All beginning students learn that economics is about the efficient allocation of scarce resources. In that spirit, Robert Repetto, Malcolm Gillis, and the other contributors to this volume have shown that good economics can help stem the loss of the world's disappearing forest resources. Reversing the forces of tropical deforestation in the closing years of this century is of paramount importance. Rapid population growth, unemployment, and concentrated agricultural landholdings are fueling the drive to clear forested land for agriculture. Demands on the world's forests for timber, industrial raw materials, and fuel are growing. Even as these pressures mount, scientists are documenting with greater precision the roles that forests play in the control of erosion and floods, in the hydrological cycle, and in the survival of perhaps half of the planet's species.

This volume convincingly demonstrates that, on balance, government policies affecting the forest sector aggravate rather than counteract this pressure. Inappropriate tax and trade policies, distorted investment incentives, and shortsighted development priorities contribute to alarming waste of forest resources, and result in heavy economic and fiscal losses as well. In all ten countries covered by the studies underlying this book, such policies contribute to uneconomic and ecologically damaging exploitation.

Thus, Public Policies and the Misuse of Forest Resources shows how conflicts of interest between conservationists and developers are often more apparent than real. Indeed, an important message of this volume is that more reasonable policies can save both natural and financial resources. The policy changes that Gillis and Repetto outline in the closing chapter give specific content to the idea of sustainable development of forest resources.