The New Economy of Nature

Book Description

Why shouldn't people who deplete our natural assets have to pay, and those who protect them reap profits? Conservation-minded entrepreneurs and others around the world are beginning to ask just that question, as the increasing scarcity of natural resources becomes a tangible threat to our own lives and our hopes for our children. The New Economy of Nature brings together Gretchen Daily, one of the world's leading ecologists, with Katherine Ellison, a Pulitzer-prize winning journalist, to offer an engaging and informative look at a new "new economy" - a system recognizing the economic value of natural systems and the potential profits in protecting them.

Through engaging stories from around the world, the authors introduce readers to a diverse group of people who are pioneering new approaches to conservation. We meet Adam Davis, an American business executive who dreams of establishing a market for buying and selling "ecosystem service units;" John Wamsley, a former math professor in Australia who has found a way to play the stock market and protect native species at the same time; and Dan Janzen, a biologist working in Costa Rica who devised a controversial plan to sell a conservation area's natural waste-disposal services to a local orange juice producer. Readers also visit the Catskill Mountains, where the City of New York purchased undeveloped land instead of building an expensive new water treatment facility; and King County, Washington, where county executive Ron Sims has dedicated himself to finding ways of "making the market move" to protect the county's remaining open space.

Daily and Ellison describe the dynamic interplay of science, economics, business, and politics that is involved in establishing these new approaches and examine what will be needed to create successful models and lasting institutions for conservation. The New Economy of Nature presents a fundamentally new way of thinking about the environment and about the economy, and with its fascinating portraits of charismatic pioneers, it is as entertaining as it is informative.

Customer Reviews:

Essential Edition to the Literature.......2003-07-30

Paul Ehrlich recommended this title and I found it to be a necessary addition to the current body of literature on the topic. In fact, there is nothing else like this that I have run across. The crux of the book is finding ways to put a price tag on services nature performs for free so we can use the revenue for restoration and preservation of the human habitat. I did give it four stars only because the chapters were unnecessarily detailed in my opinion. Definitely worth a look.

It's a great start...........2003-01-30

I go thru phases where certain topics are of special interest, so when I saw the title of this book it peaked my interest as well as my skepticism. Since Gordon E Moore co-founder and chairman emeritus of Intell had done a positive comment on the book, and it had areas of the world that were of interest I bought it and am glad I did.

I liked the piece on Napa California west of us which has for decades suffered when the massive winter rains come thru and I wanted to read of there move toward restricting building on what is known as a flood plain, without hurting the economy.

Likewise in Chapter six, page 125 King County Washington and how people from distinctly different business backgrounds, blue colour to white collar corporate (Weyerhaeuser) worked together to protect the Snoqualmie Falls area, which having been there in person, is a majestic place that would have been ruined had big business been allowed to build there.

But it is the way the authors have made such an effort to think outside the American box, and have shown success stories from all over the world, where businesses have or are becoming enlightened and are discovering that being environmentally sound means money and success.

But as they note on page 232 "There is no single answer to the worlds environmental dilemmas, and the progress to date toward capturing the economic value of environmental services has been so limited as to be almost symbolic. Still, what has happened so far illustrates an approach with great scope for improving the world."

Not Just Capitalism -- Natural Capitalism.......2002-11-05

This book is great. I love its title, a yang to Paul Hawken's Ecology of Commerce yin. One of the book's other online reviewers prompted me to write, because I suspect the authors' predominant theme somehow got past that reviewer.

The idea is not simply that capitalism can save the world, but that well-directed, well-informed market forces will finally come to understand that beneath the bottom line of capitalism as currently practiced, there's a much more critical bottom line -- a primordial capitalism -- the living sytems of the planet. The economy of nature provides real wealth and natural wisdom without dysfunctional spinoffs like pollution, cancer, habitat destruction... If we take care of that living economy, it will take care of us.

This is an important book, because it gives us real-world examples of how nature underlies the market economy. We need this book to be used in college and high school classrooms, discussion groups,corporate retreats, and solitary late-night soul searches. Its message is critical to the continued prosperity of life as we know it.

Mixed bag of stories.......2002-10-07

Authors Gretchen Daily and Katherine Ellison have written an entertaining but ultimately unsatisfying book of case studies that are united around a common theme: namely, real-life projects in which for-profit capitalism and environmentalism may have found common ground. Daily and Ellison acknolwedge the contradiction that such a task entails, but they seem all too eager to discover opportunities where nature can be exploited in new ways to suit capital's ever-changing needs (as if this insight was somehow novel!). In fact the individual case studies represent a mixed bag in that a few appear to offer some hope for the environment while others appear to offer more hope for capital's expansion than for the earth.

But even among what I count as the more hopeful stories, precious little of the projects' success could be attributable to capital. Probably the best among them concerned the organic farming movement, which includes related efforts to preserve biodiveristy and substitute natural predatory insects for pesticides. As everyone knows, this is a movement that has been defined by its explicit rejection of standard corporate practices, yet the authors sheepishly do little to point this out. Another excellent chapter focused on the efforts of a dedicated scientist to preserve rainforest in Costa Rica. But while the scientist helped broker a deal from an orange juice manufacturer to dump its waste in the rainforest to promote regrowth in damaged areas, it seemed clear that the Costa Rican government played a much larger role in the cause of preservation that the manufacturer ever did. And of course the watershed protection project for the New York City area was spearheaded by sometimes belligerent public interest groups and the local government over significant opposition from private-property forces.

Among the less dubious stories: an Australian who is building Jurassic Park-style nature enclaves in hopes of attracting tourist dollars; an ex-Internet entrepreneur who hopes to cash in big by creating an overnight market for the buying and selling of the carbon-storing capacity of forests; and a political "deal maker" skilled in both obtaining and extracting concessions from developers in the hopes of merely slowing development. The market solutions highlighted in these and other stories point to the self-evident fragility of these projects to sustain themselves in the long run.

In an unitentionally humorous part of the book, the authors recount a think-tank exercise in which EVERYONE participating in the pretend game of land stewardship clear-cut their forest assets in the final round of play in order to maximize their returns. My criticism is not that there isn't some merit in what the protagonists of these stories are doing -- they appear to be remarkable individuals who may simply be making the best of their bad situations -- but if the world's future is dependent on the success of these individuals in coming up with market solutions to the world's environmental problems, then may God help us all.

In the end, this book fails to make a persuasive argument that capitalism can save the environment. There is some value to the case studies presented by the authors, especially where victories were achieved through democratic actions -- but this latter point was unfortunately down-played through much of the book in favor of the capitalist theme. But I think that contrary to the author's opinion, it seems obvious that the environment will continue to be exploited as long as for-profit capitalism rules the day. Therefore, I think that readers who want real answers to today's burgeoning environmental crisis will not find them in this book.

The Best New Approach to Conservation.......2002-10-05

Many of us have long hoped that governments would get on the ball and take the necessary steps to preserve our environment in general and critical ecosystem services in particular (if you're unfamiliar with them, read Daily's wonderful "Nature's Services"). If Shrub's efforts do destroy the environment have not convinced you we can't count on our leaders to end the ecological crisis, nothing will. This superb book tells of those who are taking a different approach -- trying to find ways that markets can be developed that will align economic and conservation goals. Everyone in both the business and environmental communities, as well as those in both, should read this interesting and hopeful book.

Life Abundant: Rethinking Theology and Economy for a Planet in Peril (Searching for a New Framework)

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Treasure Trove of Economic Fallacies
Embrace and love the world you live in... thus, embrace God.
Another mindblower

Life Abundant: Rethinking Theology and Economy for a Planet in Peril (Searching for a New Framework)
Sallie McFague
Manufacturer: Augsburg Fortress Publishers
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0800632699

Book Description

In this splendidly crafted work, McFague argues for theology as an ethical imperative for all thinking Christians: Responsible discipleship today entails disciplined religious reflection. Moreover, theology matters: Without serious reflection on their worldview, ultimate commitments, and lifestyle, North American Christians cannot hope to contribute to ensuring the “good life” for people or the planet. To live differently we must think differently.

McFague has therefore written this primer in theology. It helps Christians assess their own religious story in light of the larger Christian tradition and the felt needs of the planet. At once an apology for an ecologically driven theology and a model for how theology itself might be expressed, her work is expressly crafted to bring people into the practice of religious reflection as a form of responsible Christian practice in the world. McFague shows the reader how articulating one's personal religious story and credo can lead directly into contextual analysis, unfolding of theological concepts, and forms of Christian practice.

In lucid prose she offers creative discussions of revelation, the reigning economic worldview (and its ecological alternative), and how a planetary theology might approach classical areas of God and the world, Christ and salvation, and life in the Spirit. Enticing readers into serious self-assessment and creative commitment, McFague's new work encourages and models a theological practice that “gives glory to God by loving the world.”

Customer Reviews:

Treasure Trove of Economic Fallacies.......2005-03-30

This book is a delight to read, if only because McFague manages to compress so much economic illiteracy into a single book. Zero-sum game fallacy, the confusion between matter and resources, dependency theory, the idea that the market economy destroys the environment, the identification of a market economy with consumerism. They're all here in abundance! I would give the book one star simply because it displays such ignorance about a subject it claims to analyze. But some credit must be given to McFague for packing so many mistakes into so small a space, and for lacking any sense of irony for enjoying a cushy high level academic salary while disdaining all those consumer-driven lumpen proletariats who get by on half her salary.

Embrace and love the world you live in... thus, embrace God........2002-08-08

Avant-garde theologian, reformative and unorthodox Christian, Sallie McFague, in 'Life Abundant', sets forth a radical, earthbound, theology that is as provocative as it is over sanguine.

Her 'hope against hope' prophetic cry to all North Americans is to 'love and protect the world' and thus love God. Forsake your 'hell bent' consuming way and share the world's resources equally. Be liberated from your role as oppressors. While this message is needed and laudable, it will, sadly, go unheard and thus unheeded. For, as Seneca, the Roman philosopher said at the time of Christ, "It is the superfluous things for which men concern themselves".

Dr. McFague is an accomplished professor of Theology (Vanderbilt Divinity School) and, as such, she challenges you to reconsider your life philosophy, your spiritual theology and your consumer mentality. Dr. McFague wants you not to read her book as much as to engage, challenge and argue with her via the book. In the end, she hopes you will rethink and develop a 'working theology' that embraces and loves the world we live in.

While the title of the book is affable, and even quaint, this book is not. This is a dense and demanding read; however, a postulation worthy of every thinking person's effort. I am going to attempt the absurd. I am going to attempt to distill the erudite writings of Dr. McFague in three phrases. In "Life Abundant" Sallie McFague has an admonitory outcry for "middle class North American Christians". She calls them to 1) Change their manic consumer lives, and choose to live in harmony with, and care for, all creation. 2) Realize that Christians (as all people) live to give God glory by loving the world and everything in it. 3) Deconstruct their traditional theologies and then reconstruct them in concert with her "Panentheistic" theology.

Be forewarned, any attempt to fully grasp Sally McFague's in a coherent way will be akin to attempting to wrap your arms around a full grown Redwood tree. Her theology is "relatively absolute". She believes that all theologians speak of God metaphorically, and there is no such thing as a complete theology, rather there are only piecemeal theologies, and no creditable theologian makes empirical statements about who God is. Thus, the reading of her explanation of her belief system is akin to listening to Dennis Hopper disjointedly saying in 'Apocalypse Now' that he found "the one" (referring to Marlin Brando). Heavy man, heavy.

Her theology is Christian Panentheism - Pan'en'theism. God is immanent, incarnated in the world through nature. Thus she sees the world as 'in' ('en') God and that God is 'with' the world. God is with us here and now in all living beings. "The world", for Sallie "is where God dwells, it is God's 'house'". And, for her, the "divine incarnation" is not limited to Jesus, but God is incarnate in the world and each creature is "a microcosm of divine incarnation".

For McFague God is Reality. She states; "when we say that God is reality we mean that reality is both with us and beyond us, both eminent and transcendent, both physical and spiritual". God is "the source, the sustainer, and the goal of everything that is."

Her theology is a 'working theology' and she believe that we must act - now and decisively. She condemns the consumptive, consumer life style of North Americans. Her evolved theology is no longer the self-centered tribal, traditional anthropocentric Christian theology of the masses (salvation for the individual), but is a cosmological theology that affirms that being with nature is being with God and salvation is when you are in God's presence (God is found in relationship with others and nature). For Sallie the deterioration of nature and the injustice to the poor people is caused by the religion of our time - consumerism.

I found that some of her provocative statements raise significant questions. For example, if God so loves the world and is continually engaged, or "radical present", with the world, then where is the evidence of His/Her/Its involvement? Nowhere does Dr. McFague explain where or how God is "radically present". Please, give me examples, Dr. McFague, of where and how God is involved with this world He/She/It loves.

She does not embrace the Christian belief in the popular image of God as a supernatural being and redeemer of human individuals. But rather for Dr. McFague God is - radically transcendent and radically immanent. Her Christology is unconventional and unorthodox. She discards the personally redemptive, sacrificial death of Christ - "Personally, I have never been able to believe it", and replaces it with an 'ecological economic Christology.'

Her chapters on economic models are great reads, but her statement that we, in North America, have "allowed our economic theories (i.e. market capitalism) to tell us who we are"- is disputable. Market capitalism did not make us consuming, self-gratifying individuals, but rather we adopted market capitalism because it is what best benefits who we are.

Also, she beats the drum of 'frugality', asking her readers to restrict significantly their materialistic intake (she admittedly acknowledges that this is not a beat that North Americans are likely to dance to). Thus, her Jeremiah prophetic call to a radical life change, thought desperately needed, will accomplish what it did with Israel - Nada.
Her end notes (30 pages) are a gold mine for all those interested in cross-references, excellent bibliographies, insights and side-bar comments.

In short, though complex, this is a stimulating and thought provoking read. Anyone who believes, as McFague does, that God loves and wants to save the earth, should read this book, agree with her theology, "we are to give God glory by loving the earth" and chorus "Amen, and Amen". Recommended

Another mindblower.......2000-12-13

Just when I thought Christian theology has nothing more to say, Sallie McFague comes along and not only says something new but encourages her readers to participate in creating and living theology. Her theological credo is to give glory to God by loving the world and all in it. She acknowledges that this is a relative absolute for her as a North American feminist living in the 21st century, something all theologies should be. The book is divided into three parts: I The Practice of Planetary Theology, II The Context of Planetary Theology and III The Content of Planetary Theology. Her ecological liberation theology is opposed to the materialistic consumerism of the North American middle class. If these priviledged few (20% of the world's population) do not lower their impact on the environment and the poorer nations (80%)they won't have a future either. The way to change people's behavior is to alter the mindset (theology and economy). "Life Abundant" even makes sense to me as a white Afrikaans male living in South Africa. We have the unique combination of a First and Third World, rich and poor, in one country. We can see and feel the devastation the rich have on the environment and the poor. This latest work by Sallie McFague helped me make sense of my world and enticed me to develop my own religious autobiography. If you care for theology, God, nature, human beings or Christ, get this book ASAP. It will change your life and hopefully save the world.

Reflections in Bullough's Pond: Economy and Ecosystem in New England (Revisiting New England)

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Came for the topic, stayed for the author
Not just for New Englanders
An Intriguing Glimpse at New Englandýs History
on reflection, dazzling
breaks new ground

Reflections in Bullough's Pond: Economy and Ecosystem in New England (Revisiting New England)
Diana Muir
Manufacturer: UPNE
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Library Binding

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ASIN: 0874519098

Book Description

A dramatic story of the interplay between environment and economy in New England.

Customer Reviews:

Came for the topic, stayed for the author.......2005-02-17

Ms Muir is a great storyteller. I was interested in the topic and prepared to slog through boring text to learn something, but this was AMAZING. Read like a novel. She sees inter-relationships and draws conclusions which taught me a lot. Now I want to read everything she's written. I was sorry when I finished this book.

Not just for New Englanders.......2003-01-25

Other reviewers have discussed the virtues of the book, so I will only add that the lessons to be learned from this well written and fascinating study are relevant to the entire planet, not just New England. As such, the book is highly recommended to anyone anywhere who is interested in mankind's relationship to the environment and its effects on culture and economics.

An Intriguing Glimpse at New Englandýs History.......2002-10-31

Using a pond near her home in Newton, MA as a backdrop, Diana Muir weaves a compelling view of New England history, which she argues is a series of ecological crises.

From pre-Columbian times, Muir says, New England was populated by individuals struggling on a land that was not conducive to making a living. Radical solutions to unsolvable problems were their only escape. In the 1790s, when farming was the only occupation, a growing population and a soil spent by generations of misuse, resulted in a dearth of farmable land. With no prospects and no future, individuals like Eli Whitney and Thomas Blanchard, were forced to look for creative solutions to society's problems and set in motion an industrial revolution.

I was particularly intrigued by the story of Frederick Tudor, the man who in 1806 introduced ice to Martinique. It is one thing to sell ice to people who because of their location, understand the concept. It is quite another, to sell ice to people who have never experienced it, to say nothing about the practical necessities of ice houses to warehouse the product.

His father's real estate speculation losses left Tudor with nothing but ambition and a house with a pond in Saugus, MA. He succeeded after two difficult decades. There was always a wrinkle to be solved before a fortune could be built. Iceboxes had to be designed and then marketed in southern ports to people who had to be taught how to preserve it.

This phenomenon explains why there so many Crystal and Silver Lakes dot the New England landscape, relics of an enterprising age. Savvy ice dealers understood that attractive names sell products. For a brief period even Muir's Bullough's Pond was briefly renamed Silver Lake.

Diana Muir e-mailed me twice during the past two years introducing her book to me. Having read her book, I am grateful for her persistence. If you enjoy reading unique looks at our history, I implore not to wait for her to contact you. Read her book; you will not regret it.

on reflection, dazzling.......2002-08-02

This is one of the best books I have ever read- period! At the core of the book is Ms. Muir's message that we are part of nature, not separate from or above nature, and we have a great responsibility to maintain the integrity of the environment. Granted, this message is not new. Where this book is very different is how Ms. Muir leads up to this message. She shows how the New England landscape changed from one where farming dominated to one that was a mixture of many different types of mills and factories. You learn the consequences of everything that was done along the way: the consequences to fish and birds of damming rivers; the consequences to forests and to the air we breath of heavy logging; the consequences of catching too many of one type of fish, etc. What is great about this book is that Ms. Muir does not deal in hazy generalities. She takes you step by step and shows you specifically how certain actions cause certain changes in the environment, often unforseen. There is nothing simplistic in her observations and she knows there are no easy answers. She lays out the data for you and you can come to your own conclusions. But what really takes this book to another level is the fascinating biographical information that Ms. Muir provides concerning the many, many New Englanders that invented the machines of the Industrial Revolution and kept the economy vibrant as the importance of agriculture diminished. The way this book is put together is very unusual, due to the combination of all of the above factors and in the space of 248 pages you will learn a great deal of information. The research Ms. Muir must have done in writing this book is staggering and her knowledge across many different areas is amazing. Don't miss reading this book.

breaks new ground.......2002-07-25

It is hard to imagine how Reflections in Bullough's Pond could have been better written. Diana Muir gives an account of the interplay between New England's economic history and its environment in a lapidary prose which never leaves the reader behind. By the end of the book we are enlightened about the ebb and flow of these matters over the five hundred-odd years from early European settlement to modern times without ever being overwhelmed, for Ms Muir always wears her erudition lightly.

She breaks new ground in her treatment of the environment as both an economic resource and as a complex-often vulnerable-amalgam of ecosystems. Her thesis is that we are living on capital, be it fossil fuel, topsoil or forest-she is particularly compelling on the vulnerable biochemistry of these last. Unusually, however, Ms Muir is scrupulous in her use of statistics and fastidious in her argument. She never seeks to undermine the legitimacy of the economic impulse, though she does not flinch from her conclusion: an argument for restraint in economic activity and population.

Nor does she lose sight of the propensity of ecosystems to renew themselves, albeit often in new forms: she is pleased-almost amused-by the return of the beaver and the moose, while regretting the extinction of the elm and the emergence of local spruce monocultures. Indeed Ms Muir expresses herself more forcefully on the loss of flora than fauna. Perhaps this is because the long life cycles of the former make it harder to take an optimistic view of their capacity to renew themselves. Alternatively it may be because the collapse of agriculture in New England following the opening up of the West, has stimulated the return to southern New England of so many species formerly evicted to Canada.

Reflections in Bullough's Pond is no naïve elegy for a Paradise Lost; it never loses sight of a human interplay with the landscape which long antedates industrialisation, not to say European settlement. In a particularly ingenious section of the book, Ms Muir reminds us that in the middle of the nineteenth century, the courts and legislatures altered common law doctrines of liability to free up industrial activity. This reflected the climate of the times. Ms Muir argues that the climate of our own times may well give rise to more extensive liability concepts to restrain the corporations, notions very much with the tail wind of popular and professional thinking.

Given the book's generosity and elegance, it seems curmudgeonly to cavil at any part of it. But a couple of issues do arise. First forests. Since the invention of agriculture, we have cleared them for the simple reason that we have better uses for the land. This has been going on in the Old World for millennia. Of course there have been local environmental disasters, eg in North Africa and Mesopotamia, but nothing sufficiently general to justify veneration of forests as a precautionary measure. This is an artefact of late-twentieth century sentiment in the New World. There such virgin forests as have not lost within living memory are being destroyed even now, thus the local salience of the issue. Over the past fifteen years their defenders have sought to enlist support by arguing that they served one or another vital purpose: producing oxygen, acting as feedstock for drugs, now Ms Muir points to their role in topsoil. The first two arguments are infrequently heard these days. As to the last, let me point out that where I grew up in the eastern part of England, the ground was cleared eight or nine hundred years ago, but the topsoil remains sufficiently fertile for the local farmers to get out record yields.

I was also left uncertain as to the course Ms Muir might prescribe for the several billion who have never seen Bullough's Pond, and whose habitats have been profoundly altered by economic activity for millenia rather than centuries. The residents of Asia's great river valleys cleared the forests long before Columbus saw the New World. They have to eat-with luck raise themselves above thoughts of the next meal. Ms Muir has practical suggestions as to how the courts might restrain US corporations, but nothing on how to restrain the aspirations of those who dream of a fraction of American prosperity. I suspect she is wise enough to know that there is nothing to be done on this score. In a rare nod towards the nether reaches of environmental alarmism, she hints that she expects nature to impose population restraint, if we do not. I am more sanguine. In whatever might come to pass as in what has come before, we will wade through. As we must.

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Both a business and environmental book

The New Economy of Nature: The Quest To Make Conservation Profitable
Gretchen Daily , and Katherine Ellison
Manufacturer: Island Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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Nature's Services: Societal Dependence On Natural Ecosystems

Nature and the Marketplace: Capturing The Value Of Ecosystem Services

Investing in Nature: Case Studies of Land Conservation in Collaboration with Business

From Walden to Wall Street: Frontiers of Conservation Finance

Valuing Ecosystem Services: Toward Better Environmental Decision-Making

ASIN: 1559631546

Book Description

Why shouldn't people who deplete our natural assets have to pay, and those who protect them reap profits? Conservation-minded entrepreneurs and others around the world are beginning to ask just that question, as the increasing scarcity of natural resources becomes a tangible threat to our own lives and our hopes for our children. The New Economy of Nature brings together Gretchen Daily, one of the world's leading ecologists, with Katherine Ellison, a Pulitzer-prize winning journalist, to offer an engaging and informative look at a new "new economy" -- a system recognizing the economic value of natural systems and the potential profits in protecting them.

Customer Reviews:

Both a business and environmental book.......2003-11-06

The New Economy Of Nature: The Quest To Make Conservation Profitable is both a business and environmental book. Gretchen C. Daily and Katherine Ellison study the ways that human self-interest can be harnessed to protect Mother Earth, as pure philanthropy combined with government regulations simply are not enough by themselves to stand against naked human greed and unchecked commercial exploitation. From crises in biodiversity, to issues of the stratosphere, The New Economy Of Nature cogently draws upon ideas, examples, and situations worldwide to lend hope for the cause of financially motivated conservation. The New Economy Of Nature is an important contribution to Environmental Studies and highly recommended reading for anyone seeking to operating a successful commercial venture through making conservation profitable.

Environment and Development in a Resource-Rich Economy: Malaysia under the New Economic Policy (Harvard Studies in International Development)

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updated edition available
Useful Reference for Research on Malaysia
The book does a fine job of compiling evidence and results.

Environment and Development in a Resource-Rich Economy: Malaysia under the New Economic Policy (Harvard Studies in International Development)
Jeffrey R. Vincent , and Rozali M. Ali
Manufacturer: Harvard Institute for International Development
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Policy & Current Events | Popular Economics | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books

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Book Description

Malaysia interests development practitioners for many reasons, not least because of its remarkably rich natural environment. Environment and Development in a Resource-Rich Economy provides an invaluable analysis of major natural resource and environmental policy issues in the country during the 1970s and 1980s--a period of profound socioeconomic changes, rapid depletion of natural resources, and the emergence of serious air and water pollution problems.

What is path-breaking about this book is its emphasis on economics as a source of concepts and methods for analyzing natural resource and environmental issues and policy responses. The authors' access to unpublished data and key decision makers makes this account of extensive, field-based research an essential reference for policy makers and researchers concerned about environmental and natural resource management--both in Malaysia and throughout the globe. The book should be of particular interest for students who hope to understand more thoroughly the economic underpinnings of natural resource and environmental management policy.

Customer Reviews:

updated edition available.......2005-06-23

A new, updated edition of this book is available from RFF Press / Resources for the Future. Its title is: "Managing Natural Wealth: Environment and Development in Malaysia"

Useful Reference for Research on Malaysia.......2000-09-24

This path-breaking book applies rigorous and invaluable economic analysis to major natural resource and environmental policy issues in Malaysia under the New Economic Policy decades of the 1970s and 1980s-a period of profound socio-economic changes, rapid depletion of natural resources, and the emergence of serious air and water pollution problems.

It examines the interrelationship among natural resources, environmental quality, and economic development. This scholarly work addresses, from an economic perspective, a broad set of natural resource and environmental issues in Malaysia and places it in a historical context.

This book would be of particular interest to resource and environmental economists, and development economists, i.e. anyone seeking a thorough understanding of the economic underpinnings of natural resource and environmental management policy in fast-growing, resource-abundant Malaysia. It represents a reference volume to facilitate further research on Malaysian natural resource and environmental policy issues.

Dr Jeffrey R. Vincent is a Fellow at the Harvard Institute for International Development. Formerly director of the Centre for Environmental Studies at Malaysia's Institute of Strategic and International Studies, Dr Rozali Mohamed Ali is currently executive director of Commerce Asset Holdings Berhad.

The book does a fine job of compiling evidence and results........1999-04-16

The book does a fine job of compiling evidence and results. The book is clearly written and organized. The book is a welcome additon to the study of Malaysia and to study of environment and development in general. The fisheries section, the sector I know from first-hand experience, is well done and includes original material.

Economics for Environmental Policy in Transition Economies: An Analysis of the Hungarian Experience (New Horizons in Environmental Economics)

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Economics for Environmental Policy in Transition Economies: An Analysis of the Hungarian Experience (New Horizons in Environmental Economics)

Manufacturer: Edward Elgar Publishing
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 1858985315

Book Description

This book offers original economic analyses on the economy-environment relationship in Eastern and Central Europe. Drawing on the Hungarian experience it provides empirical evidence on the reform of environmental policy which can be applicable to similar problems in other transition economies. The macroeconomic shocks of the transition process in Central and Eastern Europe have been exceptional in both their intensity and speed. The implications of this adjustment process are examined in relation to their effects on environmental policy, with special emphasis on the rethinking of standard environmental policy for transition economies. The authors focus on a variety of issues including the environmental concerns raised by the privatization process, a discussion on why the less rigorous environmental regulations in Hungary attract foreign direct investment and an empirical analysis of 'environmental capital flight' in Central and Eastern Europe. There is also a critical overview of the existing literature, an examination of the costs of reducing air pollution and the use of the contingent valuation method to measure the economic benefits of improving air quality in Hungary. In addition the authors assess the effects of industrial restructuring on emissions and analyze incentive-based policy measures including prospects for emission trading. Their conclusions challenge the common perception that energy pricing policy is the most important environmental policy measure to induce beneficial structural changes in the environments of transition economies. Economics for Environmental Policy in Transition Economies will be of interest to policy makers, academics and postgraduates working in the fields of transition economics, environmental economics and environmental valuation.

Economies of Water Supply and Developing Countries (New Horizons in Environmental Economics Series)

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Economies of Water Supply and Developing Countries (New Horizons in Environmental Economics Series)
Anand
Manufacturer: Edward Elgar Pub
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

Economic Policy & Development | Economics | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books

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Water Supply | Environment | Outdoors & Nature | Subjects | Books

Water | Conservation | Outdoors & Nature | Subjects | Books

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Water Supply & Land Use | Nature & Ecology | Science | Subjects | Books
ASIN: 1843767686

Energy, Environment and the Economy: Asian Perspectives (New Horizons in Environmental Economics)

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Energy, Environment and the Economy: Asian Perspectives (New Horizons in Environmental Economics)

Manufacturer: Edward Elgar Publishing
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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Environment in the New Global Economy (2 Volume Set) (The International Library of Writings in the New Global Economy Series)

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Environment in the New Global Economy (2 Volume Set) (The International Library of Writings in the New Global Economy Series)

Manufacturer: Edward Elgar Publishing
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 1840640758

Book Description

International environmental threats have commanded widespread attention since the late 1960s. A number of unprecedented environmental disasters have galvanized public concern, and have reached the international political agenda in part through the activities of new environmental social movements in the industrialized countries.

Environment in the New Global Economy is designed as a reference source for both students, researchers and policymakers concerned with the political dimension of international environmental problems. Peter Haas has selected those previously published articles which are seminal in the development of this new field and which have either generated widespread debate or represent a clear application of major approaches to the understanding of these new issues. He has also provided an authoritative introduction to complement his selection.

58 articles, dating from 1944 to 2001

Book Description

In evaluating environmental policy, researchers have tended to focus on the industry or market that is targeted by regulation and to disregard policy impacts in other parts of the economy. Recent research indicates, however, that in economies where governments rely on distortionary taxes, environmental regulation can profoundly affect costs and efficiency in areas other than the targeted industry or market. These findings signal the importance of evaluating environmental policy using a general equilibrium framework - an approach that can capture interactions across industries, sectors or markets. General equilibrium analysis can fundamentally alter the evaluation of environmental tax policies, and can overturn conventional wisdom concerning the relative cost-effectiveness of environmental taxes, emissions quotas, or mandated technologies.

This volume gathers together important papers on the general equilibrium impacts of environmental regulation in the presence of distortionary taxes. Topics include optimal environmental taxation, `green tax reform' and the `double dividend', and the choice among alternative policy instruments. The volume will be of interest to environmental economists, public finance economists and researchers interested in the economics of regulation.

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