Skip to main content Accessibility help
×
Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-tf8b9 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-26T03:01:48.687Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

6 - Pricing Environmental Harm

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  13 September 2019

Michael G. Faure
Affiliation:
Erasmus Universiteit Rotterdam
Roy A. Partain
Affiliation:
University of Aberdeen
Get access

Summary

And to price an aspect of environmental services need not mean a direct 'price to acquire rights to injure' perspective, but rather can reflect the damages imposed on the community from the event of the injury, of the opportunity costs of the events around the environmental injury. Further, there can be a calculation of the costs necessary to completely avoid the events enabling the injury; at what cost can the commercial activity be undertaken in a manner that enables an environment to remain clear of injury. The Baumol-Oates approach, to determine a set of environmental quality standards to facilitate the imposition of marginal cost correcting unit taxes, enables a functional start at implementing a Pigouvian tax system. But no environmental system is simple, the approach will necessarily be limited to an incomplete set of externalities. Under most forms of cost-benefit analysis, the use of marginal costs for environmental losses requires an understanding of the marginal benefits of the activity that caused those injuries, if they are to be aligned for optimal community welfare. However, those costs and benefits may accrue to many diverse stakeholders, present and future, and it may be quite difficult to complete the set of information required to fully implement marginal analysis.

Type
Chapter
Information
Environmental Law and Economics
Theory and Practice
, pp. 106 - 118
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2019

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Save book to Kindle

To save this book to your Kindle, first ensure [email protected] is added to your Approved Personal Document E-mail List under your Personal Document Settings on the Manage Your Content and Devices page of your Amazon account. Then enter the ‘name’ part of your Kindle email address below. Find out more about saving to your Kindle.

Note you can select to save to either the @free.kindle.com or @kindle.com variations. ‘@free.kindle.com’ emails are free but can only be saved to your device when it is connected to wi-fi. ‘@kindle.com’ emails can be delivered even when you are not connected to wi-fi, but note that service fees apply.

Find out more about the Kindle Personal Document Service.

Available formats
×

Save book to Dropbox

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Dropbox.

Available formats
×

Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

Available formats
×