The Theory of Environmental Policy , 2nd Ed. The purpose of this class is to provide a comprehensive advanced introduction to environmental policy analysis. Like most fields with such a varied background, the active participation of many professionals in its study is a marker of its complex terrain. More direct regulations were thought to be the most appropriate method of setting environmental policy and maintaining environmental quality. This turn led to the rapid development of more direct environmental policy techniques such as risk analysis and management.
Reasons vary for the mixed response of governments to the economist's solutions.
The environment is also not a discreetly containable entity and so environmental problems are more often than not the site of overlapping interest by policy making organs. While it may be easy to set governing boundaries on many distributive problems, environmental issues as objects of public policy overlap multiple jurisdictions. Local, national, and international bodies come into conflict over the regulation of an area in which they may all have an interest. Finally, as an object of policy, the environment tends to be more emotive than other areas. Many environmentalists believe that nature is something that can be harmed in a way similar to the harm of humans.