recipient of the 2008 Publication of Enduring Quality Award by the Association of Environmental and Resource Economists. The citation noted that the book “helped lay the foundation for the next three decades of theoretical and applied work in environmental economics,” and is considered a “classic reference and required reading.” Mäler currently is professor of economics at the Stockholm School of Economics and director of the Beijer International Institute of Ecological Economics.

and changes within natural ecosystems. The paper, “What are ecosystem services? The need for standardized environmental accounting units” by Boyd and Spencer Banzhaf, is included in the “Hot Papers” series compiled by ScienceWatch.com, a division of Thomson Reuters Essential Science Indicators. Hot Papers are selected by virtue of being cited among the top one-tenth of one percent in a current bimonthly period. Papers are drawn from 22 scientific fields and must be published within the last two years. The article appeared in the journal Ecological Economics.

of more than 5,500 institutions worldwide. The project, described in the January-February 2009 issue of Foreign Policy magazine, was conducted by the Think Tanks and Civil Societies program at the University of Pennsylvania. James McGann, director of the program, said the the Think Tank Index is the first comprehensive ranking of the world’s top think tanks, based on a worldwide survey of hundreds of scholars and experts.

Morgenstern in a December 17 commentary in The Hill newspaper. That would not only send an early signal to the global community about U.S. climate intentions, he says, but will also set in place a needed revenue stream for future climate initiatives in advance of the economic recovery. A related article appeared in the December 22 edition of Energy Daily.