In recent years the distinguished Australian economist, Dr. H.C. "Nugget" Coombs has worked, spoken and written on the related areas of resource use, resource allocation and the environment. His papers and essays are brought together here to form a lively challenge to many current assumptions of policy makers. A new chapter, written especially for this volume, looks forward to the challenge in policies and needs in the 1990s. In particular the essays draw attention to the changing role of governments, under pressure to conserve resources but also to exploit and develop them to satisfy consumption. Dr. Coombs argues a case for the economic system to serve social responsibilities more justly