Discounting plays a central role in decisions about global environmental change that affect the well-being of future generations. Discounting the future more heavily tilts decisions toward the present, making it less likely that society will undertake actions to mitigate climate change or other...

Preface -- Introduction -- Four economic questions about climate change -- How much pollution is too much? -- Ethics and economics -- Pollution and resource degradation as externalities -- The efficiency standard -- Measuring the benefits of environmental protection -- Measuring the costs of...

"This ninth edition of Economics and the Environment is the third to include Dr. Stephen Polasky as a coauthor, who has brought to the text a reworked and stronger focus on natural resource economics and ecosystem services. This book was first published almost 30 years ago in 1992, as the Rio...