This book interprets nature and the environment as a scarce resource, offering a study of the allocation problem and outlining alternative policy approaches to the environmental problem. The author incorporates several economic approaches, including neoclassical analysis, the public goods approach and optimization theory. The sixth edition includes new sections on ethical aspects of environmental evaluation, pollution and endogenous growth, implementation of the Kyoto Protocol, international emission trading and biodiversity.

"The book interprets nature and the environment as a scarce resource. It offers a theoretical study of the allocation problem and describes different policy approaches to the environmental problem. The entire spectrum of the allocation issue is studied: the use of the environment in a static context, international and trade aspects of environmental allocation, the regional dimension, environmental use over time and under uncertainty. The book incorporates a variety of economic approaches, including neoclassical analysis, the public goods approach and optimization theory. The different aspects of environmental allocation are studied in the context of a model that is used throughout the book. The sixth edition has been enlarged and revised to integrate recent literature. Among others, new sections have been added on ethical aspects of environmental evaluation, pollution and endogenous growth, the implementation of the Kyoto Protocol, international and European Union emission trading and biodiversity. TOC:From the Contents: Introduction.- Static Allocation Aspect.- Environmental-Policy Instruments.- Environmental Allocation in Space.- Environmental Allocation in Time and under Uncertainty."

The Problem.- Using the Environment - An Allocation Problem.- Static Allocation Aspect.- Production Theory and Transformation Space.- Optimal Environmental Use.- Environmental Quality as a Public Good.- Property-Rights Approach to the Environmental Problem.- Environmental-Policy Instruments.- Incidence of an Emission Tax.- Policy Instruments.- Policy Instruments and the Casuistics of Pollution.- The Political Economy of Environmental Scarcity.- Environmental Allocation in Space.- Environmental Endowment, Competitiveness and Trade.- Transfrontier Pollution.- Global Environmental Media.- Regional Aspects of Environmental Allocation.- Environmental Allocation in Time and under Uncertainty.- Long-Term Aspects of Environmental Quality.- Economic Growth, Sustainability and Environmental Quality.- Risk and Environmental Allocation.