ECON 228
Water as a Scarce Resource Fall 2015
Division II Writing Skills
Cross-listed ENVI 228
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Class Details

For a variety of reasons including environmental pollution, urbanization, changing agricultural techniques, resource mismanagement, and the consequences of climate change, water is becoming a scarce resource even in places where it was relatively plentiful in the past, and it is likely to become an increasingly scarce resource over the coming decades. In this course we will use basic economic models to consider policy issues relating to water: Is access to water a basic human right, and if so, what market and non-market mechanisms should play a role in water allocation? Does public ownership of water improve the way it is provided and used? Why do societies differ in their approaches to allocating water and are some systems better than others? What does it mean to have a property right to water? Could private property rights to water help address the water pollution problem? How can societies change their water-related property rights, regulations and social institutions when individuals have implicit or explicit rights to the institutional status quo? Who has the right to water that crosses international boundaries? How should societies allocate water across generations?
The Class: Format: tutorial, meeting with the instructor in pairs for an hour each week; a 5- to 7-page paper every other week (5 in all), prepare and present a written critique of their partners' papers in alternate weeks, and revise and re-write one of their five papers
Limit: 10
Expected: 10
Class#: 1379
Grading: no pass/fail option, no fifth course option
Requirements/Evaluation: evaluation will be based on the quality of the papers and on the quality of the student's oral presentations and commentary on the work of his/her colleagues
Extra Info: may not be taken on a pass/fail basis; not available for the fifth course option
Prerequisites: ECON 110 or equivalent
Enrollment Preferences: first-year students and sophomores intending to major in Economics and/or to major or concentrate in Environmental Policy or Environmental Science or Environmental Studies, and to students who are already major or concentrators in those subjects
Distributions: Division II Writing Skills
Notes: This course is cross-listed and the prefixes carry the following divisional credit:
ENVI 228 Division II ECON 228 Division II
Attributes: AMST Space and Place Electives
ENVI Environmental Policy
ENVP PE-A Group Electives
ENVP PTL-A Group Electives
ENVP SC-A Group Electives
POEC Comparative POEC/Public Policy Courses

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