Economics and the Environment, 10th Edition

PART IVHOW CAN WE SOLVE GLOBAL CHALLENGES?

To this point, this book has focused primarily on environmental quality within a single wealthy country, the United States. We have explored the normative debate on the “right” level of pollution; considered political‐economic realities that can constrain the effectiveness of government action to achieve these goals; and in the previous four chapters, analyzed two broad approaches to “doing better”—incentive‐based regulation and clean technology promotion. In this final part of the book, we extend the lessons learned to resolving issues of global environmental concern: global warming, ozone depletion, loss of species diversity, and management of the global commons—the ocean and Antarctica.

As one steps outside the national border of a developed country, two things are immediately apparent. By global standards, middle class people in rich countries are very wealthy people. A personal example brought this home to me. When I was in Africa, my driver was admiring my work boots and wanted to know what they cost. I admitted that the salary he earned in 2 months, and on which he supported his entire family, would barely be enough to buy them.

The second fact: as significant as developed country environmental problems are, they pale in comparison to those faced by people in poor countries. Hardship and suffering from water and air pollution, soil erosion and degradation, and deforestation and flooding are serious, dramatic, and widespread ...