The Economics of the Environment (4th edition)

Edited by Benjamin Beckett, Elizabeth T. Henderson, Bryan Snyder, and the Dollars & Sense collective

The Economics of the Environment, 4th edition, is a lively, thought-provoking supplement designed for courses in environmental or resource economics. The articles in The Economics of the Environment provide real-world applications of economic theory to the environmental problems of today.

This thoroughly revised edition tackles the issues of environmental destruction and resource depletion that mainstream economics—and mainstream texts—fail to address adequately. The articles in this book illustrate the importance of economics, and especially of alternatives to mainstream neoclassical environmental economics, for understanding these critical issues—while never letting students forget that the future of the planet and the very survival of our species are at stake.

The Economics of the Environment’s distinguished list of contributors includes Frank Ackerman, James K. Boyce, Robin Broad, John Miller, Arthur MacEwan, Robert Pollin, Abhilasha Srivastava, and many others.

Praise for Dollars & Sense textbooks:

“I have been using Dollars & Sense publications for nearly 20 years. I find them absolutely necessary for students to understand progressive, critical, real-world perspectives that are sorely absent from mainstream texts and readers.”
—GEORGE JOUGANATOS, California State University–Sacramento

“As textbooks become more conservative and less topical, I find that Dollars & Sense readers are more useful than ever in my undergraduate classes. They are jargon-free, up-to-date, and inexpensive, as well as consistently and thoughtfully progressive.” —ROBIN HAHNEL, American University

TABLE OF CONTENTS

• Chapter 1: Growth, Production, and Consumption
  • 1.1 Is Economic Growth Environmentally Sustainable
    Arthur MacEwan
  • 1.2 Limits to Growth—Of What?
    James K. Boyce
  • 1.3 Enough in Enough
    Alan Durning
  • 1.4 America Beyond Consumerism
    Thad Williamson
  • 1.5 The Limits of Ethical Consumerism
    Marc Triller
  • 1.6 The Growth Consensus Unravels
    Jonathan Rowe
  • 1.7 Growth, Growth, Growth: What Will Happen?
    Arthur MacEwan
  • 1.8 Local, or Far Away?
    Arthur MacEwan
  • Spotlight: Frankly Speaking on the Environment
  • 1.9 Why Economics?
    Frank Ackerman
  • 1.10 In Memoriam: Frank Ackerman
    Arthur MacEwan
    
    
• Chapter 2: Environmental Measurement
  • 2.1 Pricing the Priceless
    Lisa Heinzerling and Frank Ackerman
  • 2.2 Protecting Money or People?
    James K. Boyce
  • 2.3 Mismeasuring Our Economy: Why the GDP is Not Useful
    James K. Boyce
  • 2.4 Making Carbon Visible to Investors (and Us!)
    Doug Orr
    
    
• Chapter 3: Market Failure and the Roles of Government
  • 3.1 The True Cost of Oil
    Anita Dancs
  • 3.2 Solving the Climate Crisis with Nuclear Energy Won't Work
    Robert Pollin
  • 3.3 A Carbon Tax Alone Won't Solve Climate Change
    John Miller
  • 3.4 Leveraging Financial Markets for Social Justice
    Doug Orr
  • Spotlight: Responsible Mining
  • 3.5 Buzzwords: Responsible Mining
    Robin Broad
  • 3.6 The Quest for Responsible Mining Practices
    Robin Broad
  • 3.7 A Battle Over Copper in Colombia
    Austin Landis
  • 3.8 Ruined Rivers
    Mir Aiyaz
    
    
• Chapter 4: Environmental Justice
  • 4.1 Mapping Environmental Injustice
    Klara Zwickl, Michael Ash, and James K. Boyce
  • 4.2 The Great Land Giveaway in Mozambique
    Timothy A. Wise
  • 4.3 The Rocket Science of Sanitation
    Abhilasha Srivastava
  • 4.4 Will There Be a Just Transition to Electric Vehicles?
    Nick French
  • Spotlight: Workers and Environmental Justice
  • 4.5 A Superfund for Workers
    Jeremy Brecher
  • 4.5 Essential, But Treated as Expendable
    Lin Nelson
    
    
• Chapter 5: Resources and Rents
  • 5.1 Rent Capture: To What End?
    Alejandro Reuss
  • 5.2 Rent in a Warming World
    James K. Boyce
  • 5.3 Sharing the Wealth of the Commons
    Peter Barnes
  • 5.4 Whose Right to Water
    Kevin Murray
  • 5.5 Land Reform: A Precondition for Sustainable Economic Development
    Jawied Nawabi
  • Spotlight: The Economics and Politics of Fracking
  • 5.6 Frackonomics: The Science and Economics of the Gas Boom
    Rob Larson
  • 5.9 Mixing Oil and Water
    Bill Barclay
    
    
• Chapter 6: Climate Change
  • 6.1 Climate Economics in Four Easy Pieces
    Frank Ackerman
  • 6.2 Can We Afford a Stable Climate?
    Frank Ackerman
  • 6.3 Want a Cool Planet? Raise Gas Prices!
    Marc Breslow
  • 6.4 Neoliberalism and Climate Change
    Robert Pollin
  • 6.5 Unnatural Disaster
    Débora Nunes
  • 6.6 Reducing Greenhoues Gases
    Arthur MacEwan
  • 6.7 Is a Rapid Green-Energy Switch Prohibitively Costly?
    Arthur MacEwan
  • 6.8 How “Big Oil” Works the System and Keeps Winning
    Naomi Oreskes and Jeff Nesbit
  • 6.9 Climate Change, Social Justice, and the Green New Deal
    Arthur MacEwan
  • 6.10 Inequality and Climate Change
    Arthur MacEwan
    
    
• Chapter 7: Agriculture, Food, and Sustainability
  • 7.1 What Can We Learn from Agriculture?
    Arthur MacEwan
  • 7.2 U.S. Agriculture Needs a 21st-Century New Deal
    Maywa Montenegro, Joshua Sbicca, and Annie Shattuck
  • 7.3 Exporting Water in the Era of Climate Cataclysm
    Bill Barclay
  • 7.4 If You Like Piña Coladas...
    Alfredo R. M. Rosete
  • 7.5 Famine Myths
    William Moseley
  • Spotlight: Genetically Modified Organisms
  • 7.6 High Risks, Few Rewards for Mexico with Monsanto's Maize
    Timothy A. Wise
  • 7.7 Stop Cheapening Mexico’s White and Native Corn
    Interview by Timothy A. Wise with Víctor Suárez Carrera

Edition: 4th
Date of publication: January 2025
ISBN: 978-1-939402-98-1
Pages: 279
Price: $51.50