carbon tax
A tax or surcharge on the sale of fossil fuels (oil, coal, and gas) that varies according to the carbon content of each fuel, and is designed to discourage the use of fossil fuels and reduce ...
Commons
The concept that the major resources of the planet (land, air, and water) are commodities to which all people have equal right of access and use, and which no one has a right to spoil.
congestion
A situation when too many consumers are trying to use the same impure public good simultaneously, and, as a result, the benefit to each user of this public good is reduced. Examples of impure public ...
cost-benefit analysis
A study of the relationship between the service or production costs and the health gain achieved for an individual or group.
environmental economics
A branch of economics that takes into account the current and future monetary costs and benefits of environmental systems, human welfare, and biodiversity. See also cost–benefit analysis, ecological ...
Externalities Reference library
The Oxford Companion to Global Change
Generally, the term refers to unintended effects of an activity or a process. Persons or communities affected are unwilling participants
internalization
In accounting, the process of including in financial balance sheets the cost factors which were previously either not calculated (for example the cost of environmental damage) or met by society at ...
market cost
The cost that a consumer pays to purchase a particular good or service, which usually fails to take into account environmental degradation and other externalities. See also true cost.
private opportunity cost
The opportunity cost of using a resource that is experienced by an individual, excluding any externalities.
resources
An available supply of something that is valued because it can be used for a particular purpose, usually to satisfy particular human wants or desires. See also aesthetic resource, cultural resource, ...
shadow price
Prices of goods, services, and resources that are proportional to true opportunity costs for the economy, taking account of any externalities. If individuals and firms all made choices to maximize ...
sustainable development
A concept that is used to describe community and economic development in terms of meeting the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their needs. See also ...
tradable emission permit
In greenhouse gas emissions trading, an authorization that allows an emitter to emit a specified number of tonnes of emission within a given period of time. This allow emitters to determine the most ...
tragedy of the Commons
G. Hardin (1968) described an increase in the use of common land by a number of graziers, with each grazier continually adding to his stock of animals for as long as the marginal return from each ...
urban sprawl
The relentless extension of built-up areas around virtually every city on earth as the combination of rising population and rising prosperity apply increasing economic pressure on agricultural and ...
