Description
Book SynopsisOver the last two decades economic analysis has begun to offer increasingly sophisticated and useful insights into environmental problems. Tom Tietenberg has had a significant impact on recent innovations which have enlarged the range of economic policy instruments at our disposal as well as transforming the roles of the various institutions responsible for implementation and enforcement.
Economics and Environmental Policy includes Professor Tietenberg's most important essays on economics and environmental policy written over a 20 year period. It includes papers on the integration of economic incentives into pollution control which cover theoretical work and empirical studies as well as overviews of emission trading and emission charges. Later papers concentrate on the judicial role in environmental policy, including the perverse incentives created by specific legal doctrines, and environmental enforcement, which deals with issues such as creative penalty structures and the empowerment of nongovernmental organizations. The final papers deal with sustainable development and, in particular, the role of poverty, the need for technology and capital transfers, and the pricing of depletable resources.
The essays in this collection address not only theoretical and practical matters associated with environmental policy, but also design and implementation issues. By improving access to Tom Tietenberg's many important contributions, this volume makes a significant addition to the literature on environmental theory and practice.
Trade Review'This collection of writings of one of the leading environmental economists exemplifies the changing issues and methodologies of environmental economics and politics - highly recommended reading for anyone interested in the field.' -- Thomas Wagner, Kyklos
'This is a wide-ranging volume incorporating a large number of studies with a clearly discernible theme. Perhaps this is what might be expected to emerge from part of the productive career of a gifted individual. Such a collection is extremely valuable in that it provides a coherent view of important issues in the interface between economic analysis and environmental policy. . . . a useful addition to the intellectual resources available to environmental economists, particularly as an easily available source of many important readings for graduate and undergraduate courses.' -- Noel P. Russell, The Manchester School
Table of ContentsPart 1 Introduction. Part 2 Pollution control policies: controlling pollution by price and standard systems - a general equilibrium analysis; specific taxes and the control of pollution - a general equilibrium analysis; derived decision rules for pollution control in a general equilibrium space economy; spatially differentiated air pollutant emission charges - an economic and legal analysis; transferable discharge permits and the control of stationary source air pollution - a survey and synthesis; the empirical properties of two classes of designs for transferable discharge permit markets; approaches for reaching ambient standards in nonattainment areas - financial burden and efficiency considerations; economic implications of emissions trading rules for local and regional pollutants; market failure in incentive-based regulation - the case of emissions trading; uncommon sense - the programme to reform pollution control policy; economic instruments for environmental regulation. Part 3 Environmental law: indivisible toxic torts - the economics of joint and several liability; the structure of penalties in environmental enforcement - an economic analysis; private enforcement of federal environmental law. Part 4 Sustainable development policies: the poverty connection to environmental policy; managing the transition - the potential role for economic policies; substitution bias in a depletable resource model with administered prices; an international system of tradeable CO2 entitlements - implications for economic development.
