This book deals with various aspects of the 'commons' problems; focuses on water-related issues; looks at writings in the conservation area, with particular emphasis on irreversibility and uncertainty; and examines the role of natural resources in economic development.

This volume was assembled by two of Dr. Wantrup's students as a complement to his textbook, Resource Conservation: Economics and Policies. Wantrup's ideas on conservation economics continued to evolve in ways that were never fully reflected in that text, and although for the student of natural resource economics it is still essential reading, to stop there is to have missed some of his most valuable insights.