This title was first published in 2002. This book collects a number of important articles in the embryonic field of the economics of biological diversity.


Economic analysis has an important role in the study of biological diversity and its conservation: human actions are often the root cause of a decline; and a decline may negatively impact upon human welfare. Virtually all of the work by economists, including all of the articles in this collection, has been published since 1990. Many of the articles in this volume have been published since 1998. The book is divided into three main sections. The first contains articles which present an economic framework for analyzing biological diversity conservation issues; the second contains articles which analyze various aspects of the value of conserving biological diversity; and the third focuses on conservation strategies and politicies in the United States and in the developing world.