Environmental Economics

Description

Environmental Economics is an introduction to the basic principles of environmental economics as they have been developed in the past and as they continue to evolve. The examples discussed in this textbook represent only a sample of the full range of issues that actually exists. For this reason, the Fifth Edition sticks to the basic ideas and ways that environmental economists have found to make the basic concepts and models more specific and relevant to concrete environmental issues. The basic structure and sequence of chapters are unchanged but contains new and updated material that reflects the new research efforts by environmental economists over the last few years. Title Contents SECTION ONE INTRODUCTION 1 What Is Environmental Economics? Economic Analysis The Importance of Incentives Incentives: A Household Example Incentives and Global Warming The Design of Environmental Policy Macroeconomic Questions: Environment and Growth Benefit–Cost Analysis Valuing the Environment Suburban Sprawl International Issues Globalization and the Environment Economics and Politics Summary 2 The Economy and the Environment Natural Resource Economics The Fundamental Balance The Environment as an Economic and Social Asset Terminology Emissions, Ambient Quality, and Damages Types of Pollutants Cumulative vs. Noncumulative Pollutants Local vs. Regional and Global Pollutants Point-Source vs. Nonpoint-Source Pollutants Continuous vs. Episodic Emissions Environmental Damages Not Related to Emissions Summary Questions for Further Discussion SECTION TWO ANALYTICAL TOOLS 3 Benefits and Costs, Supply and Demand Willingness to Pay Demand Aggregate Demand/Willingness to Pay Benefits Cost Opportunity Cost Private and Social Costs Cost Curves The Shapes of Cost Curves Technology The Equimarginal Principle Marginal Cost and Supply Summary Questions for Further Discussion 4 Economic Efficiency and Markets Economic Efficiency Efficiency and Equity Markets Markets and Social Efficiency External Costs Open-Access Resources External Benefits Public Goods Summary Questions for Further Discussion 5 The Economics of Environmental Quality Pollution Control—A General Model Pollution Damages Damage Functions Damage Functions: A Closer Look Damages and Uncertainty Damages and Time Abatement Costs Abatement Cost Functions Abatement Cost Functions: A Closer Look Aggregate Marginal Abatement Costs The Socially Efficient Level of Emissions Changes in the Efficient Level of Emissions Enforcement Costs The Equimarginal Principle Applied to Emission Reductions Trade-offs and Politics Summary Questions for Further Discussion SECTION THREE ENVIRONMENTAL ANALYSIS 6 Frameworks of Analysis Impact Analysis Environmental Impact Analysis Economic Impact Analysis Regulatory Impact Analysis Cost-Effectiveness Analysis Damage Assessment Benefit–Cost Analysis The Basic Framework Scope of the Program Discounting Choice of Discount Rate Discounting and Future Generations Distributional Issues Risk Analysis Risk Assessment Risk Valuation Risk Management Summary Questions for Further Discussion 7 Benefit–Cost Analysis: Benefits The Damage Function: Physical Aspects Measuring Damage Costs Directly Health Costs The Effects of Pollution on Production Costs Materials Damage Problems with Direct Damage Approaches Willingness to Pay Willingness to Pay: Revealed Preference Methods The Value of Human Health as Expressed in Averting Costs The Value of Human Life as Expressed in Wage Rates Valuing Children’s Health The Value of Environmental Quality as Expressed in House Prices The Value of Environmental Quality and Intercity Wage Differentials The Value of Environmental Amenities as Expressed in Travel Costs Willingness to Pay: Stated Preference Methods Valuing an Environmental Amenity Valuing Health Outcomes Problems of CV Analysis Problems in Benefit Estimation Discounting Willingness to Pay vs. Willingness to Accept Nonuse Values Summary Questions for Further Discussion 8 Benefit–Cost Analysis: Costs The Cost Perspective: General Issues The With/Without Principle No-Cost Improvements in Environmental Quality The Distribution of Costs Concepts of Cost Opportunity Costs Environmental Costs Enforcement Costs Costs of Single Facilities Costs of a Local Regulation Costs of Regulating an Industry An Example Sources of Cost Data Misrepresentation of Costs Actual vs. Minimum Pollution Control Costs The Effect of Output Adjustments on Costs Long-Run Technical Change and Pollution-Control Costs Costs at the National Level Future Costs and Technological Change Summary Questions for Further Discussion SECTION FOUR ENVIRONMENTAL POLICY ANALYSIS 9 Criteria for Evaluating Environmental Policies Efficiency Cost Effectiveness Fairness Environmental Justice Incentives for Technological Improvements Enforceability Materials Balance Issues Moral Considerations Government Failure Summary Questions for Further Discussion 10 Decentralized Policies: Liability Laws, Property Rights, Voluntary Action Liability Laws The Principle Common Law Statutory Law Property Rights The Principle Rules and Conditions Transactions Costs The Absence of Markets Markets for Green Goods Voluntary Action Moral Suasion Informal Community Pressure Summary Questions for Further Discussion 11 Command-and-Control Strategies: The Case of Standards Types of Standards Ambient Standards Emission Standards Technology Standards Standards Used in Combination The Economics of Standards Setting the Level of the Standard Uniformity of Standards Standards and the Equimarginal Principle Standards and Incentives Short Run Long Run Political-Economic Aspects of Standards The Economics of Enforcement Enforcing Emission Standards Enforcing Technology Standards General Issues Summary Questions for Further Discussion 12 Incentive-Based Strategies: Emission Charges and Subsidies Emission Charges The Basic Economics The Level of the Charge Emission Charges and Cost-Effectiveness Emission Taxes and Nonuniform Emissions Emissions Charges and Uncertainty Emission Charges and Tax Revenues Emission Charges and the Incentives to Innovate Emission Charges and Enforcement Costs Other Types of Charges Distributional Impacts of Emission Charges Abatement Subsidies Deposit-Refund Systems Summary Questions for Further Discussion 13 Incentive-Based Strategies: Transferable Discharge Permits General Principles The Initial Rights Allocation Establishing Trading Rules Reducing the Number of Permits Nonuniform Emissions CAPs and Problems of Competition CAP Programs and Enforcement Voluntary Trading CAPs and the Incentive for R&D CAP and Uncertainty Summary Questions for Further Discussion SECTION FIVE ENVIRONMENTAL POLICY IN THE UNITED STATES 14 Federal Water Pollution–Control Policy Types of Water Pollutants Federal Policy: A Brief History Technology-Based Effluent Standards Efficiency and Cost-Effectiveness of TBESs Experience with TBESs TBESs and Incentives TBESs and Enforcement The Municipal Wastewater Treatment Plant Subsidy Program The Safe Drinking Water Act (SDWA) Coastal Water Pollution Recent Policy Innovations in Water Pollution Control Nonpoint-Source Water Pollution Control Total Maximum Daily Load (TMDL) Program Emission Trading in Water Pollution Control Summary Questions for Further Discussion 15 Federal Air Pollution Control Policy Federal Air Pollution Control Laws: A Brief Sketch National Ambient Air Quality Standards Stationary-Source Control Technology-Based Effluent Standards Cost-Effectiveness of the TBES Approach New Directions in Stationary-Source Control The CAP Program of the CAA How It Works The Role of the EPA Has It Worked? Other CAP Programs Mobile-Source Air Pollution Control New-Car Emission Standards Lead Trading and the Switch to Lead-Free Gas The 1990 Clean Air Act Clean Cars Incentive Issues in Mobile-Source Programs Summary Questions for Further Discussion 16 Federal Policy on Toxic and Hazardous Substances Economic Issues in Laws Governing Chemicals in Production and Consumer Products The “Balancing” Issue Uniform Standards Differentiated Control The Economics of Pest Resistance Economic Issues in Federal Policy on Toxic Emissions Instrument Choice Waste Reduction The Management of Hazardous Wastes Economic Issues in Handling Current Hazardous Waste Incentive-Based Possibilities Environmental Justice Radioactive Wastes Cleaning Up after the Cold War Economic Issues in Handling Legacy Hazardous Waste Sites Financing Hazardous Waste Site Cleanups How Clean Is Clean? Brownfields Natural Resource Damages (NRD) Summary Questions for Further Discussion 17 State and Local Environmental Issues Environmental Federalism Constitutional Issues Efficiency Issues Race to the Bottom? Policy Innovations at the State Level Municipal Solid Waste The Nature of the Problem Technical Options for Reducing MSW Current Policy The Economics of Recycling Producer Use of Recycled Material Consumer Recycling Decisions Producer Take-Back Programs Land-Use Control Policies The Economic Logic of Land-Use Decisions Policy Options The Regulatory Takings Issue Summary Questions for Further Discussion SECTION SIX INTERNATIONAL ENVIRONMENTAL ISSUES 18 Comparative Environmental Policies International Comparisons of Environmental Quality Interpreting Differences in Environmental Performance Environmental Policy in Other Countries National Styles in Environmental Policy Guiding Principles of Pollution Control Instrument Choices Environmental Analysis Environmental Policy in Transition Countries Developments in Environmental Accounting Summary Questions for Further Discussion 19 Economic Development and the Environment General Considerations Environmental Degradation in Developing Economies Economy and Environment A Static View Sustainability Long-Run Relationships The Pollution-Haven Hypothesis Environmental Policy Choices in Developing Countries Benefit–Cost Analysis Reducing Environmental Disincentives of Current Policies Institutional Policy: Property Rights Population Policy as Environmental Policy What Types of Environmental Policies? The Role of the Developed Countries Technology Transfer Debt-for-Nature Swaps Environmental Values in International Aid Institutions Summary Questions for Further Discussion 20 The Global Environment Stratospheric Ozone Depletion The Physical Problem Damages from Ultraviolet Radiation Policy Responses The Economics of CFC Controls Global Warming The Physical Problem Human and Ecosystem Impacts Scientific Uncertainties and Human Choice Technical Responses to the Greenhouse Effect Reducing Domestic GHG Emissions Incentive-Based Approaches for Reducing Greenhouse Gas Emissions International Efforts in Global Warming The Kyoto Protocol A New Global Greenhouse Agreement? Biological Diversity Summary Questions for Further Discussion 21 International Environmental Agreements General Issues The Economics of International Agreements Bilateral Agreements Multilateral Agreements The Distribution of Costs International Agreements in Practice Cost-Effectiveness in Multinational Agreements International Trade and the Environment Free Trade vs. Environmental Trade Restrictions Trade Restrictions to Advance International Environmental Goals Summary Questions for Further Discussion APPENDIX Abbreviations and Acronyms Used in the Book NAME INDEX SUBJECT INDEX