Environmental Economics

Environmental Economics by Kolstad, Charles. hardcover edition. ISBN: 9780195119541.

Environmental Economics is the first text that concentrates solely on environmental economics--the problems of earth, air, and water pollution--with an emphasis on both government and regulation and private-sector anti-pollution incentives. It assumes a knowledge of intermediate microeconomics; therefore, basic economics is not reviewed in this book as it is in others. The book is divided into four primary sections: the first section defines the field of environmental economics in relation to general economics and to ecological and resource economics; the second section looks at market failure and considers why, even with apparent environmental protection, the market often fails to work properly; the third section examines government regulation of pollution using the industrial organization literature; and the final section looks at the demand for environmental quality, covering both revealed preference and stated preference methods. Because of global interest in environmental economics, this text includes many international examples and places special emphasis on the way countries around the world approach and control their own environmental problems. Environmental Economics is ideal for undergraduate and beginning graduate courses in environmental economics.