We have reviewed three bodies of economic work in the field of sustainable development. The brief overview covered in this text, which evidently deserved to be completed and refined, presented an extensive range of set social proposals and objectives and falls within the framework of a long history of controversies surrounding the dynamics of capitalism (Vivien, 2003). This text covered points ranging from the support to the pursuit of growth and the accumulation of capital to the radical questioning of prevailing social categories, values and objectives, by way of proposals for policy development and the ecological modernization of capitalism. Over and above this debate on the desired orientation of social change, there is also a discussion on the social forces showing promise and on the means of action at their disposal or given them. While some economists display a determined confidence in the game of economic rationality and the price to regulate social and environmental constraints, others consider it important, above all, to establish standards for this purpose. The debate is therefore centered on the players who are in a position to implement and enforce these standards. The question is to decide whether it is the public authorities, private stakeholders or the increasingly diverse and numerous firms and partnerships with NGOs who will take on this role. Economists taking a more explicitly political stance place the emphasis on the action to be taken and the power relationships that must be established concerning environmental policies and trade negotiations. To reiterate the point that is at the heart of economic reflection, one may say that economists question needs, or more specifically the need for personal enrichment. Through these different discussions, it becomes clear that it is also the manner in which the economic discourse is shaped and the importance granted to economic logic that are debated.