Natural Resource Economics

When approached by Warren Samuels, the series editor, about organizing a volume on natural resource economics, I was at a loss as to how one might possibly capture in "e;several major essays plus several shorter comments thereon"e; all of the diverse activities that fall within this exciting discipline. I was further asked to have the book take an "e;affirmative but constructively critical look at its subject. "e; The volume was to be interpretative, it was to be reasonably comprehensive, and yet it was to attempt to present divergent views on the "e;development, tensions, present status, and, especially, possible lines of development of each field. "e; Upon reflection, I decided to have the book focus on natural resource economics as a distinctly applied policy science. Hence the title: Natural Resource Economics: Policy Problems and Contemporary Analysis. While this allowed clarification of a particular sort, it did little to narrow the range of policy issues that ought to be considered candidates for inclu- sion. But it did seem, after some thought, that three broad issues persist at center stage in natural resource policy.