Some reflections on project economics and environmental issues: A development economist’s perspective

Abstract

This paper discusses briefly some of the outstanding theoretical and operational issues relating to the application of environmental economics to the appraisal of projects. Section 1 considers whether it is necessary to take a global as opposed to a national focus in project work and considers some of the implications of this perspective. Section 2 addresses the difficulty of valuing diverse environmental effects in monetary terms. Section 3 introduces the problem of time and notes the recent debates on the link between discounting and the environment. Finally section 4 discusses recent attempts to deal with problems of human health in project work.

Citation

Weiss, J. (2000), "Some reflections on project economics and environmental issues: A development economist’s perspective", Journal of Economic Studies, Vol. 27 No. 1/2, pp. 126-134. https://doi.org/10.1108/EUM0000000005314