This title, originally published in 1981, explores the difficult, and at times volatile, relationship between public choice and rural development in developing countries. The book is organised into three major sections: the first section examines important general themes, the second describes how public choice and rural development intertwine in some areas of concern to aid donors, and finally, the third section revisits the major themes discussed in the book and offers further understanding to the critical questions and problems at hand. It is a valuable resource for students interested in environmental studies and development studies.

This title, originally published in 1981, explores the difficult, and at times volatile, relationship between public choice and rural development in developing countries. The book is organised into three major sections: the first section examines important general themes, the second describes how public choice and rural development intertwine in some areas of concern to aid donors, and finally, the third section revisits the major themes discussed in the book and offers further understanding to the critical questions and problems at hand. It is a valuable resource for students interested in environmental studies and development studies.

Planning and the Political Market argues that the enthusiasm for planning as an essential component of environmental protection is misplaced. Drawing on the experience of Britain and other Western democracies, the author uses public choice theory to explore the practical experience of land use planning as an example of government failure. The book opens by outlining the institutional focus of public choice theory, examining the central questions of market and government failure and the theoretical case for government intervention in the environment. Having explored the principal impacts of planning the book goes on to analyse the institutional structures which have produced these policy outcomes. The analysis suggests that institutional incentives within the 'political market' have frequently led to policies which favour special interest groups and public sector bureaucracy. The book concludes with an assessment of the potential for a private property rights, free market alternative to increase community involvement and access.

While many rural areas continue to experience depopulation and economic decline, others are facing rapid in migration, as well as employment and income growth. Much of this growth is due to the presence and use of amenity resources, broadly defined as qualities of a region that make it an attractive place to live and work. Rather than extracting natural resources for external markets, these communities have begun to build economies based on promoting environmental quality. Amenities and Rural Development explores the paradigmatic shift in how we view land resources and the potential for development in amenity-rich rural regions.

Originally published in 1978. The question of how best to use our various resources has become one of crucial importance as we face today's many economic problems. In this second edition, the authors are concerned with decisions on rural issues in a climate of financial cut-backs, which emphasise the need for identifying the most efficient public choices. With a refreshing directness they consider immediate problems of rural resources, such as the growth of the public sector, fluctuating commodity prices, dislocation in the land market, pollution, recreation pressure, and modernisation of an outdated settlement structure. In Part one, chapters deal in turn with the economics of public decisions, the application of quantitative models in the development context, the planning system as it applies to rural areas, and the problems of conserving the rural environment. Part two deals with the individual topics: land use and conversion to other uses, recreational use of the countryside, conservation economics, rural population, the labour market and farm policies, rural transport, and rural settlement. The authors conclude with an examination of the Cow Green Reservoir as a case-study of a rural public issue which had to be resolved. This revised and considerably expanded edition focusses specifically on the economic aspects of the subject and provides further illustrations, diagrams and examples.