This collection examines mainstream economics discourse as it relates to three topics in sustainable development: health equity, sustainable non-renewable resource management and development approaches. The themes of the three papers are as follows: Political dimensions of health equity in Mozambique. In order to promote equity in health, analysis should look beyond the standard economic definitions used to identify underserved and vulnerable populations. Human and social capital, compensation or cost? Reexamining the Hartwick Rule. In order to achieve sustainable non-renewable resource management, planners must go beyond the current economic theoretical framework and consider the direct impacts of extraction on human and social capital. The materialism paradigm—neither sustainable, nor development. The way economists have understood prosperity is materialistic and development is exporting this welfare-reducing paradigm. The synthesis of the series. The frameworks used in economics to address a variety of issues in sustainable development have limited efficacy and would benefit from insights originating outside the discipline.