Kolstad's text is a central, though advanced, resource in a field that will inevitably grow as global necessity dictates.
A Classroom-Ready Text for a Rapidly Changing Discipline
Now in its most transformative edition yet, Environmental Economics offers university instructors a thoroughly updated and pedagogically sound resource for teaching advanced undergraduate students., This 25th anniversary, new edition reflects the profound evolution of both environmental policy and economic methodology over the past two decades.
Authored by Charles Kolstad (Stanford University, UC Santa Barbara) and Noelwah Netusil (Reed College), the text is designed for economics majors with a solid foundation in microeconomic theory. It fills a critical instructional niche--rigorous yet accessible, empirical yet intuitive.
Key Teaching Benefits
- Curriculum Fit: Ideal for upper-level undergraduate courses in environmental economics, public policy, or applied microeconomics.
- Empirical Focus: Reflects the field’s shift toward data-driven analysis, enabling students to explore causal relationships between economic behavior and environmental outcomes.
- Climate-Centered: Treats climate change as the "mother of all externalities," integrating it throughout the text as a central theme rather than a peripheral issue.
- Global Perspective: Includes international developments--from China and India's rapid growth to global policy responses--broadening student understanding of environmental economics in practice.
This edition of Environmental Economics is more than a textbook--it's a comprehensive teaching tool built for today's data-rich, policy-driven classroom.
Dedication
Contents
Detailed Contents Table of Features
Preface
Acknowledgments List of Acronyms 1: Introduction
1 The Environment and Economics
2 Normative vs. Positive Economics 2: How Much Environmental Quality Is
Desirable?
3 Efficiency and Markets
4 Market Failure: Externalities, Public Goods, and Public Bads
5 Social Choice: Balancing Environmental Protection and Use
6 Making Decisions About Environmental Programs 3: Measuring the Demand for
Environmental Quality
7 Demand for Environmental Goods
8 Hedonic Price Methods
9 Household Production
10 Constructed Markets 4: Regulating Individuals and Firms
11 Regulating Pollution
12 Emission Prices, Fees and Taxes
13 Property Rights
14 Regulation Over Space and Time
15 Voluntary Actions and Agreements 5: Advanced Topics
16 Regulation with Adverse Selection
17 Audits, Enforcement, and Moral Hazard
18 Managing Risk and Uncertainty
19 International and Interregional Competition
20 Environment, Growth, and Innovation References
Index
Charles D. Kolstad is known for his work on the economics of the environment, particularly energy and climate change. He is an emeritus faculty member at Stanford University and the University of California, Santa Barbara.
Noelwah R. Netusil is known for her work on the economics of land, water, flooding and floodplain management. She is the Stanley H. Cohn Professor of Economics at Reed College in Portland, Oregon.
