Global Challenges: An Approach to Environmental, Political, and Economic Problems

Description

Using simple economic reasoning, this book analyzes a broad range of global challenges including global warming, ozone shield depletion, acid rain, nuclear waste disposal, revolution dispersion, international terrorism, disease eradication, population growth, tropical deforestation, and peacemaking. These challenges are put into perspective in terms of scientific, economic, and political considerations. This book is intended for a wide audience drawn from the social sciences. It should also interest the general reader who wants to learn about global challenges.

"...when it comes to demonstrating the benefits of comparison across different substantive issues, the importance of cross-issues, or the value of communication between policy analysts and game theorists,this book would be hard to beat." Michael McGinnis, American Political Science Review "Sandler presents a varied, reasoned approach to a remarkable array of problems in international relations. He uses economic reasoning both to clarify the nature of these problems and to commend approaches to dealing with them. The surprisingly compact result is a superb starting point for gaining insight into any one of these problems by comparing it to others that may seem superficially more different." Russell Hardin, New York University "Global Challenges is a global achievement: it reaches from global warming to antibiotic-resistant microbes, from income inequality to international terrorism. Yet Sandler's unified argument never leaves the institutions with which we confront them. The world needs this book." Mancur Olson, University of Maryland "Global Challenges uses the theory of games to offer simple yet profound insights into the scope for international agreements on issues such as climate change, biodiversity loss, and acid rain. No other book offers non-specialist readers a better understanding of the potential for solving apparently intractable international environmental problems." Charles Perrings, University of York "Todd Sandler's Global Challenges offers the most accessible treatment to date of the complex ecological, economic and political web of connections that define the new international political order. It captures highly sophisticated relationships in cogent and carefully crafted arguments and explanations, and will be of wide use to students, teachers, and policy professionals." C. Ford Runge, University of Minnesota "This book is chock full of clever and insightful examples of addressing environmental, political, and economic problems. What makes it especially valuable is that the examples are presented in a consistent framework so the reader is able to categorize the problems and understand common solutions." John Tschirhart, University of Wyoming "Global Challenges is a first-rate piece of scholarship. It is well written. It is logically written. It focuses squarely on important global issues. It carefully documents with scientific evidence the relevance of those issues. Finally, Sandler proposes constructive solutions. Todd Sandler is no prophet of doom. He is a prophet of hope." John R. Moroney, Journal of Energy and Development "In contrast to certain environmentalists who regard current degradation as an imminent threat to the survival of the human species, the author is optimistic, both regarding the seriousness of the threats and the likelihood of satisfactory actions for dealing with them. These environmentalists will not like this book, but they will benefit from reading it." Raymond F. Mikesell, Journal of Economic Literature "In contrast to certain environmentalists who regard current degradation as an imminent threat to the survival of the human species, the author is optimistic, both regarding the seriousness of the threats and the likelihood of satisfactory actions for dealing with them. These environmentalists will not like this book, but they will benefit from reading it." Raymond F. Mikesell, Journal of Economic Literature "...interesting and stimulating. ...suited not only for economists but also...for policy students and for political scientists as well as policy makers not necessarily involved in academic work. ...Sandler's book is a serious and fascinating attempt to touch an important and interesting problem." Nir Becker, Southern Economic Journal