Current Issues in Environmental Economics

This text examines some major issues in environmental economics, looking in particular at the issue of unpriced services provided by the environment and how to value them. The contingent valuation method and experimental methods that can be used to value environmental assets are discussed. It is also shown how altruistic concerns can be handled in evaluations of environmenmtal change. The book then looks at how to augment the conventional national income measure so as to reflect depletion of natural resources. It also illustrates how computable general equilibrium models can be used to assess how environmental policy instruments affect different sectors of the economy in the short-run and in the long-run.