Introduction to the Issue

Welcome to the fifth issue of the Review of Environmental Economicsand Policy, which once again includes articles, a symposium,and a set of features. In the first of two articles in this issue, Geoffrey Heal reviewswhat we have learned about the economics of global climate changeand related public policy from the extensive literature thathas emerged in response to the controversial Stern Review ofthe Economics of Climate Change. Heal provides his own perspectiveon the Stern Review (which was the focus of a symposium in ourWinter 2008 issue) as well as his views on how the recent debateaffects the economic case for action on     

Introduction to the Issue

We welcome you to this third issue of the Review of EnvironmentalEconomics and Policy. Once again, this issue includes articles,a symposium focused on a single topic, and a set of regularfeatures. In the first of two articles in this issue, Susmita Dasgupta,Kirk Hamilton, Stefano Pagiola, and David Wheeler describe andassess the history of "Environmental Economics at the WorldBank." This is the first in a series of articles that will describethe role of environmental economics at various government andmultilateral organizations. In this issue, a team of currentand former World Bank economists examines how environmentaleconomics entered the intellectual mainstream at the Bank in1992, and how since then it has exerted a     

Introduction to the Issue

We are pleased to introduce this second issue of the Reviewof Environmental Economics and Policy. Like every issue, thisone includes several articles, a focused symposium, and a setof regular features. In the first of three articles, John Graham describes "The EvolvingRegulatory Role of the U.S. Office of Management and Budget,"where he was the "regulatory czar" as administrator of the Officeof Information and Regulatory Affairs (OIRA) from 2001 to 2006.In his essay, Graham responds to the perception of OMB as antiregulatoryby describing the history of OIRA's proactive     

A guide to using the internet to monitor and quantify the wildlife trade

The unrivaled growth in e-commerce of animals and plants presents an unprecedented opportunity to monitor wildlife trade to inform conservation, biosecurity, and law enforcement. Using the internet to quantify the scale of the wildlife trade (volume and frequency) is a relatively recent and rapidly developing approach that lacks an accessible framework for locating relevant websites and collecting data. We produced an accessible guide for internet-based wildlife trade surveillance. We detailed a repeatable method involving a systematic internet search, with search engines, to locate relevant websites and content. For data collection, we highlight web-scraping technology as an efficient way to collect data in an automated fashion at regularly timed intervals. Our guide is applicable to the multitude of trade-based contexts because researchers can tailor search keywords for specific taxa or derived products and locations of interest. We provide information for working with the diversity of websites used in wildlife trade. For example, to locate relevant content on social media (e.g., posts or groups), each social media platform should be examined individually via the site's internal search engine. A key advantage of using the internet to study wildlife trade is the relative ease of access to an increasing amount of trade-related data. However, not all wildlife trade occurs online and it may occur on unobservable sections of the internet.     

A note on the willingness to pay approach to the valuation of longevity

A modification of Freeman's model of willingness to pay for reduction of environmental risk to life is presented. Rather than treating work-related, consumption-related, and exogenous hazards as additive components of an overall level of safety, the revised model acknowledges the interdependence of these components. The results derived from this approach imply that (a) willingness to pay for a marginal reduction in risk depends upon the individual's initial level of utility; and (b) willingness to pay for a reduction in a given component of safety is related to the level of each component risk. The results of the revised model become more dramatic at higher levels of risk.     

重视生态策略在建筑设计中的运用

建筑既作用于生态环境，也作用于人类，它始终持续地影响着周围的环境和使用者的生活，特别是对于我国高速发展的城市来说，其影响更是巨大。生态建筑将成为21世纪建筑设计的主流。建筑与可持续发展的三个重要方面(环境保护、经济发展和社会进步)密切相关，生态建筑应是可持续发展的一个组成部分。文章针对我国生态环境与建筑设计中存在的主要问题，提出在建筑设计中要注重生态策略的运用，推动生态建筑设计要依靠全社会生态意识的提高，增强人与自然环境的沟通，完善生态建筑设计的法律规范。