Environmental Economics and Policy (4th Edition) (Addison-Wesley Series in Economics)

Rating:
Summary: Accessible book but out of date
Review: This book's strength is that it covers many important topics in an accessible fashion. However, the 2004 copyright date is very misleading. Many parts of the text, examples, and references were current as of 1980, i.e., before the birth of most students who are using the book! The many precise dollar amounts of costs and benefits rarely indicate whether the reference is to, say, 1975 dollars or 1992 dollars. Throughout the book are phrases like "recently" and "now" that actually refer to developments decades ago.

The author is a respected scholar in the field. In my view he should be embarrassed to supply a "new" edition as hopelessly dated as this one. Readers can save money by buying a used copy of an older edition--they won't be missing much.