| Priceless: On Knowing the Price of Everything and the Value of Nothing Contributor(s): Ackerman, Frank (Author), Heinzerling, Lisa (Author) |
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ISBN: 1565848500 ISBN-13: 9781565848504 Publisher: New Press OUR PRICE: $23.36 Product Type: Hardcover - Other Formats Published: February 2004 Annotation: Priceless: Human Health, the Environment, and the Limits of the Market exposes the error of using cost-benefit analysis to decide whether human life and the environment are worth protecting. |
| Additional Information |
| BISAC Categories: - Nature | Environmental Conservation & Protection - General - Business & Economics | Economics - General - Social Science |
| Dewey: 330 |
| LCCN: 2003061446 |
| Physical Information: 1.06" H x 5.5" W x 8.52" (1.08 lbs) 277 pages |
| Themes: - Topical - Ecology |
| Descriptions, Reviews, Etc. |
| Publisher Description: As clinical as it sounds to express the value of human lives, health, or the environment in cold dollars and cents, cost-benefit analysis requires it. More disturbingly, this approach is being embraced by a growing number of politicians and conservative pundits as the most reasonable way to make many policy decisions regarding public health and the environment. By systematically refuting the economic algorithms and illogical assumptions that cost-benefit analysts flaunt as fact, Priceless tells a gripping story about how solid science has been shoved to the backburner by bean counters with ideological blinders (In These Times). Ackerman and Heinzerling argue that decisions about health and safety should be made to reflect not economists' numbers, but democratic values, chosen on moral grounds. This is a vividly written book, punctuated by striking analogies, a good deal of outrage, and a nice dose of humor (Cass Sunstein, The New Republic). Essential reading for anyone concerned with the future of human health and environmental protection, Priceless shines a bright light on obstacles that stand in the way of good government decisions (Public Citizen News). |