Forest Resource Economics and Finance

ISBN: 0974021105

Author: W. David Klemperer

Condition: Used

This is a paperback edition of the hardcover with a 1996 copyright. The book is aimed at undergraduate forestry students, but practicing foresters and resource analysts should also find it a useful reference. Throughout, emphasis is on economics as a way of thinking in which we compare added costs and benefits of actions in order to maximize net benefits. A general review of microeconomics in Chapter 2 leads to the theory of welfare maximization in a free market and how "market failures" keep us from this maximum. The analysis gives forestry examples and shows what policy actions might make us better off or worse off than under a completely free market. With the basics in capital theory, students will learn how to evaluate forestry investments in a way which embraces important environmental factors. Separate chapters show how to include inflation and taxes in these analyses. Financial appraisal of forest management actions includes even-aged stands and uneven-aged forests without clearcutting.One chapter shows how risk can be incorporated into forest investment analysis, and another gives students background in appraising market values of forest properties. Following a review of the timber industry and timber supply and demand concepts, students will learn how to estimate monetary values of nonmarket outputs and include them in multiple-use forest management decisions. Final chapters cover regional economic analysis and forestry in a global context.Throughout the book are abundant numerical examples of calculations, graphic explanation of concepts, and problems for students to solve. Strong features of this book are the informal and lucid writing style, many examples of how to apply economic principles in understanding and solving practical forestry problems, and emphasis on how to include nonmonetary values into economic thinking and financial calculations in forestry.Another key feature is an accent on analyzing current conflicts and tradeoffs which will be prominent forestry issues in the 21st century: laissez faire free market policies versus different types of government intervention, economic development versus environmental conservation, private property rights versus public amenity rights, and timber versus nontimber outputs.

• Sturdy paperback with glued "perfect binding." | Dimensions: 6 X 9 x 1 5/16 inches. | Weight: 2 pounds. | 60# white paper, 440 pages per inch.