Economics, the Environment and Our Common Wealth

James K. Boyce, Professor of Economics and Program Director for Development, Peacebuilding, and the Environment, Political Economy Research Institute, University of Massachusetts, Amherst, US

Comprising a decade’s worth of essays written since the publication of the author’s pathbreaking book, The Political Economy of the Environment (2002), this volume discusses a number of diverse environmental issues through an economist’s lens. Topics covered include environmental justice, disaster response, globalization and the environment, industrial toxins and other pollutants, cap-and-dividend climate policies, and agricultural biodiversity.

‘Boyce provides a foundational volume bridging modern political economy and environmental resource economics. . . Although the volume is written to be highly approachable, its greatest achievement is in providing academic depth and modern analyses on a wide variety of issues where the common environmental heritage is at stake (inequality, environmental justice, tracking toxins, credit facilitation, climate change, globalization, and the prospects for small holdings in agriculture). . . An essential read for advanced undergraduate and graduate students in the field of environmental resource economics. . . Essential.’
– S.R. Steele, Choice

‘If you’re interested in the cutting-edge of the very best thinking on economics and the environment, it’s right here. Boyce has done a masterful job integrating issues of equity and ecological thinking into economics, and presenting deep and important ideas accessibly with the latest research to back them up. Not just recommended, but essential.’
– Juliet Schor, Boston College, US and author of True Wealth: How and Why Millions of Americans are Creating a Time-rich, Ecologically-light, Small-scale, High-satisfaction Economy

‘A colleague of mine puts it best: when thinking about the fundamentals of the economy and the environment, there is Pigou, Coase, and Boyce. Boyce adds to traditional economics the critical understanding that social power is a determinant of the extent and spatial scale of environmental degradation. In these essays, on subjects ranging from housing and credit markets to agriculture and globalization, Boyce mixes a data-driven picture of unequal environmental protection with a keen and useful discussion of the many forms of social power that can help right the scales.’
– Eban Goodstein, Bard College, US