This title was first published in 2001. This collection of papers investigates the background to environmental economic development over the last thirty years. The papers examine the application of economic analysis to environmental problems and the implications of political decisions, cultural changes and technological constraints.

Contents: Economic institutions and environmental policy: an introduction, Maurizio Franzini and Antonio Nicita. The Complexity of Evaluation Processes: Welfare indices and environmental accounting: a critical survey, Simone Borghesi and Silvia Tiezzi; Sustainable development and the valuation problem: option values as a guide-line for institutional choices, Marcello Basili. The Complexity of Institutional Arrangements: Voluntary approaches to environmental regulation, Thomas P. Lyon and John W. Maxwell; Economic institutions and common-pool resources: the role of exit costs in enforcing full co-operation, Antonio Nicita; Facing environmental bads: alternative property rights regimes for local and transnational commons, Massimo Di Matteo and Antonio Nicita. Evaluation Processes and Policy Choice: Exploring biophysical approaches to develop environmental taxation tools: envitax to face the new scarcity, Salvatore Bimonte and Sergio Ulgiati; The environmental Kuznets curve: a critical survey, Simone Borghesi; Environmental resources valuation as an institutional problem, Maurizio Franzini; Index.