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P.J. Dilip Kumar

Environmental Economics An Indian Perspective Ed by Rabindra N. Bhattacharya Publishers: Oxford University Press Price: Not mentioned

Another multi-author volume on environmental economics, but not a compilation of readings so much as a text-book consisting of chapters written by the different contributors, each on a different topic. The introduction by Bhattacharya suggests that it is meant to fill a gap at the under-graduate level, and also to provide `an Indian orientation and perspective', hence the sub-title.

The book has covered a huge ground, giving a concise exposition of the main theoretical concepts, useful reading lists, and a discussion of contemporary debates and international negotiations, with a few analytical examples from India and more background material on environmental laws and statistics.

However, one has to address some of the problems with this book too. On the whole, it is a moot question whether it will really meet the needs of students at the under-graduate level. Perhaps this was not the consistent intention of all the authors. The general tenor of the chapters would require a good grounding in microeconomics; so perhaps this might be a suitable text for a special subject in final stages of the course. This is a problem commonly met with in most multi-author attempts at writing at introductory levels. The authors are usually academics or specialists in the field and this is somewhat advanced level at which they write. There will also inevitably be inconsistencies in style and theoretical approach, not to speak of repetitiveness and overlap between chapters. A textbook written by a single author, on the other hand, would avoid these problems.

Another problem is the enormous range of topics the book seeks to cover. Unfortunately, this means that much of the material has been treated in a somewhat s fashion; one gets the impression of a rather hasty, off-the-cuff dismissal of difficult points in a sentence or two. Equally, however, there are also fairly long sections of theory presented through discourses and diagrams. The problem is that these sections do not link back to the basic parts of neo-classical microeconomics, and hence many difficulties are glossed over. In effect, then, the student would probably have to follow one of the standard texts which cover the subject in detail: many of the books referred to in the book would serve, especially those cited in Bhattacharya's chapter on `Economics of Natural Resources', although my own favourite is Herfindahl &Kneese's text which has not been cited.

A word about the Indian perspective claimed in the title. There are some allusions to Indian examples, but most of them turn out to be too generalised and hypothetical to be of case-study value. Discussion is more commonly from a general Third World (South) perspective, but there has not been much attempt to critically examine the operation of neo-classical theory in our type of economics. It may, of course, be unfair to expect such a depth in an under-graduate text, but there is a danger in bringing up generations of our economists with a blind belief in the perfect economy. This is perhaps a weakness in our educational system on the whole: we are given the framework and conclusions, but not the intellectual practice and rigour to penetrate beyond the surface. We thus are good at mouthing the words that our western mentors want to hear, but given our intellectual population, we have not made a proportionate contribution to the body of thought.

Like economic development in an earlier era, or economic restructuring and liberalisation today, we may end up mouthing inanities about the environment until our mentors change their tune in the centres of learning in the West. We are so adept at uncritically imbibing the jargon, that we are in danger of getting enmeshed in the net of fine words and creative terminology in imitation of our mentors. The greatest problem we should be having is, obviously, the pre-eminence given to willingness to pay (WTP) in neo-classical economics, ignoring the inequitable distribution of ability to pay (ATP?).

We know that our society does not work solely on the WTP principle (nor frankly do Western societies when it comes to test); we know value is attached to many other things, not necessarily material or monetary.

We are aware that the results of marginalist economics is operative only in a narrow range where the ceteris paribus conditions can be said to persist, and that we cannot take policy decisions for the whole economy on the basis of a model of a perfect economy at the margin. Yet we are being asked to do just that, and we are not actually relating the recommendations to the economic reality in the world economies today. Hence there is obviously a great need to make actual studies in our own backyard and contribute creatively to the thinking on these knotty questions. Happily, there are some sections where such questions are raised appropriately, especially in Kalyan Sanyal's chapter on `International Trade and the Environment'.

Who would the book appeal to then? Probably it is suited to our educational system, which apparently leans heavily towards the `short notes' approach to knowledge (the best example of this being the numerous Open University courses and their painful study material). If one needs a rabid survey of the subject and a list of references, and is not too particular about examining the analytical framework and logical niceties, this of book will be helpful. The subject matter is really enormous, however, and the book perforce amounts to a set of `potted' notes for the exams. The concepts are so far reaching in their effects, however, that it would be necessary for a student to undertake a much wider course of reading, if there is a desire to stand the links between theory and reality.

The author is Chief Coservator of Forests, Western Ghats Forestry Project

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