Tuesday, October 03, 2006

Introduction to Environmental Economics Textbook

Econ 211 Environmental Economics (for 2nd year undergraduates) started today at the University of Birmingham.

Although the course utilises a number of environmental text books the text we recommend students to buy (if any) is Perman, Common, McGilvray and Ma Yue (2003)

A new edition of the book will hopefully be out next year with our very own David Maddison as a co-author.

This book is, however, rather expensive. Hopefully this link below will show students that it is possible to pick up second hand copies if there are any. This link is for information only. Try notice boards around the University for offers from students selling old copies (we have also put a link in the sidebar).



The price in Blackwells (University shop) appears to be £38.99.

This text has been written primarily for the specialist market of second and third year undergraduate and post - graduate students of economics. The clear explanations and basic principles that underpin the text, however, make it readily accessable to non-economists coming to environmental economics from diverse programmes of study. Natural Resource and Environmental Economics is among the leading textbooks in its field. Well written and rigorous in its approach, this third edition follows in the vein of previous editions and continues to provide a comprehensive and clear account of the application of economic analysis to environmental issues. This new edition has evolved with the times and been thoroughly updated to reflect recent developments in environmental issues and policies, such as forestry, biodiversity and pollution control. The early chapters explain the development and role of environmental economics before further chapters advance the student at a suitably challenging but achievable level. - Extensive use of case studies and examples of the application of the theory. - Each chapter concludes with suggested further readings, discussion questions and problems.
- The mathematics of the text is covered in a separate appendix. - A Companion website providing a full resource pack for both lecturers and students, including a downloadable Instructor's manual, extra exercises and a bank of multiple choice questions for students. - Relates environmental economics to ethics and the natural sciences. - Rigorous and comprehensive account of the application of economic analysis to environmental issues.


The other good but dated text book is Pearce and Turner (1990). Second hand copies this time appear to be a lot cheaper. See the link below.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

I think that Perman et al is by far the best intermediate env econ book out there. The other's that I would reconmend are Tietenberg's, Stavins' and Pearce's.

Ebay normally has some of these, but might have to be shipped over from the states, if you can wait that long!