Environmental economics : an introduction / Barry C. Field, Martha K. Field.

SECTION ONE
INTRODUCTION
Chapter 1. What Is Environmental Economics?
Economic Analysis
The Importance of Incentives
Incentives: A Household
Example
Incentives in Industry
The Design of Environmental Policy
Macroeconomic Questions: Environment and Growth
Benefit?Cost Analysis
Valuing the Environment
Suburban Sprawl
International Issues
Economic Globalization and the Environment
Economics and Politics
Summary

Chapter 2 The Economy and the Environment
Natural Resource Economics
The Fundamental Balance
The Environment as an
Economic and Social Asset
Terminology
Emissions, Ambient Quality, and Damages
Types of Pollutants
Cumulative vs. Noncumulative Pollutants
Local vs. Regional and Global
Pollutants
Point-Source vs. Nonpoint-Source Pollutants
Continuous vs. Episodic Emissions
Environmental Damages Not Related to Emissions
Summary
Questions for Further Discussion

SECTION TWO . ANALYTICAL TOOLS
Chapter 3. Benefits and Costs, Supply and Demand
Willingness to Pay
Demand
Aggregate Demand/ Willingness to Pay
Benefits
Cost
Opportunity Cost
Private and Social Costs
Cost Curves
The Shapes of Cost
Curves
Technology
The Equimarginal Principle
Marginal Cost and Supply
Summary
Questions for
Further Discussion

Chapter 4 Economic Efficiency and Markets
Economic Efficiency 64 Efficiency and Equity
Markets
Markets and Social Efficiency
External Costs
Open-Access Resources
External Benefits
Public Goods
Summary
Questions for Further Discussion

Chapter 5. The Economics of Environmental Quality
Pollution Control?A General Model
Pollution Damages
Damage Functions
Damage Functions: A Closer Look
Damages and Uncertainty
Abatement Costs
Abatement Cost Functions
Abatement Cost Functions: A Closer Look
Aggregate Marginal Abatement Costs
The Socially Efficient Level of Emissions
Changes in the Efficient Level of Emissions
Enforcement Costs
The Equimarginal Principle Applied to Emission Reductions
Trade-offs and Politics
Summary
Questions for Further Discussion

SECTION THREE ENVIRONMENTAL ANALYSIS

Chapter 6. Frameworks of Analysis
Impact Analysis
Environmental Impact Analysis
Economic Impact Analysis
Regulatory Impact
Analysis
Cost-Effectiveness Analysis
Damage Assessment
Benefit?Cost Analysis
The Basic Framework
Scope of the Program
Discounting
Choice of Discount Rate
Discounting and Future Generations
Distributional Issues
Risk Analysis
Risk Assessment
Risk Valuation
Risk Management
Summary
Questions for Further Discussion

Chapter 7. Benefit?Cost Analysis: Benefits
The Damage Function: Physical Aspects
Measuring Damages Directly
Health Costs
The Effects of Pollution on Production Costs
Materials Damage
Problems with Direct Damage Approaches
Willingness to Pay 142 Willingness to Pay: Indirect Methods
The Value of Human Health as Expressed in Averting Costs
The Value of Human
Life as Expressed in Wage Rates
Valuing Children?s Health
The Value of Environmental
Quality as Expressed in House
Prices
The Value of Environmental
Quality and Intercity Wage Differentials
The Value of Environmental Amenities as Expressed in
Travel Costs
Willingness to Pay: Direct Methods
The Questionnaire
Some Results
Problems of CV Analysis
Problems in Benefit Estimation
Discounting
Willingness to Pay vs. Willingness to Accept
Nonuse Values
Summary
Questions for Further Discussion

Chapter 8. Benefit?Cost Analysis: Costs
The Cost Perspective: General Issues
The With/Without Principle
No-Cost Improvements in Environmental Quality
The Distribution of Costs
Concepts of Cost
Opportunity Costs
Environmental Costs
Enforcement Costs
Costs of Single Facilities
Costs of a Local Regulation
Costs of Regulating an Industry
An Example
Sources of Cost Data
Misrepresentation of Costs
Actual
vs. Minimum Pollution Control
Costs
The Effect of Output Adjustments on Costs
Long-Run Technical Change and Pollution-Control Costs
Costs at the National Level
Future Costs and Technological Change
Summary
Questions for Further Discussion

SECTION FOUR . ENVIRONMENTAL POLICY ANALYSIS
Chapter 9. Criteria for Evaluating Environmental Policies
Efficiency
Cost Effectiveness
Fairness
Environmental Justice
Incentives for Technological Improvements
Enforceability
Materials
Balance
Issues
Moral Considerations
Government Failure
Summary
Questions for Further Discussion

Chapter 10. Decentralized Policies: Liability Laws, Property Rights, Voluntary Action
Liability Laws
The Principle
Common Law
Statutory Law
Property Rights
The Principle
Rules and Conditions
Transactions
Costs
The Absence of Markets
Voluntary Action
Moral Suasion
Informal Community Pressure
Summary
Questions for Further Discussion

Chapter 11. Command-and-Control Strategies: The Case of Standards
Types of Standards
Ambient Standards
Emission Standards
Technology Standards
Standards
Used in Combination
The Economics of Standards
Setting the Level of the Standard
Uniformity of Standards
Standards and
the Equimarginal Principle
Standards and Incentives
Short Run
Long Run
Political-Economic Aspects of Standards
The Economics of Enforcement
Enforcing Emission Standards
Enforcing Technology Standards
General
Issues
Summary
Questions for Further Discussion


Chapter 12. Incentive-Based Strategies: Emission Charges and Subsidies
Emission Charges
The Basic Economics
The Level of the Charge
Emission Charges and
Cost-Effectiveness
Emission Taxes and Nonuniform Emissions
Emissions Charges and Uncertainty
Emission Charges and Tax Revenues
Emission Charges and the Incentives to Innovate
Emission Charges and Enforcement Costs
Other Types of Charges
Distributional Impacts of Emission Charges
Abatement Subsidies
Deposit-Refund Systems
Summary
Questions for Further Discussion

Chapter 13. Incentive-Based Strategies: Transferable Discharge Permits
General Principles
The Initial Rights Allocation
Establishing Trading Rules
Reducing the Number of Permits
Nonuniform Emissions
CAPs and Problems of Competition
CAP Programs and Enforcement
CAPs and the Incentive for R&D
Summary 270 Questions for Further Discussion


SECTION FIVE. ENVIRONMENTAL POLICY IN THE UNITED STATES 273
Chapter 14. Federal Water Pollution?Control Policy
Types of Water Pollutants
Federal Policy: A Brief History
Technology-Based Effluent Standards
Efficiency and Cost-Effectiveness of TBESs
Experience with TBESs
TBESs and Incentives
TBESs and Enforcement
The Municipal Wastewater Treatment Plant Subsidy Program
The Safe Drinking
Water Act (SDWA)
Recent Policy Innovations in Water Pollution Control
Nonpoint-Source Water Pollution Control
Total Maximum Daily Load (TMDL) Program
Emission Trading in Water Pollution Control
Summary
Questions for Further Discussion

Chapter 15 Federal Air Pollution Control Policy
Federal Air Pollution Control Laws: A Brief Sketch
National Ambient Air Quality Standards
Stationary-Source Control
Technology-Based Effluent Standards
Cost-Effectiveness of the TBES Approach
New Directions in Stationary-Source Control
The CAP Program of the 1990 CAA
How It Works
The Role of the EPA
Has It Worked?
Future CAP Programs
Mobile-Source Air Pollution Control
New-Car Emission Standards
Lead Trading and the Switch to Lead-Free Gas
The 1990 Clean Air Act
Clean Cars
Incentive Issues in Mobile-Source Programs
Summary
Questions for Further Discussion

Chapter 16. Federal Policy on Toxic and Hazardous Substances
Economic Issues in Laws Governing Chemicals in Production and Consumer Products
The ?Balancing? Issue
Uniform Standards
Differentiated Control
Economic Issues in Federal Policy on Toxic Emissions
Instrument Choice
Waste Reduction
The Management of Hazardous Wastes
Economic Issues in Handling Current Hazardous Waste
Incentive-Based Possibilities
Environmental Justice
Radioactive Wastes
Cleaning Up after the Cold War
Economic Issues in Handling Legacy Hazardous Waste Sites
Financing Hazardous Waste Site Cleanups
How Clean Is Clean?
Brownfields
Natural Resource Damages (NRD)
Summary
Questions for Further Discussion


Chapter 17. State and Local Environmental Issues
Environmental Federalism
Constitutional Issues
Efficiency Issues
Race to the Bottom?
Policy
Innovations at the State Level
Municipal Solid Waste
The Nature of the Problem
Technical Options for Reducing MSW
Current Policy
The Economics of Recycling
Producer Use of Recycled Material
Consumer Recycling Decisions Producer
Take-Back Programs
Land-Use Control Policies
The Economic Logic of Land-Use Decisions
Policy Options
The Regulatory Takings Issue
Growing National Land-Use Issues
The Endangered Species Act
Wetlands
Summary
Questions for Further Discussion


SECTION SIX. INTERNATIONAL ENVIRONMENTAL ISSUES
Chapter 18. Comparative Environmental Policies
International Comparisons of Environmental Quality
Interpreting Differences in Environmental Performance
Environmental Policy in Other Countries
National Styles in Environmental Policy
Guiding Principles of Pollution Control
Instrument Choices
Environmental Analysis
Environmental Policy in Transition Countries
Developments in Environmental Accounting
Summary
Questions for Further Discussion


Chapter 19. Economic Development and the Environment
General Considerations
Environmental Degradation in Developing Economies
Economy and Environment
A Static View
Sustainability
Long-Run Relationships
The Pollution-Haven Hypothesis
Environmental Policy Choices in Developing Countries
Benefit?Cost Analysis
Reducing Environmental Disincentives of Current Policies
Institutional Policy: Property Rights
Population Policy as Environmental Policy
What Types of Environmental Policies?
The Role of the Developed Countries
Technology Transfer
Debt-for-Nature Swaps
Environmental Values in International Aid Institutions
Summary
Questions for Further Discussion

Chapter 20 The Global Environment
Ozone Depletion
The Physical Problem
Damages from Ultraviolet Radiation
Policy Responses
The Economics of CFC Controls
Global Warming
The Physical Problem
Human and Ecosystem Impacts
Scientific Uncertainties and Human Choice
Technical Responses to the Greenhouse Effect
Reducing Domestic GHG Emissions
International Efforts in Global Warming
The Kyoto Protocol
Biological Diversity
Summary
Questions for Further Discussion


Chapter 21. International Environmental Agreements
General Issues
The Economics of International Agreements
Bilateral Agreements
Multilateral Agreements
The Distribution of Costs
International Agreements in Practice
Cost-Effectiveness in Multinational Agreements
International Trade and the Environment
Free Trade vs. Environmental Trade Restrictions
Trade Restrictions to Advance International Environmental Goals
Summary
Questions for Further Discussion
Web Sites
Selected Readings
APPENDIX
Abbreviations and Acronyms Used in the Book

Includes bibliographical references and indexes.