Forest Resource Economics and Finance

Book excerpt: Forest Resource Economics and Finance is intended for undergraduate forestry students, but practicing foresters and policy analysts will also find it a useful reference. The text emphasizes economics as a way of thinking in which we compare added costs and benefits of actions in order to maximize net benefits. With the basics of capital theory, readers learn how to evaluate forestry investments in a way that embraces important environmental factors. Another key feature is a focus on analyzing current conflicts and tradeoffs that will continue to be prominent forestry issues in the 21st century: free market policies versus different levels of government intervention, economic development versus environmental conservation, private property rights versus public amenity rights, and timber versus non-timber outputs. This text also addresses additional topics not often found in other forest economic books including: economics of non-clearcutting management systems, economics of forest damage, risk analysis, inflation, environmental economics, capital budgeting, and regional economics. Add to this a micro-economics review, multiple-use and non-market good analysis, optimal capital management, benefit/cost analysis, timber supply and demand issues, appraisal and valuation, forest industry economics, and world forestry issues, and you have the most comprehensive forest economics text on the market. In addition to new and updated figures throughout the text, this newly-revised second edition provides an overview of important trends in the modern timber industry including advancements in engineered wood, international trade, global environmental issues, as well as community forestry and agroforestry.