Does Environmental Policy Work?: The Theory and Practice of Outcomes Assessment (New Horizons in Environmental Economics series)

At the beginning of the 21st century, a growing struggle has arisen between those who would like to repeal existing environmental policy and those who would like to see greater environmental protection. On both sides, however, many of the arguments remain grounded in ideology. This book attempts to moderate the conflict by exploring methods to accurately measure and assess the effectiveness of environmental policies. The book examines our ability to assess the impact of environmental policies on the environment in particular, and on social welfare in general. The authors explore the theory of assessment, concentrating primarily on a conceptual examination of the evaluation process. They extend existing tools and identify alternative indicators and methods of appraisal. The focus then shifts to the use of these tools in real-worlds policy situations by applying them to a series of case studies from Africa, North America, South America, Europe and Asia. Although the authors base their assessment predominantly on economic efficiency, they also pay due regard to other interdisciplinary approaches and decision-making criteria. This comprehensive exploration of the theory and practice of environmental assessment should be of interest to scholars of environmental economics, ecological economics and environmental science.