The Economy of the Earth

Mark Sagoff draws on the last twenty years of debate over the foundations of environmentalism in this comprehensive revision of The Economy of the Earth. Posing questions pertinent to consumption cost-benefit analysis the normative implications of neo-Darwinism the role of the natural in national history and the centrality of the concept of place in environmental ethics he analyses social policy in relation to the environment pollution the workplace and public safely and health. Sagoff distinguishes ethical from economic questions and explains which kinds of concepts arguments and processes are appropriate to each. He offers a critique ''preference'' and ''willingness to pay'' as measures of value in environmental economics and defends political cultural aesthetic and ethical reasons to protect the natural environment.