Environmentalism, and Rights

T0 the practical mind, particularly one trained in economics, it might sound a trifle paradoxical to suggest that the truly important issues in a public policy debate have nothing to do with the relative efficacy of the policy options. Paradoxical or not, this is very often the case. And there is no better illustration than the ongoing — and heated — debate over alternative approaches to pollution control. Issues of workability and economic efficiency are certainly prominent in this policy discussion. But, as with many political questions, the more important issues lie at a deeper, or at any rate a less visible, level. In political terms, this debate has lately come to be portrayed as a bipolar struggle. On one side stand economically minded Reaganites, who favor applying the test of cost-benefit analysis to all administrative regulations put forth by the government and who support “economic” approaches to pollution control. On the other side are environmental, “consumer,” and other groups, who oppose the use of cost-benefit analysis and who are suspicious of any