Roodman, David Malin 1968–

(David Roodman)

PERSONAL:

Born April 12, 1968, in Indianapolis, IN; son of Gary M. and Jo Ellen Roodman; married Hoangmai Huu Pham, June 3, 1995; children: Benjamin. Education: Harvard University, B.A. (magna cum laude), 1990; attended Cambridge University. Politics: Democrat. Hobbies and other interests: Classical and ragtime piano, running, biking, folk dancing.

ADDRESSES:

Office—Center for Global Development, 1776 Massachusetts Ave. N.W., 3rd Fl., Washington, DC 20036. E-mail—droodman@cgdev.org.

CAREER:

Microsoft Corp., Redmond, WA, summer software engineer, 1988; Worldwatch Institute, Washington, DC, staff researcher, 1993-94, research associate, 1995-97, senior researcher, 1997; Center for Global Development, Washington, DC, became research fellow.

MEMBER:

Phi Beta Kappa.

AWARDS, HONORS:

Herchel Smith Harvard scholar, Harvard University, 1990; Fulbright scholar, 1998-99; named an Outstanding Young Person, Osaka Junior Chamber, 2003, for The Natural Wealth of Nations: Harnessing the Market for the Environment.

WRITINGS:

The Natural Wealth of Nations: Harnessing the Market for the Environment, W.W. Norton (New York, NY), 1998.

Also author of numerous working papers for Worldwatch Institute and Center for Global Development. Contributor to periodicals, including Accounting Today, American Economic Review, BioScience, Christian Science Monitor, Financial Times, Humanist, and World Watch.

SIDELIGHTS:

Having written a number of working papers for organizations such as the Worldwatch Institute, David Malin Roodman in 1998 published his first book, The Natural Wealth of Nations: Harnessing the Market for the Environment. In this volume he examines the possibility of using tax shifts rather than regulations to encourage ecologically sound business, providing numerous examples from various countries showing where such policies have proved effective. His recommendations include removing subsidies from industries such as logging, taxing pollution-creating and resource-depleting activities, and reducing taxes on profits and payrolls. "Roodman's suggestions seem perfectly obvious," according to Joseph M. Petulla in the Journal of Environmental Education. "Environmentally destructive products would be expensive, and cleaner products and recycling would become commonplace." In his conclusion, Petulla offered "the ultimate commendation," stating: "This book on economics does not read at all like an economics text." A Foreign Affairs reviewer remarked on Roodman's "highly readable prose" and suggested that the book "should be required reading for legislators around the world."

Critical response to the book was mixed. In a review published in both International Journal on World Peace and, six years later, the World and I, Nanda R. Shrestha acknowledged the author's "commendable job of exposing the contemporary sources and nature" of environmental problems, but he also perceived "two major shortcomings" in the book. Shrestha claimed that Roodman neglects the capitalistic consequence of the biblical directive of Genesis 1:28, that man "have dominion" over the earth and everything in it, and fails to put limits on rampant consumerism. Writing in the Journal of Environmental Quality, B. Sohngen deemed The Natural Wealth of Nations "a thought-provoking read" but felt that issues such as policy-making processes and broader taxation concerns were not adequately addressed. Physics and Society Newsletter contributor Kevin Green pointed out "a few areas I would like to have seen addressed more extensively," but he concluded that "it's a good sign that The Natural Wealth of Nations left me hungry for more." Green called the book "a well-organized review of a range of environmentally problematic policies, with alternatives worthy of consideration," and stated that "it isn't an environmental policy cookbook, but it goes a long way toward helping one to distinguish between good recipes and bad."

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:

PERIODICALS

Booklist, September 15, 1998, David Rouse, review of The Natural Wealth of Nations: Harnessing the Market for the Environment, p. 179.

Choice, March, 1999, R.F. Fraser, review of The Natural Wealth of Nations, p. 1286.

Foreign Affairs, March, 1999, review of The Natural Wealth of Nations, p. 142.

International Journal on World Peace, June, 1999, Nanda R. Shrestha, review of The Natural Wealth of Nations, p. 84.

Journal of Environmental Education, winter, 2000, Joseph M. Petulla, review of The Natural Wealth of Nations, p. 44.

Journal of Environmental Quality, July-August, 2001, B. Sohngen, review of The Natural Wealth of Nations, pp. 1482-1483.

Library Journal, November 1, 1998, Margaret Ann Aycock, review of The Natural Wealth of Nations, p. 106.

Physics and Society Newsletter, July, 2000, Kevin Green, review of The Natural Wealth of Nations.

Publishers Weekly, August 10, 1998, review of The Natural Wealth of Nations, p. 384.

Regulation, winter, 2000, Jonathan H. Adler, review of The Natural Wealth of Nations, p. 64.

Science Books and Films, March, 1999, review of The Natural Wealth of Nations, p. 60.

World and I, February, 2005, Nanda R. Shrestha, "Saving the Environment through Restructuring Taxes."

ONLINE

Center for Global Development,http://www.cgdev.org/ (June, 2008), author profile.