Climate Change, Transport, and Environmental Policy

This important new book presents a state-of-the-art assessment of how economic models can be used by different levels of government to combat environmental problems. It considers policies for climate change and transport that can be used at federal and confederal levels of government.

The authors examine the unique aspects of environmental policy making in a multi-layered government using empirical case studies covering Europe and the US. They consider the causes of pollution at three levels - federal government, local government and industries and firms. Concentrating on greenhouse gas abatement and the transport sector, they use quantitative techniques to compare alternative policy solutions. This quantitative approach overcomes problems of some inconclusive theoretical prescriptions, which often depend on combinations of particular parameter values. In addition, this method makes it possible to investigate the costs and benefits of a particular solution, and the distribution effects between different groups. This approach also provides insights into the economic consequences of the application of local versus national or federal policies. Climate Change, Transport and Environmental Policy provides the necessary analysis required for environmental policy making in that it uses a quantitative approach to balance the costs and benefits of alternative policy options.

Climate Change, Transport and Environmental Policy is an important addition to the literature and will be welcomed by environmental policymakers at the local, regional, national and international level as well as scholars and postgraduate students in environmental economics and public policy.

Edited by Stef Proost, Associate Professor of Economics, Catholic University of Leuven, Belgium and John B. Braden, Professor of Environmental Economics and Director of the Water Resources Center, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, US