Balancing theory, policy and real-world results, this text aims to offer comprehensive coverage of global and US policy options.

People make decisions regarding the use of natural resources every day, from the individual recycling a sheet of paper to governments of large nations creating energy policy. Those decisions ultimately affect people around the world. Their motivation and results are best framed and analyzed using the tools of natural resource economics. Field presents the methods and applications of the discipline in the latest edition of his popular text. The updated book retains its successful structure, first presenting basic economic principles as they apply to natural resource use and then examining the economic issues surrounding individual resources. New material is included on: energy demand and efficiency; nonrenewable resources; individual transferable fishing quotas; water pricing; agricultural cropland programs; and the Endangered Species Act.

This shortform textbook provides a concise overview of the fundamentals of environmental economics. It focuses on how economic forces affect the natural environment and how economic policies and behaviors may be altered to improve environmental quality. Spanning ten chapters, the book introduces readers to the key ideas in environmental economics. Topics include environmental externalities, technological change, cost-benefit analysis, pollution charges, emissions and offset trading, climate change, and public policy. Written by an established educator and scholar, Absolute Essentials of Environmental Economics will be valuable reading for students of environmental economics, environmental policy, environmental management and related areas. People affiliated with environmental interest groups, "think tanks," and advocacy groups will also find it beneficial.

Environmental Economics is an introduction to the basic principles of environmental economics as they have been developed in the past and as they continue to evolve. The examples discussed in this text represent only a sample of the full range of issues that actually exists. For this reason, the Eighth Edition sticks to the basic ideas and ways that environmental economists have found to make the basic concepts and models more specific and relevant to concrete environmental issues. The basic structure and sequence of chapters in this edition are unchanged although we have reorganized and updated the last section on global issues. The first section of the book is an introduction, beginning with a chapter on what environmental economics is about, followed by one on the basic relationships between the economy and the environment. The next section is devoted to studying the “tools” of analysis, the principles of demand and cost, and the elements of economic efficiency both in market and nonmarket activities. These chapters are not meant to be completely thorough treatments of these theoretical topics; however, given the objective of the book, the introductory chapters are essential. Even those who have had a course in microeconomic principles might find them valuable for purposes of review. Section 2 also contains a chapter in which these economic principles are applied to a simple model of environmental pollution control. Section 3 is on environmental analysis. Here we look closely at some of the techniques that have been developed by environmental economists to answer some of the fundamental value questions that underlie environmental decision making. We focus especially on the principles of benefit–cost analysis. After this we move to Section 4, on the principles of environmental policy design. It begins with a short chapter dealing with the criteria we might use to evaluate policies, then moves on to chapters on the main approaches to environmental quality management. Sections 5 and 6 contain policy chapters, where we examine current developments in environmental policy with the analytical tools developed earlier. Section 5 is devoted to environmental policy in the United States, covering federal policy on water, air, and toxic materials. It also contains a chapter on environmental issues at the state and local levels, including recycling. Finally, the last section looks at international environmental issues: global climate change, the economics of international environmental agreements, globalization, and economic development and the environment. A collection of relevant web links and additional sources is available on the website. Also available is a tutorial for working with graphs. For instructors, the website offers an Instructor’s Manual available for easy download. To access the website associated with this book, please visit the instructor resources.

The connection between humans and the earth's natural resources is a topic of vital interest. Concern once centered on whether there were sufficient supplies of natural resources to accommodate the rising demands of growing economies; a newer concern is whether those growing economies will undermine the linkages between humans and the earth's critical ecological endowments. It is essential to understand the reciprocity of how human decisions affect resources and how resources affect humans. Natural resource economics is one way of framing and analyzing choices about the conservation and use of natural resources made daily by individuals, communities, and nations. The focus of the text is on natural resource valuation, economic incentives, and the institutional arrangements that will produce desired collective outcomes.The fourth edition of this acclaimed text presents the analytical framework of economics in easy-to-understand descriptions for readers who have not yet been exposed to economics. The first nine chapters offer a lucid introduction to fundamental economic principles and their application to questions about natural resource use. Ten topical chapters address specific natural resources. The final two chapters examine natural resource issues encountered in developing countries and the impacts of globalization on the utilization and conservation of natural resources. Topics new to this edition include: equity issues in natural resources decisions, existence value of wildlife, technological change, natural capital, payment for environmental services, rare earths, food security, and collective property rights.