This blog pretty much reflects the position I share -- though I might disagree with some of theirs -- on environment and economics. One good post that has triggered interesting debate is this. Even today, I find it amazing (and amusing, I should add) that many people think environmental economics is all about tree-hugging. At best, we are thought of as double-agents: environmentalists accuse us as being unethical ("Who are you to put price on the environment?") while "mainstream economists" (for lack of better term) calls us a sect.
This is an exam I once gave in class. And this is my frustration. (Today, I still find it at odds that some environmentalists oppose fuel price increase that follows a subsidy cut!).
Env-econ is economics,but...(i think) because it's not all about economics which makes is debatable or controversial (or simply confusing).
ReplyDeleteenv-econ gets into a different intuition to economics (so maybe the "tree hugging"-thing is true), and makes the env-economist an economist but not an economist; an environmentalist but not an environmentalist; a political scientist but not...etc.