Natural Resources, Taxation, and Regulation Unusual Perspectives on a Classic Problem, ed. by Laurence Moss

Natural Resources, Taxation, and Regulation Unusual Perspectives on a Classic Problem, ed. by Laurence Moss, London, Blackwell, 2007, pp. 300. On the threshold of the new millennium one of the most important is the problem of sustainable development. The previous approach, that considered profit maximization and economic growth as the main goals in a micro and macro levels, has turned out to be fallacious. There exists a contrariety between economic growth and its sustainability, caused by the increasing use of natural resources, the environmental pollution, the global increase of social inequality and other problems. That’s why environmental economics has become one of the basic subjects for economists and entrepreneurs – in the same extent as micro and macroeconomics. The book contains a selection on different topics of the environmental economics: resource utilization, land management and rational use of economic resources, the regulation of environmental issues by taxation. The article by William L. Anderson and Jacquelynne W. McLellan deals with the problem of public discussion about the economic and environmental issues. Authors put a question – what masters the journalist behavior? On what degree it is determined by the real importance of the problem and how much it is conducted by seeking for sensations and «modern» topics. The article by Sean Alley and John Marangos covers the problem of formulation of goals and the choice of means to reach the goals. Is it possible, that the groups with the same goals, if they choose different means to reach the goals, may become competitors with antagonistic actions? If the economy is considered to be the «science of activity», these conflicting actions may diminish the efficiency of economy. Professor of the University of Maryland Robert H. Nelson considers a case study about the contradiction between the economic and environmental goals in economy, in this case concerning the public land management in the us, where the influence of the historically dominant groups should be considered as well. The paper by John Loomis, Lindsey Ellingson, Armando Gonzalez-Caban and Andy Seidl deals with the study of differences in behavior of different ethnic groups of society. The study is done on the basis of the response rates, refusals to pay, and willingness to pay concerning the public surveys, which explain the policies of the federal agencies. This item should become more and important due to the globalization process, and the experience of such multiethnic societies as the USA should be generalized and taken in to consideration in economic analysis and decision making process. Professor Gerald F. Vaughn has devoted his article to the historical revue of Grover Peace Osborne – the author of the first American textbook on resource economics in 1893. The problem of rational management of non-renewable resources since this time has become by far more significant. The article by Jonatan Perraton considers the problem of the economic development based on reduction of material content of production. The discussion is on the question – is it true that nature sets physical limits to economic growth? Is it possible, that unlimited economic growth, based on postindustrial services economy will succeed in a global level or the World will be divided in economies, based mainly on primary sectors in contrary to economies, based mainly on tertiary sectors, with the increasing gap and contradictions between these economies as the result? The paper by Lowell Harriss opens with information on the Georgist program of taxing “economic rents” either directly by a rent tax or indirectly by a severance tax. His followers have continued the discussion. Natural resources present greater potential for financing government than has yet been realized. The author also points out same main term and problem that include in the article: rents, justice, present versus fut