Environmental Economics

Environmental economics is a subfield of economics concerned with environmental issues. Quoting from the National Bureau of Economic Research Environmental Economics program:

Environmental Economics undertakes theoretical or empirical studies of the economic effects of national or local environmental policies around the world . Particular issues include the costs and benefits of alternative environmental policies to deal with air pollution, water quality, toxic substances, solid waste, and global warming.

Environmental economics is distinguished from Ecological economics that emphasizes the economy as a subsystem of the ecosystem with its focus upon preserving natural capital. One survey of German economists found that ecological and environmental economics are different schools of economic thought, with ecological economists emphasizing "strong" sustainability and rejecting the proposition that natural capital can be substituted by human-made capital. For an overview of international policy relating to environmental economics, see Runnals (2011).

Read more about Environmental Economics:  Topics and Concepts, Solutions, Relationship To Other Fields, Professional Bodies

Famous quotes containing the word economics:

    There is no such thing as a free lunch.
    —Anonymous.

    An axiom from economics popular in the 1960s, the words have no known source, though have been dated to the 1840s, when they were used in saloons where snacks were offered to customers. Ascribed to an Italian immigrant outside Grand Central Station, New York, in Alistair Cooke’s America (epilogue, 1973)