Alternative economic approaches to the preservation of areas and biological species

This paper contains a synthesis of the pros and cons of four alternative approaches to several aspects of the economics of species preservation, some of which dual-purpose, being liable to be simultaneously interpreted also in terms of area preservation. The first consists of a comparative assessment of preservation vs economic development. The second relies on a microeconomic approach to the analysis of area preservation under binding budget constraints. The third is borrowed from the economic policy debate about the suboptimality of the private provision of public goods, to show that the preservation of species or natural areas may rely on a time consistent tax policy designed by the government. The fourth tackles explicitly the problem of the perpetual survival of a species defined as a common good, ensured by an optimally regulated access. All of these approaches, although apparently treating particular aspects, could become an integral part of the main debate on the preservation of species and natural areas, as they offer several effective responses to problems intrinsically connected with the latter.