Introduction

Environmental economics takes what may, at least initially, seem to be a narrow philosophical stance from the perspective of the many people who are concerned about environmental quality. Environmental goods, like ordinary goods, are presumed by economists to be produced at “optimal” levels when marginal benefits of production just equal marginal costs of production. Those marginal benefits and costs are considered only from the perspective of human preferences because there are no “intrinsic” values apart from those possessed by those doing the valuing. That is, the very notion of what is a “good environment” or a “bad environment” is inherently human.