In this book, Professors Baumol and Oates provide a rigorous and comprehensive analysis of the economic theory of environmental policy.

Preface to the second edition; Preface to the first edition; 1. Introduction: economic and environmental policy; Part I. On The Theory of Externalities: 2. Relevance and the theory of externalities; 3. Externalities: definition, significant types, and optimal-pricing conditions; 4. Externalities: formal analysis; 5. Uncertainty and the choice of policy instruments: price or quantity controls?; 6. Market imperfections and the number of participants; 7. Are competitive outputs with detrimental externalities necessarily excessive?; 8. Detrimental externalities and nonconvexities in the production set; 9. On optimal pricing of exhaustible resources; Part II. On The Design of Environmental Policy: 10. Introduction to Part II; 11. Efficiency without optimality: the charges and standards approach; 12. Marketable emission permits for protection of the environment; 13. Stochastic influences, direct controls, and taxes; 14. Taxes versus subsidies: a partial analysis; 15. Environmental protection and the distribution of income; 16. International environmental issues; 17. national or local standards for environmental quality?; Index.