ENVI 387
Economics of Climate Change
Last Offered Spring 2017
Division II Quantitative/Formal Reasoning
Cross-listed ECON 387 / ECON 522
This course is not offered in the current catalog

Class Details

This course introduces the economic view of climate change, including both theory and empirical evidence. Given the substantial changes implied by the current stock of greenhouse gases (GHGs) in the atmosphere, we will begin by looking at impacts on agriculture, health, income, and migration in both poor and wealthy countries. Next we will study adaptation, including capital investments and behavioral changes. We will examine the sources of climate change, especially electricity generation and transportation, and think about optimal policies. What is the socially optimal amount of climate change? Why have countries had such a hard time agreeing on GHG emissions reductions, and how might we overcome such difficulties? We will consider the growing body of evidence from attempts to regulate GHGs, including China’s pilot cap-and-trade programs, the EU ETS, and the US Clean Power Plan. We will pay particular attention to the political economy of regulation and ways in which policy results have departed from theoretical predictions. Throughout the course we will discuss the limits of the economic approach to climate change, pointing out questions on which economic theory provides little guidance.
The Class: Format: lecture
Limit: 19
Expected: 19
Class#: 3111
Grading: yes pass/fail option, yes fifth course option
Requirements/Evaluation: seven problem sets, midterm, group presentation, final exam
Prerequisites: ECON 251, familiarity with statistics
Enrollment Preferences: senior Economic majors and CDE fellows
Distributions: Division II Quantitative/Formal Reasoning
Notes: This course is cross-listed and the prefixes carry the following divisional credit:
ECON 387 Division II ENVI 387 Division II ECON 522 Division II
Attributes: ENVI Environmental Policy
ENVP PTL Theory/Method Courses
ENVP PE-A Group Electives
ENVP PTL-A Group Electives
ENVP SC-A Group Electives
MAST Interdepartmental Electives
POEC Comparative POEC/Public Policy Courses

Class Grid

Updated 4:35 am

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