Nature Unbound: Bureaucracy and the Environment (Independent Studies in Political Economy) - Softcover

Sim, Kenneth J.; Simmons, Randy T.; Yonk, Ryan M.

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1598132288 ISBN 13: 9781598132281

Publisher: Independent Institute, 2016

Synopsis

What if what we think we know about ecology and environmental policy is just wrong? What if environmental laws often make things worse? What if the very idea of nature has been hijacked by politics? What if wilderness is something we create in our minds, as opposed to being an actual description of nature? Developing answers to these questions and developing implications of those answers are our purposes in this book. Two themes guide us―political ecology and political entrepreneurship. Combining these two concepts, which we develop in some detail, leads us to recognize that sometimes in their original design and certainly in their implementation, major U.S. environmental laws are more about opportunism and ideology than good management and environmental improvement.

About this title

About the Authors

Randy T. Simmons is a Senior Fellow at the Independent Institute; Professor of Economics and Director of the Center on Growth and Opportunity at Utah State University's Jon M. Huntsman School of Business; Co-Founder, President and Director of Research of Strata; Senior Fellow at the Property and Environment Research Center; and former Mayor of Providence, Utah. He received his Ph.D. in political science from the University of Oregon, and he is a member of the Board of Directors of the Utah League of Cities and Towns and a Member of the Utah Governor's Privatization Commission.

Ryan M. Yonk is a Research Fellow at the Independent Institute and Senior Research Faculty at the American Institute for Economic Research. He received his Ph.D. in political science from Georgia State University, and he was formerly Program Director for the Center for the Study of Public Choice and Private Enterprise and Lecturer of Economics in the Department of Agribusiness and Applied Economics at North Dakota State University, Assistant Research Professor of Economics and Finance at Utah State University and Assistant Professor of Political Science at Southern Utah University.

Kenneth J. Sim is Director of the Reliable Energy Education Network and a former Analyst with STRATA Policy. He specializes in environmental policy and has particular experience working with the National Environmental Policy Act and Clean Water Act. He received both a master's degree in geography and bachelor's degree in environmental studies from Utah State University, and he is the co-author of Nature Unbound: Bureaucracy vs. the Environment and of policy reports for the Mercatus Center, Southern Utah University, and STRATA Policy.

Edition details

• Publisher: Independent Institute
• Publication date: 2016
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1598132288
• ISBN 13: 9781598132281
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 304