Introduction

Abstract

Since the ‘environmental revolution’ began in the late 1960s, economists have done a lot of work in the field of economic theory-building on the preservation of nature. Meanwhile, environmental economic literature has swelled to a large stream of articles in journals of different signature. As a result, a coherent economic view of the phenomenon of environmental degradation has emerged. Several kinds of ‘green’ public policies and their impacts on both nature and the performance of the economy have been analysed. The feasibility of specific types of policy has also been discussed. The aim of the book is to provide an insight into the ways economists analyse the problems of environmental pollution and the depletion of natural resource. To this purpose a number of articles have been selected. Some of them have a fundamental character, others an applied nature and are foremost, practically oriented. The presentation of the collection emphasizes our belief that economists are able to deliver an essential contribution to the design of policies to protect nature. It is dear that ‘nature’ and ‘environment’ may no longer be regarded as ‘free gifts’ to society. Rather, they have to be seen as scarce resources, and environmental disruption and resource depletion as allocation problems. If a natural resource is scarce, a price must be charged in accordance with the degree of scarcity since otherwise society will be confronted with misallocations.