ECON 349-01, Environmental and Natural Resource Economics, Spring 2013

Abstract

In this course we study the economic and environmental implications of natural resource management. The course covers conceptual and methodological topics, including sustainability, that will be applied to contemporary issues such as depletion of renewable resources, land scarcity and climate change. The first part of the course focuses on economic concepts and models as indispensable tools to analyze natural resources and environmental problems that will be discussed in the last two parts. In particular, in the second part of the course we will present contemporary issues in energy and water economics in addition to the management of renewable resources such as fish stocks and forestry. The final part of this course will introduce some problems related to the use of environmental resources such as air, rivers, lakes and oceans as repositories for pollution. By the conclusion of this course, the student should be able to recognize the separate and complementary roles of markets and governments in allocating the use of environmental and natural resources and perform independent analyses of public policies related to contemporary environmental issues.