Score contribution per author:
α: calibrated so average coauthorship-adjusted count equals average raw count
The article presents an overview and assessment of economic policy toward the environment. The first part reviews the core theoretical literature. A classification of environmental externalities, differentiated by institutional contexts, is presented. Conventional economic theory approaches are reviewed with their associated strong informational assumptions. These are then relaxed, demonstrating why cooperative solutions to global externalities may prove hard to achieve. Having reviewed the theoretical nature of environmental problems, the article then turns to policy options--including privatization, taxes, and marketable permits--and presents a number of suggestions for future policy. Copyright 1990 by Oxford University Press.