Environmental economics asks students to hold an uncomfortable idea steady: that the efficient amount of pollution is almost never zero. Environmental Economics, Fourth Canadian Edition by Barry C. Field develops that argument carefully through marginal abatement cost and marginal damage curves, then uses it to compare taxes, permits and standards. The difficulty is rarely the graph itself. It is that exam questions move the curves, change who bears the cost, and ask which instrument still reaches the target when the regulator cannot observe a firm’s abatement cost.
Why this test bank helps
Selecting the right instrument is a reasoned argument, not a fact. Every question here is followed by a written rationale that reconstructs the argument — why equalizing marginal abatement cost across firms minimizes total cost, why a tax fixes price while a permit system fixes quantity, why an uncertain damage function changes which of those you should prefer. That is the reasoning the paper is set to test, and it is what a bare answer key never shows.
What’s inside
- Questions following the chapter order of the Canadian edition, including the policy chapters at the end.
- Multiple choice, true/false and short numerical items built on abatement cost and damage schedules.
- A written rationale under every question, identifying the efficiency condition or incentive at work.
- Deliberate coverage of valuation methods and benefit-cost analysis, which students find hardest to revise.
- One organized PDF, available to download the moment checkout completes.
Topics covered
- Externalities and market failure — why unpriced damages lead to output beyond the socially efficient level
- Marginal abatement cost and damages — locating the efficient emission level and reading shifts in either curve
- Property rights and bargaining — the conditions under which private negotiation resolves an externality, and why they often fail
- Benefit-cost analysis — discounting, present value, sensitivity analysis and the treatment of future generations
- Valuing environmental goods — contingent valuation, hedonic pricing, travel cost and revealed versus stated preference
- Emission taxes and subsidies — incentives for continuing abatement, cost-effectiveness and distributional effects
- Tradable permits — initial allocation, trading gains, banking and how a cap sets the environmental outcome
- Standards and Canadian policy — technology and performance standards, enforcement, and federal and provincial responsibilities
Who it’s for
Undergraduates in environmental economics or resource economics using the fourth Canadian edition — economics majors taking a field course, and environmental studies or public policy students who need the analytical apparatus behind policy debates.
How to use it (the right way)
Work the chapter diagrams by hand before attempting questions, redrawing each curve and labelling the efficient point yourself. Then answer a block closed-book, and for anything you missed, read the rationale and reproduce the graph again from memory. This is a study aid. Use it in line with your institution’s academic-integrity policy — for preparation and self-testing, never as a substitute for the coursework or as material taken into a graded assessment.
Sample question (shows the format — your download contains the full set)
Q. At a factory’s current emission level, the marginal cost of abating one more tonne is $40 and the marginal damage from that tonne is $70. What does efficiency require?
- A. Emissions should be reduced further
- B. Emissions should be increased
- C. Emissions are already at the efficient level
- D. Emissions should be reduced to zero
Answer: A. Abating one more tonne costs $40 and avoids $70 of damage, a net social gain of $30, and that logic continues until the two margins are equal. B moves in the wrong direction, adding damage worth more than the cost saved. C would require marginal abatement cost to equal marginal damage, which it does not here. D ignores the fact that abatement cost rises as emissions fall, so beyond the crossing point each extra tonne removed costs more than the damage it prevents.
Edition & format
- Matches: Environmental Economics, Fourth Canadian Edition, by Barry C. Field (ISBN 9780070893108).
- Format: Digital PDF, delivered instantly after checkout.
- Access: Lifetime — re-download from your account whenever you need it.
The Canadian and US editions differ in policy chapters and data. Please confirm the edition and ISBN above match the book your course assigned before buying.
Frequently asked questions
Is this the current edition? This set is prepared against the fourth Canadian edition, ISBN 9780070893108. Other editions are listed separately because their policy chapters differ.
How do I receive it? By instant download at the end of checkout, with the file kept in your account for later use.
Do all the questions include rationales? Yes. Each item includes a written explanation of the efficiency reasoning, including why each distractor fails.
Is using a test bank allowed? Used as a study aid it is an ordinary practice resource. Follow your institution’s academic-integrity policy and never take it into a graded assessment.
More study material for this subject is in Economics Test Banks.
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