ECON 213
Introduction to Environmental and Natural Resources Economics Spring 2015
Division II Quantitative/Formal Reasoning
Cross-listed ENVI 213
This is not the current course catalog

Class Details

Economists love free markets, but many people fear that market-driven economic growth and consumption are endangering the natural environment. In fact, core economic theories predict that people and firms, left to their own devices, will often tend to pollute too much, conserve too little, overfish common waters, and cut down too many trees. These predictions seem to be borne out by the world’s environmental problems. Fortunately, economics offers tools to address these issues, and these tools are increasingly gaining attention in the policy world. In this course, we will survey environmental and natural resource economics, fields that work to inform policy with attention to both natural assets and human needs. We will focus on real-world problems, mostly from a microeconomic perspective. Underlying issues in these fields include: why markets might be inefficient where the environment and natural resources are concerned; whether and how to value the benefits we receive from the environment; and how to carefully evaluate policies. We will study the economists’ perspective on sustainability and we’ll discuss how sustainability, growth, and human wellbeing relate to each other. We will study the use of non-renewable resources (like oil) and renewable resources (like trees and fish), and we will spend some time talking about energy and energy policy. We will examine issues related to pollution, looking at traditional “command and control” regulations and at market-based pollution control policies. Climate change is a pressing global problem, and we will study current and proposed climate policies and the role economics can play. We may cover other topics, including international development, food, agriculture, and water.
The Class: Format: lecture
Limit: 40
Expected: 30
Class#: 3428
Grading: yes pass/fail option, yes fifth course option
Requirements/Evaluation: problem sets, short papers, a midterm, and a final exam
Prerequisites: ECON 110
Enrollment Preferences: preference to sophomores if course is overenrolled
Distributions: Division II Quantitative/Formal Reasoning
Notes: This course is cross-listed and the prefixes carry the following divisional credit:
ECON 213 Division II ENVI 213 Division II
Attributes: ENVI Environmental Policy
ENVP PE-A Group Electives
ENVP PTL-A Group Electives
ENVP SC-A Group Electives
MAST Interdepartmental Electives
POEC Comparative POEC/Public Policy Courses

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