This lucid, up-to-date book takes a fresh look at the application of cost-benefit analysis (CBA) to environmental problems ranging from wildlife protection to global warming. Cost-Benefit Analysis and the Environment is structured into two parts. Part one provides a critical up-to-date account of the theory and practice of CBA as applied to the environment. Part two focuses on a number of specific case studies, in particular ozone damage to agricultural crops, wilderness land use, recreation and nitrate pollution. The application of CBA to the greenhouse effect is used to illustrate the limitations of the method. The book summarizes the major problems CBA faces in environmental application. This book will be highly relevant for the growing number of undergraduate and post-graduate courses in environmental economics and management, as well as being of interest both to academics researching in these areas, and to other professionals concerned with project appraisal and the environment.

This book argues that mainstream economics, with its present methodological approach, is limited in its ability to analyze and develop adequate public policy to deal with environmental problems and sustainable development. Each chapter provides major insights into many of today's environmental problems such as global warming and sustainable growth. Building on the strengths and insights of Post Keynesian and ecological economics and incorporating cutting-edge work in economic complexity, bounded rationality and socio-economic dynamics, this book provides an interdisciplinary approach to deal with a broad range of environmental concerns. The contributors show how and where the two traditions share common ground concerning environmental problems and shed light on how the two schools can learn from one another. The book will be of great value to Post Keynesian and ecological economists as well as to those interested in new approaches to important global environmental issues.

Since becoming formally established with an international academic society in the late 1980s, ecological economics has advanced understanding of the interactions between social and biophysical reality. It initially combined questioning of the basis of mainstream economics with a concern for environmental degradation and limits to growth, but has now advanced well beyond critique into theoretical, analytical and policy alternatives. Social ecological economics and transformation to an alternative future now form core ideas in an interdisciplinary approach combining insights from a range of disciplines including heterodox economics, political ecology, sociology, political science, social psychology, applied philosophy, environmental ethics and a range of natural sciences. This handbook, edited by a leading figure in the field, demonstrates the dynamism of ecological economics in a wide-ranging collection of state-of-the-art essays. Containing contributions from an array of international researchers who are pushing the boundaries of the field, the Routledge Handbook of Ecological Economics showcases the diversity of the field and points the way forward. A critical analytical perspective is combined with realism about how economic systems operate and their essential connection to the natural world and society. This provides a rich understanding of how biophysical reality relates to and integrates with social reality. Chapters provide succinct overviews of the literature covering a range of subject areas including: heterodox thought on the environment; society, power and politics, markets and consumption; value and ethics; science and society; methods for evaluation and policy analysis; policy challenges; and the future post-growth society. The rich contents dispel the myth of there being no alternatives to current economic thought and the political economy it supports. The Routledge Handbook of Ecological Economics provides a guide to the literature on ecological economics in an informative and easily accessible form. It is essential reading for those interested in exploring and understanding the interactions between the social, ecological and economic and is an important resource for those interested in fields such as: human ecology, political ecology, environmental politics, human geography, environmental management, environmental evaluation, future and transition studies, environmental policy, development studies and heterodox economics.

Economists are concerned by a wide range of environmental impacts from pollutants, as they affect human welfare and not just human health. This insightful book demonstrates how economic analysis can contribute to decision making in environmental policy and discusses the theoretical limitations of economic valuation.Through detailed case studies including land contamination and ecosystem damage, the expert contributors illustrate the range of methods economists currently employ to address and manage the impacts of pollutants, such as multiple criteria analysis, hedonic pricing and contingent valuation. They explore applications of the cost-benefit approach to the environment but also raise questions as to its continued role compared to alternative methods. By presenting the ongoing work of economists involved with environmental management the authors hope that understanding of typical economic practice can be enhanced and perhaps complemented by natural scientists working in the fields of ecotoxicology, epidemiology and ecology. The book also discusses how the sometimes difficult interaction between natural science and economic analysis can be managed. By adopting an international perspective and providing a critical overview of contemporary economic research into environmental pollution, this book will become essential reading for environmental economists, scientists and policymakers.

Since becoming formally established with an international academic society in the late 1980s, ecological economics has advanced understanding of the interactions between social and biophysical reality. It initially combined questioning of the basis of mainstream economics with a concern for environmental degradation and limits to growth, but has now advanced well beyond critique into theoretical, analytical and policy alternatives. Social ecological economics and transformation to an alternative future now form core ideas in an interdisciplinary approach combining insights from a range of disciplines including heterodox economics, political ecology, sociology, political science, social psychology, applied philosophy, environmental ethics and a range of natural sciences. This handbook, edited by a leading figure in the field, demonstrates the dynamism of ecological economics in a wide-ranging collection of state-of-the-art essays. Containing contributions from an array of international researchers who are pushing the boundaries of the field, the Routledge Handbook of Ecological Economics showcases the diversity of the field and points the way forward. A critical analytical perspective is combined with realism about how economic systems operate and their essential connection to the natural world and society. This provides a rich understanding of how biophysical reality relates to and integrates with social reality. Chapters provide succinct overviews of the literature covering a range of subject areas including: heterodox thought on the environment; society, power and politics, markets and consumption; value and ethics; science and society; methods for evaluation and policy analysis; policy challenges; and the future post-growth society. The rich contents dispel the myth of there being no alternatives to current economic thought and the political economy it supports. The Routledge Handbook of Ecological Economics provides a guide to the literature on ecological economics in an informative and easily accessible form. It is essential reading for those interested in exploring and understanding the interactions between the social, ecological and economic and is an important resource for those interested in fields such as: human ecology, political ecology, environmental politics, human geography, environmental management, environmental evaluation, future and transition studies, environmental policy, development studies and heterodox economics.

Social ecological economics is an emerging paradigm that combines critical social science with realism to offer a radical theoretically grounded alternative economics based on ethical social provisioning to meeting needs. The foundations of the approach include its radical roots, philosophical presuppositions and preanalytic vision. Both mainstream and heterodox economics —Marxism, feminism, institutionalism, Post Keynesianism — are critically reviewed highlighting the lack of attention to the combined social and environmental crises. The potentiality and means for integration of knowledge across heterodox thought is explored and explicitly addressed. The author tackles the failures of the mainstream economic orthodoxy and its dissenting apologists. The book justifies radical structural change, how this can be achieved and where this takes us in terms of establishing an alternative to capitalist focussed economics for sustaining and developing alternative social-ecological economies. -- .

This major new book presents recent advances in the theory and practice of environmental valuation and resource management. Leading experts in the field present methodological and empirical evidence for applying valuation methods to ecological policy problems. The methodological contributions examine such themes as uncertainty, distributional conflict, positional analysis, weak comparability and the need for collective solutions to environmental problems. Case studies are incorporated to support these theoretical reflections. A number of empirical studies are used to demonstrate and evaluate valuation practices in a variety of institutional and policy settings. These range from international environmental issues such as climate change and transboundary atmospheric pollution, to species preservation and coastal ecosystem protection. The contributors conclude that effective approaches for the evaluation of environmental risks, degradation and benefits must be specifically designed as functions of institutional, social and ecological factors. Valuation and the Environment will be essential reading for students and scholars of environmental and ecological economics, environmental management and regulation, resource management and public policy.

This lucid, up-to-date book takes a fresh look at the application of cost-benefit analysis (CBA) to environmental problems ranging from wildlife protection to global warming. Cost-Benefit Analysis and the Environment is structured into two parts. Part one provides a critical up-to-date account of the theory and practice of CBA as applied to the environment. Part two focuses on a number of specific case studies, in particular ozone damage to agricultural crops, wilderness land use, recreation and nitrate pollution. The application of CBA to the greenhouse effect is used to illustrate the limitations of the method. The book summarizes the major problems CBA faces in environmental application. This book will be highly relevant for the growing number of undergraduate and post-graduate courses in environmental economics and management, as well as being of interest both to academics researching in these areas, and to other professionals concerned with project appraisal and the environment.

Preface; D. Requier-Desjardins, et al. Environmental Policy and Societal Aims; D. Requier-Desjardins, et al. Industry Preferences for Instruments of Environmental Policy; B. Dijkstra, A. Nentjes. A Carbon/Energy Tax for Sustainable Development; N. Gouzee, S. Willems. The Use of National Savings in Sustainability Analysis; A.C. Hansen. Sustainable Development and Ecological Modernisation; M.J. Cohen. Localized Technical Change and the Efficient Control of Global Warming; F. Ferrante. Do Local Authorities Have a Part to Play in a Sustainable Development? S. Krarup. Sustainability and Civic Participation in Environmental Local Auditing. Contributions from the Experience in Catalonia; M.A. Alio, et al. Local Sustainable Development: How Can Equity Issues Be Examined at the Local Level? J. Corbett, H. Voisey. Cultural Empowerment: (Re)Building Locality and Facilitating Collective Vision as Interventions Toward Sustainable Rural Development; N. Mack. Qualitative Growth - Employment: A Revised Relationship; L. Grimal, C. Kephaliacos. From the Expected to the Desired Future of Passenger Transport. A Stakeholder Approach; S.A. Rienstra, P. Nijkamp. Sustainable Development and Social Justice: The Tool of the Reduction in Income Inequalities; J.M. Harribey. Index.