But Will the Planet Notice?: How Smart Economics Can Save the World - Couverture rigide

Wagner, Gernot

Couverture rigide

ISBN 10 : 0809052075 ISBN 13 : 9780809052073

Editeur : Hill & Wang Inc.,U.S., 2011

Synopsis

You are one of seven billion people on Earth. Put bluntly, whatever you do personally - eat tofu in a Hummer or hamburgers in a Prius - the planet doesn't care. Nor, for that matter, does the economy. And when confronting the entwined challenges of climate change, species preservation, and a planet going off the cliff, it is what several billion people do that makes a difference. The solution? Not scientists, not politicians, not activists. Cue the economists. The hope of mankind, and indeed of every living thing on the planet, is now in the hands of the masters of the dismal science. Fortunately, they've been there before, albeit on a much smaller scale. It was economists who solved acid rain in the 1990s, admittedly with a strong assist from a phalanx of lawyers and activists. Economists have helped get lead out of our gas, and they can explain why lobsters haven't disappeared off the coast of New England but tuna is on the verge of extinction. More disquietingly, they can take the lessons of the financial crisis and model with greater accuracy than anyone else the likelihood of environmental catastrophe, and they can rationalize the abandonment of threatened species. They can also solve the climate crisis, if only we let them.

A propos du livre

Revue de presse

"It's always a pleasure to read a confident, funny and convincing writer who promotes counter-intuitive conclusions. If you like the idea of an environmentalist who works for one of the nation's largest environmental groups making a full-throated argument against the Endangered Species Act . . . then "But Will the Planet Notice?: How Smart Economics Can Save the World" is the book for you." --Dan Shapley, "The Daily Green" (blog) "Wagner's wry, witty prose brings rationality to an emotionally charged subject and urges us to take personal responsibility for the planet by demanding an economically sound solution to guiding market forces in the right direction, making it in our best interests to do the right thing." --"Publishers Weekly" "If you want to understand how an economist thinks about the biggest challenge our planet has ever stumbled up against, this book is an awfully good place to start!" --Bill McKibben, author of "Eaarth: Making a Life on a Tough New Planet" "Idealism will not shift the choices of billions of people as effectively as self-interest. Gernot Wagner has written a lucid and enjoyable exposition of the underlying economics. We must remove the incentives to treat scarce resources as if they were free. He respects the moral principles of the idealists who want to change behavior by precept alone. But, as an economist, he knows that if we want less of anything, including pollution, we must raise its price." --Martin Wolf, "Financial Times" "This splendid book showcases why environmental economics is such an exciting field today. Who knew that an economist not named Krugman could write so well? I will buy my mom a copy." --Matthew E. Kahn, author of "Climatopolis

Détails de l'édition

• Éditeur: Hill & Wang Inc.,U.S.
• Date d'édition: 2011
• Langue: anglais
• ISBN 10: 0809052075
• ISBN 13: 9780809052073
• Reliure: Relié
• Nombre de pages: 272
• Coordonnées du fabricant: non disponible
• Personne responsable: non disponible