Efficiency is the hallmark of environmental economics, and though economists are concerned with the environment, primarily because it challenges the efficiency of competitive markets, until now, limited attention has been paid to distributional issues. This excellent collection of essays identifies and addresses key issues surrounding the inequality-environment relationship such as:

* Does increasing economic inequality lead to better or worse environmental quality?
* Which individual or social features play a role in determining the differentiated impact of changes in...

The debate on the impact of globalization tends to stress different and sometimes opposite aspects. Some argue that globalization is likely to have a positive impact on economic growth and efficiency, whereas others seem worried of its negative impact on workers, of the generation of new forms of social exclusion and of a worsening of market failure. The essays presented in this volume offer critical elements for assessing these positions. They also examine the role of national and international institutions in ensuring that globalization leads to a more sustained and equitable economic...

The Department of Public Economics of the Rome University "La Sapienza," in keeping with its primary task of promoting research, not only inside the Department, but also through an exchange of ideas with scholars from Italian and foreign research institutions, periodically organizes conferences and meetings on the important topics of economic theory and policy. Economic globalization clearly belongs to this category. Just consider the widespread effects and consequences of globalization, the range of tools that its analysis requires as well as its impact on the welfare of the populations...

The lectures collected in this series of books offers a clear account of the alternative research paths that characterize a certain field. This text will interest a wide range of economists across the world.

This book explores the mechanisms by which top incomes are achieved through work in today s advanced economies and asks to what extent current extreme inequalities are compatible with widely held values of social justice. Reflecting on the heterogeneity of the working rich, the authors argue that very high earnings often result not from heightened competition induced by globalization but rather from a lack of competition, or at best deficient competition. It is proposed that such incomes cannot be justified in terms of efficiency or merit and do not generate positive trickle-down effects with...

This title was first published in 2001. This wide-ranging and comprehensive collection investigates the background to environmental economic development over the last thirty years, and the political implications of new directions resulting from technological and cultural changes in environmental issues. It examines the application of economic analysis to environmental problems in the past and solutions to the current issues of water, soil, air, energy, waste and urban ecology, discussing the implications of political decisions, cultural changes and technological constraints. It will prove a...