Valuing Nature?: Economics, ethics and environment

by John Bellamy Foster (Editor)

The state of the environment is now widely acknowledged as a serious cause for concern. Valuing Nature? argues that responding to this concern by economic valuation of the environment as a consumer good only makes matters worse. The book brings together philosophers, economists and sociologists to put the case for a new and more creative approach to environmental policy. The discussion • the structure of environmental policy-making • the current orthodoxy in environmental economics and its deficiencies • the deeper problems with contingent valuation surveys and cost-benefit analysis for environmental decisions • alternative valuation methods Embracing three disciplines, this book is nevertheless written in a clear, accessible style. It includes chapters by Geoff Hodgson, Clive Spash, Michael Jacobs, Brian Wynne and John O’Neill. Its ground-breaking critique and suggestions will be of great interest both to specialists in the field and to students of the disciplines concerned; it has important messages for anyone concerned with how decisions about the environment are made.

288 pages, Paperback

First published May 5, 1997

About the author

John Bellamy Foster is a professor of sociology at the University of Oregon, editor of Monthly Review and author of several books on the subject of political economy of capitalism, economic crisis, ecology and ecological crisis, and Marxist theory.