Ambivalent Joint Production and the Natural Environment: An Economic and Thermodynamic Analysis

by Baumgartner, Stefan; Muller, W. A.; Bihn, M.

• ISBN13: 9783790812909
• ISBN10: 3790812900
• Edition: 1st
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2000-06-01
• Publisher: Springer Verlag

Summary

Many environmental damages are caused by substances which come into existence as undesired joint outputs in the production of desired goods. Whether an output is desired or not, however, is not an inherent property of the substance itself but depends on the context of production. This book studies in an interdisciplinary way the role of the potential ambivalence of joint outputs for the description and analysis of dynamic economy-environment interactions and for the design of environmental policy.

Table of Contents

Introduction	1	(22)
Part I The Phenomenon of Joint Production
Joint production and the natural environment	23	(22)
Thermodynamics	45	(20)
All production is joint production	65	(29)
Part II The Analysis of Joint Production in the History of Economic Thought
The classical position and its early critics	94	(8)
The abandonment of classical theory	102	(12)
Neoclassical theory from partial to general equilibrium analysis	114	(29)
The role of joint production for the construction of economic theory	143	(14)
Part III The Economics of Ambivalent Joint Production
The concept of joint production	157	(28)
Ambivalence of joint products	185	(46)
Joint products and irreversibility	231	(24)
Non-convexity of the production set	255	(35)
Ambivalent joint production: Putting the issues in perspective	290	(5)
References	295