Resource Economics is a text for students with a background in calculus and intermediate microeconomics and a familiarity with the spreadsheet software Excel.

The book covers basic concepts (Chapter 1), shows how to set up spreadsheets to solve simple dynamic allocation problems (Chapter 2), and presents economic models for fisheries, forestry, nonrenewable resources, and stock pollutants (Chapters 3-6).

Chapter 7 examines the maximin utility criterion when the utility of a generation depends on consumption of a manufactured good, harvest from a renewable resource, and extraction from a nonrenewable resource. Within the text, numerical examples are posed and solved using Excel's Solver.

Exercises are included at the end of each chapter. These problems help make concepts operational, develop economic intuition, and serve as a bridge to the study of real-world problems in resource management.

"Jon Conrad's second edition of Resource Economics is an articulate, well-organized presentation of key applications of intertemporal economics to problems of natural resources. More than a routine update of the first edition, it admirably balances theoretical rigor and clarity in the presentation of models, with the kinds of institutional discussions that motivate students to think about research questions." - Robert T. Deacon, University of California, Santa Barbara