best attainable welfare

This article has been reviewed according to Science X's editorial process and policies. Editors have highlighted the following attributes while ensuring the content's credibility: Sharing a finite resource across generations requires a balance between today's needs and the claims of those yet to be born. Weber, presented at the 2026 European Control Conference in Reykjavík, proposes a fair allocation rule that gives every generation the same fraction of its best attainable welfare.

The approach preserves access for all future generations and provides a performance guarantee without requiring agreement on a single social objective. Using a nonrenewable resource today reduces what remains for tomorrow. Even when societies agree that future generations deserve consideration, different views of social welfare can justify very different consumption plans.

Maximizing total discounted welfare can favor early use, while placing greater emphasis on the least advantaged can support more restraint. This disagreement makes it difficult to select a common rule for sharing an exhaustible stock. The paper starts by calculating a benchmark for each generation.

This is the greatest lifetime benefit achievable if the consumption plan is designed specifically in that generation's interest, subject to the same resource and economic constraints. Each generation's actual welfare is then expressed as a percentage of its benchmark. The lowest percentage across all generations defines the fairness index, and the fair allocation makes this minimum guarantee as large as possible.

Three requirements determine the resulting consumption plan. Consumption never increases over time, reflecting the opportunity cost of postponing resource use. The resource is fully used in the long run.

Finally, every generation receives the same fraction of its own benchmark welfare. Together, these conditions yield a unique allocation that is also efficient, meaning that improving one generation's welfare requires reducing another's. Fairness rests on equal relative achievement, with each benchmark accounting for the opportunities available to that generation.