10.2190/F44E-YYNB-8CFY-HQ0J F44EYYNB8CFYHQ0J 4 Economics of Environmental Quality: An Ecological Perspective 243 253 20020509 20020509 20020509 20020509 F44EYYNB8CFYHQ0J.pdf http://baywood.metapress.com/link.asp?target=contribution&id=F44EYYNB8CFYHQ0J 3 Harold B. Jones College of Agriculture, University of Georgia, Athens, Georgia This paper examines the nature of man's balance point with environmental forces in the ecological complex. Balancing social costs with market returns within the context of an ecosystem that is increasingly dominated by man's organizations and institutions requires a reassessment of the role of the socio-cultural framework that has been imposed on the biotic system. Several factors that will influence the level of environmental quality are discussed: geographic considerations, family-kinship systems, the planning horizon of society, the type of economic system adopted, and the value system of people. O. D. Duncan, "From Social System to Ecosystem, <i>Sociological Inquiry</i>, 1961, 31, p. 142. J. P. Gibbs, and W. T. Martin, "Toward a Theoretical System of Human Ecology," <i>Pacific Sociological Rev.</i> Spr. 1959, 2, p. 29. Duncan, <i>op cit.</i>, p. 145. R. E. Park, "Human Ecology," in (G. A. Theodorson, ed.), <i>Studies in Human Ecology</i>, Row Peterson Co., Evanston Illinois, 1961, p. 28. V. C. Ferkiss, <i>Technological Man: the Myth and the Reality</i>, George Braziller, N. Y. 1969, p. 30-46. W. Adams, "Consumer Needs and Consumer Sovereignty in the American Economy," <i>J. Business</i>, July 1962, 35, p. 264-277. G. J. Stigler, <i>The Theory of price</i>, The Macmillan Co., N. Y., 1952, p. 1-10. J. R. Hibbs, "Economic Framework for Providing Solutions to Environmental Quality Problems," in (W. M. Crosswhite, ed.), <i>Improving the Physical Environment of the South</i>, N. C. State Univ. API Series 35, Raleigh N. C., Feb. 1969, p. 70. O. C. Herfindahl and A. V. Kneese, <i>Quality of the Environment: An Economic Approach to Some Problems in Using Land, Water, and Air</i>, Resources for the Future, Washington, D. C., 1965, p. 8. A. Etzioni, "The Wrong Top Priority," <i>Science</i>, May 22, 1970, 168, p. 921. A. L. Bertrand, <i>Basic Sociology</i>, Appleton-Century-Crofts, N. Y. 1967, p. 67. Gibbs and Martin, <i>op. cit.</i>, p. 35. N. J. Smelser, <i>The Sociology of Economic Life</i>, Prentice-Hall, Inc., Englewood Cliffs, N. J., 1963, p. 58. Bertrand, <i>op. cit.</i>, p. 309. T. R. McHale, "Econocological Analysis and Differential Economic Growth Rate," <i>Human Organization</i>, Spr. 1962, 21 p. 30-35. J. A. Wager, "Growth Versus the Quality of Life," <i>Science</i>, June 5, 1970, 168, p. 1179-1184. Adams, <i>op. cit.</i>, p. 264. P. A. Samuelson, <i>Economics: An Introductory Analysis</i>, McGraw-Hill Book Co., N. Y., 1964, p. 3643. McHale, <i>op. cit.</i>, p. 34.