Conservation : economics, science, and policy /

Perrings (environmental economics, Arizona State Univ.) and Kinzig (biology and society, also Arizona State) combine the best of their respective fields in this textbook. Its core insight draws from the seminal work of Harold Hotelling (1895--1973), who showed that a rational decision to conserve implies that the expected growth in value of the conserved resource is above the yield on alternative assets. According to this approach, conservation and extraction or harvest are best considered "two sides of the same coin." The first two parts of the volume (chapters 2 through 7) exploit mathematical models to analyze conservation of renewable and nonrenewable resources; assess the valuation of environmental goods, services, and assets; and address how to align the private and social values of various natural resources. The non-mathematical summaries of these chapters are excellent, as are the numerous tables, figures, and maps (over 100 in all). In part 3, the authors apply the Hotelling approach to conservation in practice--in and outside of protected areas, at the national and international levels, and into the future. This is a remarkably learned, informative, and useful book that will work well in graduate courses. It may not be for undergraduate libraries, given the centrality of statistical and mathematical concepts. Summing Up: Highly recommended. Upper-division undergraduates. Graduate students, faculty, and professionals. --Robert M. Whaples, Wake Forest University