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Environmental Economics Articles;

Biofuels are no cure-all for energy needs

When discussing economic policies it is important to not let rhetoric overpower reality. That happened in a recent, much-reprinted New York Times article that argued "endless fields of corn in the Midwest can be distilled into endless gallons of ethanol �

Bush dodged true energy-policy fix

Brazil � In his State of the Union address Tuesday, President Bush broached the important subject of the nation's dependence on imported energy. Unfortunately, his prescription for change embraced trivial or harmful approaches and overtly rejected the best tool available to U.S. energy policy: a hefty tax on petroleum-based fuels.

Bush misses chance to be true conservative

Like father, like son. That kept running through my mind during the State of the Union address Tuesday.

Cyanide spill points out need for nations to cooperate on environment

"Cyanide poisoning E. European rivers," proclaimed the headline on a recent news story in this newspaper.

Don't repeat mistakes on Gulf Coast

When rebuilding after a flood, it is important to avoid repeating past mistakes. But that is easier said than done, politically as well as psychologically, as the recent news about post-Katrina reconstruction shows

Don't repeat mistakes on Gulf Coast

When rebuilding after a flood, it is important to avoid repeating past mistakes. But that is easier said than done, politically as well as psychologically, as the recent news about post-Katrina reconstruction shows.

Ecofeminism

In recent decades, many people active in the environmentalist and feminist movements have joined forces in support of what they see as a common cause.

Environmental Economics

Environmental economics dates back to the 1800s. Economists who study the environment are primarily concerned with the concept of externalities, scarce natural resources, and with the issue of common ownership of the environment

Environmental Ethics

The inspiration for environmental ethics was the first Earth Day in 1970 when environmentalists started urging philosophers who were involved with environmental groups to do something about environmental ethics.

Externalities of Transportation

Automobiles, like factories, produce pollution. Also like factories, there is no cost to the owner of the automobile in creating that pollution, but there is a significant cost to society as a whole.

Externality

Economics studies two forms of externalities. An externality is something that, while it does not monetarily affect the producer of a good, does influence the standard of living of society as a whole.

Failure in Optimal Resource Extraction

The price system should theoretically produce the level of extraction where the rise in price of a natural resource is equal to the interest rate.

Fantasies won't clean up the junk

ndulging romantic fantasies is a human inclination, but when legislators do so while shaping public policies, it can harm society.

Fantasies won't clean up the junk

Indulging romantic fantasies is a human inclination, but when legislators do so while shaping public policies, it can harm society. As the Minnesota Legislature tackles the problem of junked electronic equipment, both parties risk letting their particular fantasies about how the world works counter sound policy.

Federal power on trial in pollution case

Our decentralized federal-state-local government system has been enormously important in the political and economic success of our country.

Free Riders

A free rider benefits from a public good without paying for it. The idea relates closely to the tragedy of the commons, and can be a major problem for the environment.

Government Failure

Since some politicians have to be reelected, others may lack adequate knowledge of the environment, and other problems may occur as well, causing governments to fail to provide the most economically efficient environmental policy.

Higher mileage standards aren't enough

How will higher mileage standards for passenger vehicles move more freight by rail instead of truck? How do they cause farmers, miners or contractors to use less diesel fuel?

How to reduce use of energy? Tax it

DFL gubernatorial candidate Mike Hatch wants to set arbitrary requirements for renewable energy use. Incumbent Gov. Tim Pawlenty, a Republican, agrees completely and notes he had the idea first.

Impacts on Future Environmental Economics

When making economic decisions, policymakers and economists have to take future generations into account as well. To do this, they use the discount factor.

Internalizing Costs

In order to prevent market failure, the government has to step in to require companies that create negative externalities to internalize these costs.

Klobuchar carbon bill is a sound step

We are fortunate that Sens. Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn., and Olympia Snowe, R-Maine, understand the importance of good measurement.

Klobuchar carbon bill is a sound step

As the 19th-century British scientist Lord Kelvin pointed out, "When you can measure what you are speaking about, and express it in numbers, you know something about it; but when you cannot measure it, when you cannot express it in numbers, your knowledge is of a meager and unsatisfactory kind."

Landfill Tax

A landfill tax is a popular method of combating the negative externality created by throwing garbage into landfills.

Marxism on the Environment

Marx thought that humanity would develop greater and greater control over nature and humanize it. Now, the Marxist view of the environment has split into two factions.

Most charity tax breaks don't aid poor

Unintended outcomes often reveal underlying principles. This is certainly true in the responses to Congress's temporary increase in the proportion of income that can be excluded from taxation through charitable gifts.

Optimal Environment Regulations

Free-market economics seeks to equate marginal social cost and marginal social benefit for the purpose of deriving the optimal level of environmental damage. However, other systems exist as well.

Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries

OPEC is a cartel that attempts to set the world oil price by having many leading oil producers collaborate to restrict production.

Pollution Problems in the Third World

Third World nations tend to be very poor and in great need of foreign capital. As a result, First World capitalists are often able to take advantage of weak pollution laws in Third World countries

Rate of Extraction of Natural Resources

Economic theory predicts that natural resources will be extracted from the ground at a rate where the annual rise in price of the resources is equal to the interest rate.

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