More books for IES-Europe students

I'm headed to IES-Europe in Aix and bringing more books. If you've read a book from our Varna seminar and want one of these to read and review, let us know.

You Have to Admit It's Getting Better

(You can read excerpts from this book on the Amazon website)

You can also order a copy from Laissez Faire Books (www.lfb.com). Here is some information about the book from the LFB website. And comments below are student reviews from IES-Europe seminars.
----

From Economic Prosperity to Environmental Quality
edited by Terry L. Anderson
Hoover Institution Press, 2004, paperback

What the doomsayers don't want you to know

Okay. Maybe nobody has to admit it. But as the contributors to this volume show, things really are getting better. For example, they explain why economic growth and environmental quality are hardly opposites -- and why the institutions of a free society like property rights, the rule of law, and limited government are exactly what you need to promote both. Plus:

* How international trade can improve environmental quality.

* How exploitation of natural resources and capital formation in fact help the "future generations" that some environmentalists claim we're shortchanging.

* Why carbon emissions -- if they're a problem at all -- will likely prove much less of a problem in richer (freer) countries than in poorer ones.

* Privatization versus rule of law: Milton Friedman's big mistake. What he says now.

The book also includes a chapter in which "skeptical environmentalist" Bjorn Lomborg confronts critics of his own optimistic book, exposing shoddy statistics and cheap rhetorical tricks.

"With data, extrapolations, and plain evidence, the authors make the case that overall environmental quality is improving. No innovative, specialized, and in some cases alarmist environmental programs or wide-reaching legislation is required to ensure desirable environmental quality.... The essays deal with the major facets of growth-technology, rising standard of living, free trade, laissez-faire economics, and population growth."
--Midwest Book Review

212 pages

Eco-nomics [comments below, and picture above from Cato Institute website.]

It's one thing to be passionate about protecting the environment. It's another to be successful at it. Many laws have been enacted to clean up pollution or preserve natural beauty, but many of them don't work and others have unintended consequences. In this book, Stroup explains why many of our environmental laws have failed us and how we might go about doing a better job of protecting nature.
Richard L. Stroup is an adjunct scholar at the Cato Institute and a senior associate at the Property and Environment Research Center (PERC) in Bozeman, Montana. He is also the co-author of What Everyone Should Know About Economics and Prosperity.

"...less than 100 pages long but contains powerful lessons for sensible approaches to the world's environmental issues."
--Walter Williams

"...a useful read for all sides of the debate."
--National Journal.com

"Rick Stroup has done it again. In plain English, he's applied commonsense economics to challenging environmental problems. This short primer is one that should be read, enjoyed, and saved for future reference."
--Bruce Yandle, Professor of Economics Emeritus, Clemson University

"Rick Stroup's volume is thin but weighty. He packages essential insights in readable buy concise prose. Whether or not they end up accepting Stroup's prescriptions, environmental advocates of all stripes ought to consider consider them carefully. Far too much effort has been wasted on ineffective and inefficient approaches to environmental improvement. Environmentalists and public decisionmakers ought to at least wrestle with the same questions Stroup does before deciding on a course of action. He has given them an enlightening and provocative template for doing so."
--David Simpson, Senior Fellow, Resources for the Future

Introduction and Chapter One available online here: http://www.catostore.org/index.asp?fa=ProductDetails&pid=1441094&method=search&t=eco%2Dnomics&a=&k=&aeid=&adv=&pg=

Thoughts on Books from IES-Europe Students

IES-Europe students are invited to post here comments and thoughts on books received at IES-Europe Seminars.