Preface to the Fifteenth Volume of the Annual Review of Resource Economics

Abstract

We are pleased to present Volume 15 of the Annual Review of Resource Economics (ARRE). When this Review was conceived, the proposal by Kenneth Arrow was to name it the Annual Review of Agricultural Economics. However, Gordon Rausser, our founding editor, recommended a broader scope, suggesting Annual Review of Resource Economics. Consequently, the journal encompasses the economics of agriculture, natural resources, the environment, development, and energy, adapting as these fields evolve.Many conflicting trade-offs emerge for the broad set of problems that arises in resource economics, particularly between economic development and environmental preservation. This mirrors the discord between developed countries prioritizing sustainability-particularly conservation and safety-and developing countries aspiring to economic growth and resource expansion. Sustainable development represents a political compromise between these often divergent objectives (Bernstein 2001).Partha Dasgupta, author of the prefatory article in this volume, launched the field of environmental and development economics, striving to harmonize these two domains and lay the groundwork for sustainable development. A notable achievement in this endeavor was the proposal to extend natural accounts to include natural resources and changes in human and natural capital (Dasgupta 2014). This journal has often reviewed these efforts (e.g.,