This book has been used as a text in the Departments of Econo- mics at the University of Heidelberg (FRG) during the last decade and the University of Bern (Switzerland) during the last seven years. We therefore were glad when Dr. Muller of Springer-Verlag offered to publish a soft cover version of the second edition, to make the next economically more accessible to students. Heidelberg and Bern, January 1995 Malte Faber Horst Niemes Gunter Stephan Preface to the First Edition This book is one of the products of a three-year research project. Our objectives were: - to apply neo-Austrian capital theory to long-run problems of en- vironmental protection and resource use; - to develop an approach that takes physical relationships into consideration; - to narrow the gap between theory and practice in environmental economics. For this purpose, we established three interrelated research pro- grams. In the first of these we supplemented and generalized neo- Austrian capital theory (STEPHAN 1980, REISS 1981, FABER 1986). In the second which is presented in this volume we developed an interdisciplinary approach to natural resources. Using concepts and methods from thermodynamics we investigated environmental and resource problems and their interrelationships. Finally, in the third research program we authored the monograph "Umweltschutz und Input-Output-Analyse. Mit zwei Fallstudien aus der Wassergiite- wirtschaft" (Environmental Protection and Input-Output-Analysis.