The Public Economics of the Environment

Abstract

The book is an application of the modern theory of public economics to central issues in the design of environmental policy. Ch. 1 reviews the basic issues in a simple partial equilibrium framework. In Ch. 2, the environment is incorporated in a general equilibrium framework, emphasizing the perspective on the environment as a public good and the use of taxes as a means of correcting market failure. Ch. 3 analyses policies that are alternatives to taxes, such as regulations and quotas, and Ch. 4 reviews alternative methods of assessing the social benefits from environmental policies. Ch. 5 sets the design of environmental taxes in the framework of optimal tax theory and makes clear the need to see such taxes as parts of the overall tax system. Ch. 6 is concerned with various notions of the double dividend from green taxes and raises the issue of whether environmental taxes lower the marginal cost of public funds. Finally, Ch. 7 takes up international and political economy aspects of environmental policy.

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