Content and Purpose:
The past 20 years have seen a significant evolution in how we perceive the environment (including natural resources) and more generally in environmental policies (national and international) with an emphasis on the use of economic tools (among which cost-benefit analysis). The purpose of this course is to inquire into this new approach of environmental issues.
More specifically, this course has three major objectives: (1) to present and to critically assess the value of economic tools used in environmental policies; (2) to increase the ability of students to analyze or develop environmental policies; (3) to explore a selection of environmental issues.
Textbook:
Tom Tietenberg, Environmental and Natural resource economics, 2014, 9th Edition
Tentative schedule
Course 1. Introduction
Don Fullerton & Robert Stavins, How Economists see the environment, 1998, Nature, vol
395, p 6701
Course 2. Welfare economics and the Environment
Kenneth Arrow and al., Is there a role for benefit costs analysis in environmental, health and safety regulation?, 1996, Science, vol 272, pp 221-222
Steven Kelman, Cost-Benefit Analysis: an Ethical Critique, 1981, AEI Journal on Government and Society Regulation, pp 33-40
Course 3. Externalities
Ronald Coase, The Problem of Social Cost, 1960, Journal of Law and Economics, vol 3, pp 1-44
Garrett Hardin, The Tragedy of the Commons, 1968, Science, vol 162, pp 1243-1248
Course 4. Case study, externalities and the fashion industry
Course 5. Assessing the costs of environmental policies
Porter, Michael & van der Linde, Claas, Toward a New Conception of the Environment-Competitiveness Relashionship, 1995, Journal of Economic Perspectives, vol 9, pp 97-118
Gibbard, Allan & Varian, Hal, Economic Models, 1978, Journal of Philosophy, vol 75, 664 (optional)
Sugden, Robert, Credible Worlds : The Status of Theoretical Models in Economics, in Uskali Mäki (ed), Fact and Fiction in Economics, Models, Realism and Social Construction, 2002, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 384 pages, pp 107-136 (optional)
Zerbe, Richard, Economic Efficiency in Law and Economics, 2002, Edward Elgar Publishing (optional)
Course 6. Assessing the benefits of environmental policies
Portney, Paul, The Contingent Valuation Debate: Why Economists Should Care, 1994, Journal of Economic Perspectives, vol 8, pp 3-17
Gibbard, Allan & Varian, Hal, Economic Models, 1978, Journal of Philosophy, vol 75, 664 (optional)
Sugden, Robert, Credible Worlds : The Status of Theoretical Models in Economics, in Uskali Mäki (ed), Fact and Fiction in Economics, Models, Realism and Social Construction, 2002, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 384 pages, pp 107-136 (optional)
Zerbe, Richard, Economic Efficiency in Law and Economics, 2002, Edward Elgar Publishing (optional)
Course 7. Case study, assessing the costs and benefits of a water resource
Course 8. Regulatory strategies
Tom Tietenberg, Economic Instruments for Environmental Regulation, 1990, Oxford Review of Economic Policy, pp 17-33
Course 9. Environmental protection and policy making
Scott Barrett, Self-Enforcing International Environmental Agreement, 1994, Oxford Economic Papers, pp 878-894
Course 10. Economics of non-renewable resources
Harold Hotelling, The Economics of Exhaustible Resources, 1931, Journal of Political Economy, vol 39, pp 137-175
Course 11. The case of oil & the great transition
Collin Campbell & Jean Laherrère, The End of Cheap Oil, 1998, Scientific American, pp 78-83
Course 12. Economics of renewable resources
Elinor Ostrom, Governing the Commons, 1990, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, chapter 1
Course 13. The case of Fisheries
Scott Gordon, Economic Theory of Common Property Resource: The Fishery, 1954, The Journal of Political Economy, vol 62, pp 124-142
Course 14. Law and economics of biodiversity
Andrew Metrick & Martin Weitzman, Conflicts and Choices in Biodiversity Preservation, 1998, Journal of Economic Perspectives, vol 12, pp 21-34
Course 15. Law and economics of air and water pollution
Robert Hahn, Economic Prescriptions for Environmental Problems, How the Patient Followed the Doctor’s Order, 1989, Journal of Economic Perspectives, vol 3, pp 95-114
Course 16. Case study: air pollution in Beijing
Course 17. Law and economics of climate change
William Nordhaus, Reflections on the Economics of Climate Change, 1993, Journal of Economic Perspectives, vol 7, pp 11-25
Course 18. Environmental protection and economic globalization
Jeffrey Frankel, Is Trade Good or Bad for the Environment, Sorting Out the Causality, 2005, Review of Economics and Statistics, vol 87, pp 85-91
Course 19. Sustainable development
Robert Solow, Sunstainability: An Economist’s Perspective, 1992, Geographic Research and Exploration, vol 8, pp 10-21