Book Description TRY (FREE for 14 days), OR RENT this title: www.wileystudentchoice.com Climate change has morphed from an environmental problem into a challenge to civilization itself. As CO2 levels have continued to rise, the 8th Edition of this book is now more relevant than ever. Retaining the approach of the original edition, the newest iteration features global warming as the framing example for a comprehensive look at environmental economics. Pedagogical clarity is ensured by the book’s central focus on four highly-focused questions: How much pollution is too much? Is the government up to the job? How can we do better? How can we resolve global issues? The text also continues with a strong focus on natural resources economics and ecosystem services. Updates to the book are included to address the very latest concerns, standards, and legislation related to environmental issues, providing students with a comprehensive look at this important topic while maintaining an accessible approach that makes the material engaging and highly relevant. Show and hide more
Table of Contents
Cover Title Page Preface Introduction CHAPTER 1: Four Economic Questions About Climate Change 1.0 Introduction 1.1 Four Questions 1.2 How Much Pollution Is Too Much? 1.3 Is Government Up to the Job? 1.4 How Can We Do Better? 1.5 Can We Resolve Global Issues? 1.6 Summary PART I: How Much Pollution Is Too Much? CHAPTER 2: Ethics and Economics 2.0 Introduction 2.1 Utility and Utilitarianism 2.2 Social Welfare 2.3 Summary CHAPTER 3: Pollution and Resource Degradation as Externalities 3.0 Introduction 3.1 The Open Access Problem 3.2 The Public Goods Problem 3.3 Is Sustainable Business a Solution? 3.4 Summary CHAPTER 4: The Efficiency Standard 4.0 Introduction 4.1 Efficiency Defined 4.2 Efficient Pollution Levels 4.3 Marginals and Totals 4.4 The Coase Theorem Introduced 4.5 Air Pollution Control in Baltimore: Calculating the Efficient Standard 4.6 The Ethical Basis of the Efficiency Standard 4.7 Real-World Benefit– Cost Analysis 4.8 Summary CHAPTER 5: Measuring the Benefits of Environmental Protection 5.0 Introduction 5.1 Use, Option, and Existence Value: Types of Nonmarket Benefits 5.2 Consumer Surplus, WTP, and WTA: Measuring Benefits 5.3 Risk: Assessment and Perception 5.4 Measuring Benefits I: Contingent Valuation 5.5 Measuring Benefits II: Travel Cost 5.6 Measuring Benefits III: Hedonic Regression 5.7 The Value of Human Life 5.8 Summary APPENDIX 5A: WTA and WTP Redux 5A.1: An Indifference Curve Analysis 5A.2: Prospect Theory or Substitutability? CHAPTER 6: Measuring the Costs of Environmental Protection 6.0 Introduction 6.1 Engineering Costs 6.2 Productivity Impacts of Regulation 6.3 Employment Impacts of Regulation 6.4 General Equilibrium Effects and the Double Dividend 6.5 A Final Look at Benefit– Cost Analysis 6.6 Summary CHAPTER 7: The Safety Standard 7.0 Introduction 7.1 Defining the Right to Safety 7.2 The Safety Standard: Inefficient 7.3 The Safety Standard: Not Cost-Effective 7.4 The Safety Standard: Environmental Justice or Regressive Impact? 7.5 Siting Hazardous Waste Facilities: Safety versus Efficiency 7.6 Summary CHAPTER 8: The Sustainability Standard 8.0 Introduction 8.1 Sustainability: Neoclassical and Ecological Approaches 8.2 Future Benefits, Costs, and Discounting 8.3 An Example of Discounting: Light Bulbs 8.4 Savings, Investment, and Market Interest Rates 8.5 The Social Discount Rate and Dynamic Efficiency 8.6 Discounting Climate Change 8.7 Ecological Economics, Strong Sustainability, and the Precautionary Principle 8.8 Strong Sustainability in Practice: Endangered Species, EIS, and Reach 8.9 Summary CHAPTER 9: Measuring Sustainability 9.0 Introduction 9.1 Malthus and Ecological Economics 9.2 Modern Debates: Limits to Growth and Planetary Boundaries 9.3 Measuring Strong Sustainability: Impacts and Footprints 9.4 Measuring Weak Sustainability: Net National Welfare and Inclusive Wealth 9.5 Natural Capital Depreciation 9.6 Are We Achieving Sustainability? 9.7 Discounting, Sustainability, and Investing for the Future 9.8 The Ecological–Neoclassical Debate in Context 9.9 Summary CHAPTER 10: Natural Resources and Ecosystem Services 10.0 Introduction 10.1 Nonrenewable Resources and the Hotelling Model 10.2 Testing the Nonrenewable Resource Model 10.3 The Roller Coaster Ride of Oil Prices 10.4 Peak Oil? 10.5 Renewable Resources 10.6 Renewable Resource Policy: Fisheries and Endangered Species 10.7 Ecosystem Services and Natural Capital 10.8 Summary CHAPTER 11: Is More Really Better? Consumption, Welfare, and Behavior 11.0 Introduction 11.1 Money and Happiness 11.2 Social Norms and the Rat Race 11.3 Positional Goods and Consumption Externalities 11.4 Welfare with Social Consumption 11.5 Overconsumption Policy Solutions 11.6 Behavioral Economics and Behavior Change 11.7 Summary PART II: Is Government Up to the Job? CHAPTER 12: The Political Economy of Environmental Regulation 12.0 Introduction 12.1 The Process of Environmental Regulation 12.2 Regulation under Imperfect Information 12.3 Bureaucratic Discretion and Political Influence 12.4 Who Wins the Influence Game? 12.5 Political Reform of Regulation 12.6 Better Information, More Democracy 12.7 Summary CHAPTER 13: An Overview of Environmental Legislation 13.0 Introduction 13.1 Cleaning the Air 13.2 The Clean Air Act and Climate Change 13.3 Fishable and Swimmable Waters 13.4 Hazardous Waste Disposal on Land 13.5 Chemicals and Pesticides 13.6 Endangered Species Protection 13.7 Summary CHAPTER 14: The Regulatory Record: Achievements and Obstacles 14.0 Introduction 14.1 Accomplishments of Environmental Regulation 14.2 Monitoring and Enforcement: Political Constraints 14.3 The Appeal of Incentive-Based Regulation 14.4 Beyond Regulation? Promoting Clean Technology 14.5 Summary PART III: How Can We Do Better? CHAPTER 15: Incentive-Based Regulation: Theory 15.0 Introduction 15.1 The Cost-Effectiveness Rule 15.2 IB Regulation and Cost-Effectiveness 15.3 IB Regulation and Technological Progress 15.4 Potential Problems with IB Regulation 15.5 Summary APPENDIX 15A: Imperfect Regulation in an Uncertain World 15A.0: Minimizing the Costs of Being Wrong 15A.1 An Application to Greenhouse Gas Emissions 15A.2 Summary APPENDIX 15B: Incentive-Compatible Regulation 15B.0 Incentives to Lie 15B.1 Incentives to Tell the Truth 15B.2 Summary CHAPTER 16: Incentive-Based Regulation: Practice 16.0 Introduction 16.1 Lead and Chlorofluorocarbons 16.2 Trading Urban Air Pollutants 16.3 Marketable Permits and Acid Rain 16.4 Carbon Trading in the Northeast and California 16.5 Two Failed U.S. Efforts: Mercury and Carbon 16.6 The European Emissions Trading System 16.7 Pollution Taxes and Their Relatives 16.8 Summary CHAPTER 17: Promoting Clean Technology: Theory 17.0 Introduction 17.1 Path Dependence and Clean Technology 17.2 Clean Technology Defined 17.3 If You’re So Smart, Why Aren’t You Rich? 17.4 Picking the Winning Path 17.5 Promoting Early-Stage Clean Technologies 17.6 Promoting Late-Stage Clean Technologies 17.7 Clean Technology: Two Case Studies 17.8 Summary CHAPTER 18: Energy Policy and the Future 18.0 Introduction 18.1 Technology Options: Electricity and Heat 18.2 Policy Options: Electricity and Heat 18.3 Technology Options: Transport 18.4 Policy Options: Transport 18.5 Summary PART IV: How Can We Solve Global Challenges? CHAPTER 19: Poverty, Population, and the Environment 19.0 Introduction 19.1 Poverty and the Environment 19.2 The Population Picture in Perspective 19.3 An Economic Approach to Family Size 19.4 Controlling Population Growth 19.5 Consumption and the Global Environment 19.6 Envisioning a Sustainable Future 19.7 Summary CHAPTER 20: Environmental Policy in Low-Income Countries 20.0 Introduction 20.1 The Political Economy of Sustainable Development 20.2 Ending Environmentally Damaging Subsidies 20.3 Establishing and Enforcing Property Rights 20.4 Regulatory Approaches 20.5 Sustainable Technology: Development and Transfer 20.6 Resource Conservation and Debt Relief 20.7 Trade and the Environment 20.8 Summary CHAPTER 21: The Economics of Global Agreements 21.0 Introduction 21.1 Agreements as Public Goods 21.2 Monitoring and Enforcement 21.3 The Ozone Layer and Biodiversity 21.4 Stopping Global Warming: Theory 21.5 Stopping Global Warming: Reality 21.6 Summary Selected Web Sites for Environmental and Natural Resource Economists Author Index Subject Index End User License Agreement