Handbook of Environmental and Resource Economics - Softcover

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1843762366 ISBN 13: 9781843762362

Publisher: Edward Elgar Publishing, 2002

Synopsis

'The handbook is the most comprehensive summary of the theory and practice of environmental and resource economics produced to date. It blends the perspectives of experts from Europe, the US and developing economies on the field, what has been accomplished, and the research frontier ahead. Anyone who wants a thorough source book for accessing the multi-faceted components of this field should have this volume in his library.'
- V. Kerry Smith, Arizona State University, US

'An impressively comprehensive and informative overview of the field. This book is a must, both as a reference of enduring value and for the authoritative articles it provides.'
- William J. Baumol, New York University and Princeton University, US

This major reference book is comprised of specially commissioned surveys in environmental and resource economics written by an international team of experts. Authoritative yet accessible, each entry provides a state-of-the-art summary of key areas that will be invaluable to researchers, practitioners and advanced students. The handbook contains 79 chapters distributed over 10 main sections:

• introduction
• economics of natural resources
• economics of environmental policy
• international aspects of environmental economics and policy
• space in environmental economics
• environmental macroeconomics
• economic valuation and evaluation
• interdisciplinary issues
• methods and models in environmental and resource economics <
• prospects

Aside from being the most extensive survey of environmental and resource economics available today, the handbook contains several special and unique features. Five of the ten main sections cover topics that are addressed marginally or not at all in previous handbooks or other surveys. Moreover, in addition to overviews of the standard (neoclassical) approach, the book covers core elements of ecological economics in the section on interdisciplinary issues, with a separate chapter comparing neoclassical and ecological economics. The first section includes an introduction and summary of the handbook, as well as a chapter with a historical survey of environmental economics. The final section covers future areas of research from both monodisciplinary and multidisciplinary perspectives.

At a chapter level the handbook addresses, in addition to standard topics, both less common and recent topics in environmental and resource economics. These include cartels in resource extraction, trade in resources, indicators of resource scarcity, endogenous risk, policy in imperfect markets, transaction costs, the double dividend of ecotaxation, distribution issues, ethics and policy, ethics and valuation, strategic trade, endogenous locations, endogenous growth theory, environmental Kuznets curves, sustainability and sustainable development, the meaning of thermodynamics, analysis of materials flows, the relevance of ecological theory, multi-criteria analysis, computable general equilibrium models, decomposition methods, and ecological economics. Traditional topics are surveyed as well, for instance, externalities, instrument choice, nonrenewable resource extraction, fishery economics, water use, the growth debate, valuation methods and cost-benefit analysis.

A final main advantage of the handbook is that the extensive sub-divisions into topics means that the surveys offer an advanced treatment while being concise, authoritative and accessible.

About this title

About the Author

Edited by Jeroen C.J.M. van den Bergh, ICREA Professor, Autonomous University of Barcelona, Spain and Professor of Environmental and Resource Economics, Free University, Amsterdam, The Netherlands

Review

'This is a splendid book. . . It is the ideal book for the indolent PhD student and academic alike. For the former, with a little creative and judicious re-packaging, it will yield at least half of the literature review of any thesis; for the latter, it will provide near instant erudition in fields far removed from ones own speciality. . . Because of its encyclopaedic character, it also tells us something about our profession as a whole and how we work. . . a word of appreciation to the editor of this volume. All of the 79 articles were commissioned pieces, written by 92 authors, each reviewed by 2 anonymous reviewers, revised and re-submitted. Any reader who has edited a commissioned volume will appreciate the majesty and miraculous nature of this achievement.'
--Frank Convery, Environment and Resource Economics

'This handbook is the essential reference work in the field. Importantly, the material included is ecumenical in two senses. It is inclusive of authors and perspectives from Europe, North American and developing regions. Further, it gives serious attention to environmental macroeconomics and other key topics more commonly found in compendia on ecological economics. The integration of those topics with more traditional areas of environmental and resource economics is a most useful contribution to greater communication within the broader discipline. Coverage is comprehensive and at a level accessible to practitioners, researchers, and students. References at the end of each chapter constitute a bibliography that provides extensive direction to the foundational and emerging literature for each topic. Highly recommended for upper-division undergraduate through professional collections.'
--J.V. Hall, Choice

'This is what it says, a handbook, something to be accessed for in-depth information on specific topics: and there can be no doubt that it is a good one . . . I certainly expect to use it as a basic source on numerous key and specialised topics for many years to come, and to refer others to it with confidence.'
--Colin Price, Environment and Planning B

About this edition

• Publisher: Edward Elgar Publishing
• Publication date: 2002
• ISBN 10: 1843762366
• ISBN 13: 9781843762362
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 1328
• Editor: Van Den Bergh Jeroen C.J.M.