July 19, 2007
Check the reviews of Clearing the Air, a Harvard China Project book on the health damages of air pollution, and comprehensive costs and benefits of taxes to control pollutants and CO2. Reporting an interdisciplinary study by Harvard University and Tsinghua University engineers, economists, and health scientists, the book is edited by Mun Ho and Chris Nielsen:
- "(T)he most comprehensive report on economic costs and human health impacts of air pollution ever undertaken in China." - KAN Haidong, Department of Environmental Health, School of Public Health, Fudan University, China Review International
- "The encouraging -- indeed, politically crucial -- observation is that ... 'green taxes' would yield a double dividend: reducing ... damage while enhancing economic growth. ... [That] should be an offer that a government cannot refuse" - Anthony J. McMichael, National Centre for Epidemiology and Population Health, The Australian National University, The Lancet (free registration)
- Click here for more book reviews, by reviewers in health science, geography, economics, political science, history, and journalism.
- Order the book at MIT Press or Amazon or Barnes and Noble.
- Click here for a description of the study and lead policy conclusion, including how to interpret national damage estimates such as premature mortality and percent of GDP. A new research phase is currently underway, integrating the framework of Clearing the Air with the Project's separately-developed capacities in atmospheric science, described here.