The development of agriculture has caused rapid changes to the rural environment. Today, with growing awareness and concern for environmental issues, there is a movement to stem further damage to the countryside and replace some of the values which have been lost....

This book provides an introduction to the role of economics in debates on the environment. The authors examine the contribution of economics to an understanding of the emergence and persistence of environmental problems and focus on the basic concepts that can be applied to the evaluation of damage and assessment of policy options....