Pollution

Julian Grand and Ray Robinson
Additional contact information
Julian Grand: The University of Sussex
Ray Robinson: The University of Sussex

Chapter Chapter Seven in The Economics of Social Problems, 1976, pp 143-167 from Palgrave Macmillan

Abstract: Abstract Pollution has been with us for a long time. In the fourteenth century, a royal document complained about the ‘abominable and most filthy stinks’ generated by the activities of London butchers in Seacoal Lane. In the sixteenth century, laws were passed prohibiting the use of coal fires in London, and in the 1850s sheets were hung over the House of Commons’ windows to try and reduce the smell of the Thames. Recently, however, concern over what is termed ‘the destruction of the environment’ has reached new peaks. This is partly because the volume of waste generated by our expanding society is itself expanding correspondingly, and partly because the satisfaction of more immediate needs by past economic growth has led to an increase in the demand for environment-oriented activities. To fish or swim in unpolluted rivers; to walk or climb in unspoilt areas of natural beauty; to look at clean buildings undamaged by air pollution; or simply to live in a clean, quiet environment: all these seem to have acquired a more important place in our society’s scale of values in recent decades. This increased concern has led to a corresponding expansion in interest in the economics of pollution.

Keywords: Social Cost; Direct Regulation; External Cost; Efficient Level; Market System (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 1976
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations:

There are no downloads for this item, see the EconPapers FAQ for hints about obtaining it.

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:pal:palchp:978-1-349-15632-0_7

Ordering information: This item can be ordered from
http://www.palgrave.com/9781349156320

DOI: 10.1007/978-1-349-15632-0_7

Access Statistics for this chapter

More chapters in Palgrave Macmillan Books from Palgrave Macmillan
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Sonal Shukla () and Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing ().