Kaivo-oja, JariHaukioja, TeemuHilty, Lorenz M.Gilgen, Paul W.2019-09-162019-09-162001https://dl.gi.de/handle/20.500.12116/26666The treatment of the externalities at the state level is far from consistent. There still remains the challenge to connect microfoundations for sustainability analysis at macro level. This paper provides a theoretical analysis of some problematic sustainability issues of the information society. Crucial problems of the sustainability in the information society are (1) dematerialization, (2) immaterialization, (3) structural shift of an economy and (4) the rebound effect. Externality theory is traditionally focused on production and consumption externalities. In the comprehensive view also structural shift and the rebound effect should be analysed, while the preconditions for sustainable information society are evaluated. In the study the potentials of information society and information technology to reduce the scale of harmful externalities in the information society are discussed using the scenario approach.Text/Conference Paper