Skip to main content
Log in

The case against free market environmentalism

  • Published:
Journal of Agricultural and Environmental Ethics Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Free market environmentalists believe that the extension of private property rights and market transactions is sufficient to address environmental difficulties. But there is no invisible hand operating in markets that ensures that environmentally sound practices will be employed just because property rights are in private hands. Also, liability laws and the court systems cannot be relied upon to force polluters to internalize the social costs of pollution. Third, market prices do not provide an “objective measure” of environmental matters. Finally, there is a right to a livable environment that justifies regulations protecting the public from unreasonable environmental risks.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Anderson, Terry, and D. Leal. 1991.Free Market Environmentalism. Boulder: Westview Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bookchin, Murray. 1990.Remaking Society: Pathways to a Green Future. Boston: South End Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bossong, Ken. 1987. The Price Anderson Act: A Multi-Billion Dollar Windfall for the Nuclear Industry,Public Citizen, Washington, D.C.

  • Caldicott, Helen. 1992.If You Love This Planet: A Plan to Heal the Earth. New York: W.W. Norton & Company.

    Google Scholar 

  • Davidow, William, and Michael Malone. 1992.The Virtual Corporation: Structuring and Revitalizing the Corporation for the 21st Century. New York: Harper Business.

    Google Scholar 

  • Davis, Mike. 1990.City of Quartz: Excavating the Future in Los Angeles. New York: Verso.

    Google Scholar 

  • Devall, Bill, and G. Sessions. 1985.Deep Ecology. Salt Lake City: Peregrine Smith Books.

    Google Scholar 

  • Durning, Alan. 1991. How Much Is Enough?Technology Review May/June.

  • Elson, Diane. 1993. Socializing the Market: Breaking the Circuit of Capital. InSocialism and the Market, edited by Justin Schwartz. Atlantic Highlands, NJ: Humanities Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Foster, John Bellamy. 1994.The Vulnerable Planet: A Short Economic History of the Environment. New York: Cornerstone Books.

    Google Scholar 

  • Gold, Steven. 1993.Moral Controversies: Race, Class and Gender in Applied Ethics. Belmont, CA: Wadsworth.

    Google Scholar 

  • Gore, Albert. 1992.Earth in the Balance: Ecology and the Human Spirit. Boston: Houghton Mifflin.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hardin, Garrett. 1968. The Tragedy of the Commons,Science. December.

  • Heede, Richard, and A. Lovins. 1985. Hiding the True Costs of Energy Sources,The Wall Street Journal, September 17.

  • Kuttner, Robert, 1991.Business Week. June 3, 1991.

  • Leibowitz, Michael. 1989. Does Military R&D Stimulate Commerce or the Pork Barrel?Electronic Business, Feb. 6, 54–55.

    Google Scholar 

  • Markusen, Ann, and J. Yudken. 1992.Dismantling the Cold War Economy. New York: Basic Books.

    Google Scholar 

  • McGinn, Robert. 1991.Science, Technology, and Society. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall.

    Google Scholar 

  • Miller, John. 1993. The Wrong Shade of Green,Dollars & Sense. April.

  • O'Connor, James. 1993. Democracy and Ecology,Capitalism, Nature, Socialism 4(4).

  • Rawls, John. 1971.A Theory of Justice. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Shonfield, A. 1981. Innovation: Does Government Have a Role? InIndustrial Policy and Innovation, edited by G. Carter. London: Heinemann.

    Google Scholar 

  • Shrader-Frechette. 1991.Risk and Rationality. Berkeley: University of California Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Smith, Tony. 1993a. Technology, Central Planning, and Democracy. InSocialism and the Market, edited by Justin Schwartz. Atlantic Highlands, NJ: Humanities Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • —. 1993b. The Free Trade Agreement: Who gains? Who Loses?Readings in American Government and Politics Today, edited by Schmidt and Shelley. St. Paul: West Publishing.

    Google Scholar 

  • Valesquez, Manuel. 1988.Business Ethics: Concepts and Cases (2nd ed.). Engelwood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall.

    Google Scholar 

  • Walker, Richard. 1982. The Illusion of Effluent Charges, or Regulatory Dilution is No Solution to Pollution,Antipode 14(2).

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Smith, T. The case against free market environmentalism. J Agric Environ Ethics 8, 126–144 (1995). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02251876

Download citation

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02251876

Keywords

Navigation