Natural Resource and Environmental Economics

Description

Now in its fourth edition, Natural Resources and Environmental Economics, provides comprehensive and contemporary analysis of the major areas of natural resource and environmental economics. All chapters have been fully updated in light of new developments and changes in the subject, and provide a balance of theory, applications and examples to give a rigorous grounding in the economic analysis of the resource and environmental issues that are increasingly prominent policy concerns.   This text is suitable for second and third year undergraduate and postgraduate students of economics. Cover Natural Resource and Environmental Economics Contents Preface to the Fourth Edition Acknowledgements Notation Introduction Part I Foundations An Introduction to Natural Resource and Environmental Economics Learning Objectives Introduction Three Themes The Emergence of Resource and Environmental Economics Fundamental Issues in the Economic Approach to Resource and Environmental Issues Reader’s Guide Summary Further Reading The Origins of the Sustainability Problem Learning Objectives Introduction Economy–environment Interdependence The Drivers of Environmental Impact Poverty and Inequality Limits to Growth? The Pursuit of Sustainable Development Summary Further Reading Discussion Questions Problems Ethics, Economics and the Environment Learning Objectives Introduction Naturalist Moral Philosophies Libertarian Moral Philosophy Utilitarianism Criticisms of Utilitarianism Intertemporal Distribution Summary Further Reading Discussion Questions Problems Welfare Economics and the Environment Learning Objectives Introduction Part I Efficiency and Optimality Economic Efficiency An Efficient Allocation of Resources Is Not Unique The Social Welfare Function and Optimality Compensation Tests Part Ii Allocation in a Market Economy Efficiency Given Ideal Conditions Partial Equilibrium Analysis of Market Efficiency Market Allocations Are Not Necessarily Equitable Part Iii Market Failure, Public Policy and the Environment The Existence of Markets for Environmental Services Public Goods Externalities The Second-best Problem Imperfect Information Public Choice Theory – Explaining Government Failure Summary Further Reading Discussion Questions Problems Part II Environmental Pollution Pollution Control: Targets Learning Objectives Introduction Modelling Frameworks Modelling Pollution Within an Economic Efficiency Framework Pollution Flows, Pollution Stocks and Pollution Damage The Efficient Level of Pollution A Static Model of Efficient Flow Pollution Efficient Levels of Emission of Stock Pollutants Pollution Control Where Damages Depend on Location of the Emissions Ambient Pollution Standards Intertemporal Analysis of Stock Pollution Variable Decay Departures from Convexity or Concavity in Damage and Abatement Cost (or Pollution Benefit) Functions ‘no Regrets’ Policies and Rebound Effects The Double Dividend Hypothesis Objectives of Pollution Policy Summary Further Reading Discussion Questions Problems Pollution Control: Instruments Learning Objectives Introduction Criteria for Choice of Pollution Control Instruments Cost Efficiency and Cost-effective Pollution Abatement Instruments Instruments for Achieving Pollution Abatement Targets Economic Incentive (quasi-market) Instruments Pollution Control Where Damages Depend on Location of the Emissions A Comparison of the Relative Advantages of Command and Control, Emissions Tax, Emission Abatement Subsidy and Marketable Permit Instruments Summary Further Reading Discussion Questions Problems Pollution Policy with Imperfect Information Learning Objectives Introduction Difficulties in Identifying Pollution Targets in the Context of Limited Information and Uncertainty Sustainability-based Approaches to Target Setting and the Precautionary Principle The Relative Merits of Pollution Control Instruments Under Conditions of Uncertainty Transactions Costs and Environmental Regulation Summary Further Reading Discussion Question Problems Economy-wide Modelling Learning Objectives Introduction Input–output Analysis Environmental Input–output Analysis Costs and Prices Computable General Equilibrium Models Summary Further Reading Discussion Questions Problems International Environmental Problems Learning Objectives Introduction Game Theory Analysis3 International Environmental Agreements Other Factors Conducive to International Environmental Cooperation Stratospheric Ozone Depletion Global Climate Change Learning Outcomes Further Reading Discussion Questions Problems Trade and the Environment Learning Objectives Introduction An Environmental Extension to Traditional Trade Theory Does Free Trade Harm the Environment? a Partial Equilibrium Analysis General Equilibrium Models of Trade and the Environment Do Governments Have an Incentive to Manipulate Environmental Standards for Trade Purposes? Environmental Policy and Competition Between Jurisdictions for Mobile Capital Banning Trade in Endangered Species The General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade and the World Trade Organisation The Empirical Evidence on Environmental Regulations and the Pattern of Trade Summary Further Reading Discussion Questions Part III Project Appraisal Cost–benefit Analysis Learning Objectives Introduction Intertemporal Welfare Economics Project Appraisal Cost–benefit Analysis and the Environment Summary Further Reading Discussion Questions Problems Valuing the Environment Learning Objectives Introduction Categories of Environmental Benefits The Theory of Environmental Valuation Contingent Valuation Choice Experiments The Travel Cost Method Hedonic Pricing Production Function-based Techniques Summary Further Reading Discussion Questions Problems Irreversibility, Risk and Uncertainty Learning Objectives Introduction Individual Decision Making in the Face of Risk Option Price and Option Value Risk and Irreversibility Environmental Cost–benefit Analysis Revisited Decision Theory: Choices Under Uncertainty A Safe Minimum Standard of Conservation Summary Further Reading Discussion Questions Problems Part IV Natural Resource Exploitation The Efficient and Optimal Use of Natural Resources Learning Objectives Introduction Part I a Simple Optimal Resource Depletion Model The Economy and Its Production Function Is the Natural Resource Essential? What Is the Elasticity of Substitution Between K and R? Resource Substitutability and the Consequences of Increasing Resource Scarcity The Social Welfare Function and an Optimal Allocation of Natural Resources Part Ii Extending the Model to Incorporate Extraction Costs and Renewable Resources The Optimal Solution to the Resource Depletion Model Incorporating Extraction Costs Generalisation to Renewable Resources Complications A Numerical Application: Oil Extraction and Global Optimal Consumption Summary Further Reading Discussion Questions Problems The Theory of Optimal Resource Extraction: Non-renewable Resources Learning Objectives Introduction A Non-renewable Resource Two-period Model A Non-renewable Resource Multi-period Model Non-renewable Resource Extraction in Perfectly Competitive Markets Resource Extraction in a Monopolistic Market A Comparison of Competitive and Monopolistic Extraction Programmes Extensions of the Multi-period Model of Non-renewable Resource Depletion The Introduction of Taxation/subsidies The Resource Depletion Model: Some Extensions and Further Issues Do Resource Prices Actually Follow the Hotelling Rule? Natural Resource Scarcity Summary Further Reading Discussion Questions Problems Stock Pollution Problems Learning Objectives Introduction An Aggregate Dynamic Model of Pollution A Complication: Variable Decay of the Pollution Stock Steady-state Outcomes A Model of Waste Accumulation and Disposal Summary Further Reading Discussion Question Problem Renewable Resources Learning Objectives Introduction Biological Growth Processes Steady-state Harvests An Open-access Fishery The Dynamics of Renewable Resource Harvesting Should One Use a Continuous-time Model or a Discrete-time Model of the Open-access Fishery? Alternative Forms of Biological Growth Function in Which There Is a Positive Minimum Viable Population Size Stochastic Fishery Models The Private-property Fishery Dynamics in the Pv-maximising Fishery Encompassing the Open-access, Static Private-property and Pvmaximising Fishery Models in a Single Framework Socially Efficient Resource Harvesting A Safe Minimum Standard of Conservation Resource Harvesting, Population Collapses and the Extinction of Species Renewable Resources Policy Summary Further Reading Discussion Questions Problems Forest Resources Learning Objectives Introduction The Current State of World Forest Resources Characteristics of Forest Resources Commercial Plantation Forestry Multiple-use Forestry Socially and Privately Optimal Multiple-use Plantation Forestry Natural Forests and Deforestation Government and Forest Resources Summary Further Reading Discussion Questions Problems Accounting for the Environment Learning Objectives Introduction Environmental Indicators and State of the Environment Reporting Environmental Accounting: Theory Environmental Accounting: Practice Wealth and Genuine Saving Sustainable Development Indicators Concluding Remarks Summary Further Reading Discussion Questions Problems References Names Index Subject Index