This title was first published in 2001. This wide-ranging and comprehensive collection investigates the background to environmental economic development over the last thirty years, and the political implications of new directions resulting from technological and cultural changes in environmental issues. It examines the application of economic analysis to environmental problems in the past and solutions to the current issues of water, soil, air, energy, waste and urban ecology, discussing the implications of political decisions, cultural changes and technological constraints. It will prove a stimulating resource for students, academics, researchers and policy-makers alike.

Should there be firmer restrictions on trade, with more policies aimed at protecting its environmental impacts, or would the environment benefit most from unrestricted free trade? Do importing countries have a responsibility only to their local ecosystems, or are they also responsible for environmental degradation caused by the production of traded goods in exporting countries? Trading the Environment examines both the dependence and the effects of international trade on the earth's life support systems and looks at ways in which trading regulations could be adapted to promote ecologically sustainable economic development. It addresses the issues from a fully integrated approach, focusing on the interrelations between ecosystems, economic development and trade. The authors provide a carefully constructed ecological and economic analysis of trade and the environment, examine the existing legal and institutional frameworks and set out 16 recommendations to achieve environment beneficial trade at both national and international levels. Trading with the environment was originally commissioned by the Swedish government and is already regarded thereon essential reference. It makes an excellent introduction as well as constructive analysis, both for students and for policy-makers and professional economics and other scientists working on the issues. Published in 1995

Vatn has prepared a vast feast for his readers. Hopefully, this book will become one of the core textbooks both in institutional economics and in resource economics. As a political scientist, I can recommend it to social scientists more generally. I must confess, I enjoyed it all. Elinor Ostrom, 2009 Nobel Laureate, Land Economics Institutions and the Environment indeed serves as a first-rate starting point for students and researchers regardless of whether they are mainly interested in institutions in general or environmental governance and ecological economics in particular. Charlotta Söderberg, Environmental Politics This timely book is about institutions: how they develop, how they function and how they solve problems. . . This book exemplifies the fine institutionalist tradition of using knowledge to solve pressing problems; in fact, institutionalists will find little here to criticize. The scope of this book is wide: policy makers, government officials, institutionalists, environmentalists and the general public will all benefit from reading this book. . . Keep this book handy: you ll want to make frequent references as the global warming policy debate unfolds. Jack Reardon, Journal of Economic Issues Vatn s book addresses the urgent question of environmental policy and shows that an understanding of the role of institutions is vital in this area. It incorporates insights on institutions from both mainstream and heterodox traditions of thought. Magisterial and comprehensive, it is both a textbook and an inspiring, pioneering monograph. Geoffrey M. Hodgson, University of Hertfordshire, UK This is an excellent book, which can be read at different levels. . . I very much enjoyed reading this book and would recommend it to anyone interested in these issues. I feel it is likely to become one of the core text books on the topic. Neil Powe, Newcastle University, UK We have here an encompassing work of remarkable clarity and coherence demonstrating the enduring pertinence of classical institutional economics to the vexing issues of our time. While most of the illustrative examples come from the realm of environmental problems, the reach of this fine book goes far beyond this particular issue and informs how we ought to think about all aspects of public policy. Daniel W. Bromley, University of Wisconsin, Madison, US This is a superb book on institutional economics and environmental policy. Vatn has written the definitive exposition of the theory and policy approaches of modern institutional economics. It not only builds on the work of the best institutional economists, from Veblen to Bromley and Hodgson it also incorporates the extremely relevant and exciting research now being done in contemporary mainstream economics. With the demise of Walrasian economics and the current drive for the unification of the behavioral sciences, the time is ripe for institutional economics to once again become a dominant school of economic thought. Vatn s book shows the way. John Gowdy, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, US This important text develops an institutional response to the core issues raised in public policy making and develops a distinct understanding of the role of institutions, not least in the study of environmental problems. It questions: how are conflicting interests shaped and taken into account in policy making? How should they be accounted for? What motivates the behaviour of firms and individuals, and how is it possible to change these motivations to produce the favoured common outcomes? The author addresses these questions by integrating elements from classical institutional economics, neoclassical economics, sociology and ecological economics. He argues that public policy in general, and environmental policy in particular, are best examined from an institutional perspective. In this way the author presents a distinct and consistent alternative to standard neoclassical economics for students and scholars who

'This is an excellent piece of work, applying the economic theory of property rights and transaction costs to the complex policy problems associated with water use in irrigation. Challen examines the determination of transaction costs and the way they interact with a realistic specification of property rights. He thereby avoids the two main defects found in much work in this area: first, the use of a simplistic division of property rights schemes, for example one based on polar categories of private property and common property, defined to mean open access, and second, a tendency to use the category of transaction costs as an unexamined "black box".' - John Quiggin, James Cook University, Australia 'A most encouraging trend in economics concerns the careful and non-teleological study of institutions. From an era in which institutions were completely ignored, through an era in which it was thought that institutions were mere constraints on otherwise beneficent behavior in markets, through an era in which it was thought that the purpose of institutions was to promote economic efficiency, we now seem to be firmly in an era in which it is understood that institutions are the very bedrock of economic and social interaction. The analysis of institutions will fall into incoherence if we insist on seeing them as teleological rather than as instrumental. Once there, we must still understand the purposes that different individuals and collectivities ascribe to particular institutional set ups. In this careful book Ray Challen offers clear conceptual guidance to the study of economic institutions. He also shows us how one can undertake the analysis of institutional choice. The problem setting is water resources in eastern Australia. The lessons are profoundly international, and the approach is refreshingly promising.' - Daniel W. Bromley, University of Wisconsin-Madison, US Conventional economic analysis of property rights in natural resources is too narrow and restrictive to allow for effective comparisons between alternative institutional structures. In this book, a conceptual framework is developed for the analysis of these structures with illustrative application to the allocation of water resources.

EXPAND YOUR UNDERSTANDING OF HOW ENVIRONMENTAL POLICY AFFECTS BUSINESS, THE ECONOMY, AND YOUR LIFE WITH THIS ESSENTIAL RESOURCE Environmental Policy: An Economic Perspective offers readers a comprehensive examination of the ever-broadening scope and impact of environmental policy, law, and regulation. Editors Thomas Walker, Northrop Sprung-Much, and Sherif Goubran walk readers through a variety of subjects while maintaining a global perspective on the expanding role of environmental law. This book takes a pragmatic and practical approach to its subject matter, showing readers the real impact across the world of different kinds of environmental policy. Among other topics, Environmental Policy: An Economic Perspective tackles: Climate change legislation Water conservation and pricing Biodiversity of the marine environment Wildlife ranching Emission trading schemes Green job strategies Sustainable investing Written for undergraduate and graduate students in any field affected by environmental legislation and policy, this book also belongs on the shelves of anyone who seeks to better understand the increasingly important role of environmental policy on their business and life.

The past twenty-five years have seen a significant evolution in environmental policy, with new environmental legislation and substantive amendments to earlier laws, significant advances in environmental science, and changes in the treatment of science (and scientific uncertainty) by the courts. This book offers a detailed discussion of the important issues in environmental law, policy, and economics, tracing their development over the past few decades through an examination of environmental law cases and commentaries by leading scholars. The authors focus on pollution, addressing both pollution control and prevention, but also emphasize the evaluation, design, and use of the law to stimulate technical change and industrial transformation, arguing that there is a need to address broader issues of sustainable development. Environmental Law, Policy, and Economics,which grew out of courses taught by the authors at MIT, treats the traditional topics covered in most classes in environmental law and policy, including common law and administrative law concepts and the primary federal legislation. But it goes beyond these to address topics not often found in a single volume: the information-based obligations of industry, enforcement of environmental law, market-based and voluntary alternatives to traditional regulation, risk assessment, environmental economics, and technological innovation and diffusion. Countering arguments found in other texts that government should play a reduced role in environmental protection, this book argues that clear, stringent legal requirements--coupled with flexible means for meeting them--and meaningful stakeholder participation are necessary for bringing about environmental improvements and technologicial transformations.

This volume presents six new papers on environmental and energy economics and policy in the United States. Rebecca Davis, J. Scott Holladay, and Charles Sims analyze recent trends in and forecasts of coal-fired power plant retirements with and without new climate policy. Severin Borenstein and James Bushnell examine the efficiency of pricing for electricity, natural gas, and gasoline. James Archsmith, Erich Muehlegger, and David Rapson provide a prospective analysis of future pathways for electric vehicle adoption. Kenneth Gillingham considers the consequences of such pathways for the design of fuel vehicle economy standards. Frank Wolak investigates the long-term resource adequacy in wholesale electricity markets with significant intermittent renewables. Finally, Barbara Annicchiarico, Stefano Carattini, Carolyn Fischer, and Garth Heutel review the state of research on the interactions between business cycles and environmental policy.

With the growing number, complexity, and importance of environmental problems come demands to include a full range of intellectual disciplines and scholarly traditions to help define and eventually manage such problems more effectively. Decision Making for the Environment: Social and Behavioral Science Research Priorities is the result of a 2-year effort by 12 social and behavioral scientists, scholars, and practitioners. The report sets research priorities for the social and behavioral sciences as they relate to several different kinds of environmental problems.

This paper looks at the role and importance of economic instruments in the context of three specific biodiversity related Multilateral Environmental Agreements. These are the Convention on international Trade in Endangered Species of Flora and Fauna (CITES), the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) and the Ramsar Convention on Wetlands of International Importance especially as Waterfowl Habitat (Ramsar Convention). The paper also discusses ways to improve and enhance the use of economic instruments as a means of conserving and sustaining biological diversity. (UNEP).

"An Introduction to the Law and Economics of Environmental Policy" emphasises the importance of institutional design in addressing social problems. Three important issues concerning institutional design are: policies, instruments, and enforcement. This volume surveys each of the issues, and emphasises the common themes arising in optimal institutional design. These themes include the cost of complex institutional design, and the role of private institutions attaining social objects. This book will be particularly useful to law schools, departments of government, policy or economics, environmental managers and insurance companies.