Nature in the Balance

This book sets out the building blocks of an economic approach to biodiversity, and in particular brings together conceptual and empirical work on valuation, international agreements, the policy instruments, and the institutions. The objective is to provide a comprehensive overview of the issues and evidence, and to suggest how this very urgent problem should be addressed. Whilst there has been an enormous growth and research focus on climate change, less attention has been paid to biodiversity. This collection of high-quality chapters addresses the economic issues involved in biodiversity protection.

This book focuses on the economics, but incorporates the underpinning science and philosophy, combining the application of a number of theoretical ideas with a series of policy cases. The authors are drawn from leading scholars in their specific areas of economics, philosophy, and conservation biology.

About the Author:
Dieter Helm, Professor of Energy Policy and Official Fellow in Economics, New College, University of Oxford, Cameron Hepburn, Senior Research Fellow; Fellow, Grantham Research Institute, London School of Economics; New College, University of Oxford

Dieter Helm is a professor at the University of Oxford and a Fellow in Economics at New College. He is Chairman of the Independent Natural Capital Committee. Previous appointments include membership of the Prime Minister's Council of Science and Technology, and Chairman of the Academic Panel of the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs. He has also been a Special Advisor to the European Commissioner for Energy. He was the founding managing editor of the Oxford Review of Economic Policy and is currently an associate editor. He is an Honorary Vice President of the Berkshire, Buckinghamshire and Oxfordshire Wildlife Trust. He has written and edited a number of books, including The Carbon Crunch (2012, Yale University Press).

Cameron Hepburn is a senior research fellow at the Grantham Research Institute at the London School of Economics. He is also a research fellow at New College, Oxford and a senior visiting fellow at the Smith School of Enterprise and the Environment. He has advised governments, international institutions, and the private sector on environmental policy and strategy, and he currently serves as a member of the DECC Secretary of State's Economics Advisory Group. He is an associate editor of the Oxford Review of Economic Policy, and has degrees in law and engineering, a doctorate in economics from Oxford, and over 30 peer-reviewed publications in economics, public policy, law, engineering, philosophy, and biology.