Tools to Address Environmental Problems

Abstract

The field of economics would be of limited use to environmentalists if it was only good at examining the causes of environmental problems and offered little about how to actually solve them. Fortunately, this is not the case. This chapter provides an overview of the policy options for addressing environmental problems that economists have developed and the areas where they can be most effective. By and large, these policies fall under the heading of “market-based” mechanisms and are not at all controversial on the theoretical level; where disagreement exists is in the implementation and in the details.