In this concise, engaging, and provocative work, Richard Porter introduces readers to the economic tools that can be applied to problems involved in handling a diverse range of waste products from business and households. Emphasizing the impossibility of achieving a zero-risk environment, Porter focuses on the choices that apply in real world decisions about waste. Acknowledging that effective waste policy integrates knowledge from several disciplines, Porter focuses on the use of economic analysis to reveal the costs of different policies and therefore how much can be done to meet goals to protect human health and the environment. With abundant examples, he considers subjects such as landfills, incineration, and illegal disposal. He discusses the international trade in waste, the costs and benefits of recycling, and special topics such as hazardous materials, Superfund, and nuclear waste. While making clear his belief that not every form of waste presents the same amount of risk, Porter stresses the need for open-minded approaches to developing new policies. For students, policymakers, and general readers, he provides insight and accessibility to a subject that others might leave out-of-sight, out-of-mind, or buried under an impenetrable prose of statistics and jargon.

First published in 1997, this volume examines the urban environments of Accra (Ghana), Harare (Zimbabwe) and Gaborone (Botswana). Each was effectively the capital city of a former British colony, and hence inherited a concern for public health. Each has made a serious and largely successful effort to provide the public goods necessary for the well-being of their urban population. Each is well above the average for all of Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) in these respects. However, the GDP per capita varies significantly between these three countries. Differences in standard of living are similarly evident. The authors focus intensively on public policies that determine who gets what, how they get it, and what price they pay.

First published in 1997, this volume examines the urban environments of Accra (Ghana), Harare (Zimbabwe) and Gaborone (Botswana). Each was effectively the capital city of a former British colony, and hence inherited a concern for public health. Each has made a serious and largely successful effort to provide the public goods necessary for the well-being of their urban population. Each is well above the average for all of Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) in these respects. However, the GDP per capita varies significantly between these three countries. Differences in standard of living are similarly evident. The authors focus intensively on public policies that determine who gets what, how they get it, and what price they pay.

In this concise, engaging, and at times provocative work, Richard Porter introduces readers to the economic tools that can be applied to problems involved in handling a diverse range of waste products from business and households.

Emphasizing the impossibility of achieving a zero-risk environment, Porter focuses on the choices that apply in real world decisions about waste. Acknowledging that effective waste policy integrates knowledge from several disciplines, Porter focuses on the use of economic analysis to reveal the costs of different policies and therefore how much can be done to meet goals to protect human health and the environment. With abundant examples, he considers subjects such as landfills, incineration, and illegal disposal. He discusses the international trade in waste, the costs and benefits of recycling, and special topics such as hazardous materials, Superfund, and nuclear waste.

While making clear his belief that not every form of waste presents the same amount of risk or should be taken with the same amount of seriousness, Porter stresses the need for open-minded approaches to developing new policies. For students, policymakers, and general readers, this book provides insight and accessibility to a subject that others might leave out-of-sight, out-of-mind, or buried under an impenetrable prose of statistics and jargon.

"A comprehensive, careful, and interesting treatment." --Terry M. Dinan, Congressional Budget Office

"Economics at the Wheel" is about cars and driving, and all the problems that cars and drivers create for America. It explains actual government policy intended to reduce the damage cars and drivers do to us, and it explains why these government policies are almost all failures because they attack the wrong problem or attack it in the wrong way. The reader will come away with a much fuller understanding of air pollution, global warming, highway safety, auto insurance, gasoline taxation, rush-hour congestion, leaking underground storage tanks, and many other auto-related issues. It looks at common actions and circumstances from an economics perspective. It is readable with accessible prose style and few footnotes. It includes questions to provoke student thinking and boxed sections of side materials to stimulate discussions.