Environmental Economics
Course Objectives:
Modern societies face increasing challenges in sustainably managing environmental and natural resources. Economic development creates wealth one hand, but also leads to significant environmental changes, particularly related to forests, biodiversity conservation and water allocation. Climate change and global warming create very serious global risks. In this sense, economic policy makers have to be very contentious when dealing with environment.
This course aims to introduce students to the basic concepts of environmental economics and policy and the economic perspectives on modern environmental issues. The course is comprised of three parts: The first part will focus on the theory of environmental economics and the economic perspectives on modern environmental issues. In the second part, the past, present and future of environmental policies will be examined. The final part will include the presentations of the student papers on selected topics.
Course Materials:
1. Field, B. C. and Field, M. K. (2017). Environmental Economics : An Introduction, 7th ed., McGraw-Hill: New York
2. Hussen, A., (2004). Principles of Environmental Economics: Economics, Ecology and Public Policy, 2nd edition, Routledge
3. Tietenberg, T and Lewis, L., (2010). Environmental Economics and Policy, 6th ed. Addison-Wesley Longman: New York
4. Stern, N., (2007). The Economics of Climate Change: The Stern Review, Cambridge University Press.
5. Stavins, R. N., (2012). Economics of the Environment: Selected Readings 6th Ed. W. W. Norton & Company
6. Pearson, C. S., (2011). Economics and the Challenge of Global Warming, Cambridge University Press
Articles:
Fullerton, D. and Stavins, R. N. (1998) How Do Economists Really Think About the Environment?, Resources for the Future Discussion Paper 98-29
Boulding, K. E. (1966) The Economics of the Coming Spaceship Earth, in H. Jarrett (ed.), Environmental Quality in a Growing Economy, pp. 3-14.
Dinda, S. (2004), “Environmental Kuznets Curve Hypothesis: A Survey”, Ecological Economics, 49 : 431– 455
Web Sites and Portals:
United Nations Environment Programme: http://www.unep.org
Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change: http://www.ipcc.ch/
European Environment Agency: http://www.eea.europa.eu
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency: https://www.epa.gov/
World Bank, Climate Change: http://climatechange.worldbank.org
350: http://350.org/
Climate Action Network: http://www.climatenetwork.org/
The Guardian Environment: http://www.theguardian.com/uk/environment
Yale Environment: http://e360.yale.edu/
Friends of the Earth: http://www.foei.org/
Post Carbon Institute: http://www.postcarbon.org/
Climate Change News: http://www.climatechangenews.com/
Energy Statistics:
https://www.iea.org/statistics/
Climate Change Data:
https://climate.nasa.gov/evidence/
http://sdwebx.worldbank.org/climateportal/
Assessment Methods and Criteria:
Learning Activities (Weight)
Midterm Exam (40%)
Final Exam (30%)
Final Paper and Presentation (30%)