LAUSR

Abstract We analyzed both the “economic human” and the “ecological human” assumptions from economic and ecological perspectives. Some limitations of the economic human assumption were found; however, these limitations can be overcome by the ecological human assumption. The pollution problems caused by the business activities of enterprises are rooted in the enterprise’s pursuit of the goal of economic profit maximization. Therefore, the ecological human assumption was introduced on the basis of major revisions to the economic human assumption. We justified that the ecological human assumption is more suitable for the sustainable development of the social economy and we applied game theory to analyze and compare the economic human and ecological human assumptions. The results showed both similarities and differences between these two assumptions. The ecological human assumption can act as a supplemental and optimized assumption based on the economic human assumption. The enterprise pollution treatment problem could be more effectively solved under the ecological human assumption, which provides theoretical support for long-term sustainable development strategies for enterprises.