Microeconomic Reform and the Environment

The Productivity Commission has today released the proceedings of the its September 2000 workshop Microeconomic Reform and the Environment. The workshop explored the links between economic and environmental policy objectives and outcomes. It bought together leading Australian researchers, policy makers and practitioners with a broad cross-section of knowledge, experience and opinions covering a number of disciplines and sectors.

The workshop was structured around a series of contributed papers that considered issues arising in four sectors — water, electricity, transport and forestry — as well as some common themes among them. Key issues explored by participants include: how microeconomic reform can best contribute to meeting existing and future environmental challenges; and the principles that should drive the policies and guide tradeoffs among economic and environmental objectives.

The proceedings highlight some challenges for policy makers in terms of:

• evaluating whether progress to improve environmental outcomes is being made, especially given scientific uncertainties and a lack of information on environmental conditions and problems; and
• ensuring that economic analysis takes into account social and environmental issues and vice versa.

Workshop contributors identified a number of requirements for change, including a need for more effective institutions and policy-making processes, as well as better analytical tools and information.

The views expressed in the workshop proceedings are those of the authors and participants and do not necessarily reflect the views of the Productivity Commission.