Ebook: Economic Policies for Sustainable Development

This book focuses on describing policy instruments in different countries. Its purpose is not only descriptive but also, to some extent, advocatory. We believe that economic instruments can make an important contribution to an environmentally less disruptive path of development. The design of economic instruments is however a fine art and depends among other things on their political acceptability and this acceptability is of course influenced by experience. It is therefore important to provide information on the use of policy instruments in other countries. Policies are currently developing quite fast and thus a book such as this one can inevitably not capture more than a "snapshot" view at a single moment of time. We would hope that the book encourages more experimentation with economic instruments and that countries will make a fuller use of the whole arsenal of economic policy instruments. If the book does succeed in this sense then it will soon become dated as policies change -but that would be a price well worth paying! The book combines a dozen country monographs together with a few international surveys on particular topics (gasoline pricing, vehicle regulations, acid rain, deforestation and global warming). These papers are intended to illustrate the diversity of policy options available. The actual policies adopted depend on economic as well as ecological conditions. The country studies cover two "Western" countries and then concentrate on formerly planned and developing countries. They show that economic instruments are still generally thought of as new and innovative.

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This book describes the state of the art when it comes to the use of economic instruments in policy making throughout the world. These new and innovative instruments, such as green taxes and tradeable permits, can cut the costs of environmental programs considerably and thereby increase the chances that the very necessary -- but also very expensive -- programs actually will be implemented. The book describes and discusses the successes and difficulties encountered in various countries both industrial, developing and transitional. It is intended to bridge the gap, not just between economic theory and environmental issues, but also the gap to practical policy making. With its special combination of environmental interest, economic knowhow and its wide geographical coverage, from the U.S. to China and from Tanzania to Uruguay or Estonia, it will be of interest to both students of economics, development issues and environmental science, as well as to researchers and policy makers in national and international bodies.