Valuing the environment

Following the influential Pearce Report, Blueprint for a Green Economy, this book examines how governments and institutions put money values on environmental costs and benefits, and why that practice has gained public attention. Rather than staying with theory, it turns to six countries that apply these valuation methods, combining case studies written by specialists from each nation.

The studies cover the United Kingdom, Norway and Italy, where the techniques are beginning to be adopted, and the United States, Germany and the Netherlands, where they are already widely used. The authors also address the barriers that slow their spread: limited understanding of environmental economics among officials, the pull of competing government priorities, and environmental groups that have been slow to see the value of financial appraisal for their goals.

Despite these obstacles, the book argues that real progress is under way, both in putting economic tools into practice and, most importantly, in advancing economic thinking about the environment.