Environmental economics : an introduction

Included Index.

Part 1 Introductory: what is environmental economics?; the economy and the environment. Part 2 Analytical tools: benefits and costs, supply and demand; economic efficiency and markets; the economics of environmental quality. Part 3 Environmental analysis: framework of analysis; benefit-cost analysis - benefits; benefit-cost analysis - costs. Part 4 Environmental policy analysis: criteria for evaluating environmental policies; decentralized policies - liability laws, property rights, moral suasion; command and control strategies, the case of standards; incentive-based strategies - emission tables and subsidies; incentive-based strategies - transferable discharge permits. Part 5 Environmental policy in the United States: federal water pollution control strategy; federal air pollution control policy; federal policy on toxic and hazardous substances; state and local environmental issues. Part 6 International environmental issues: environmental policies in other industrialized countries; economic development and the environment; the global environment; international environmental agreements.

A survey of environmental economics, which requires no prior knowledge. It is devoted to the issues and policy choices facing the US, both at federal and state level, as well as those of global importance.