Environmental Economics
Spring 2009

 

What makes 2009 such an exciting time to be studying environmental economics? Let's start, of course, with the new administration in the United States, which has embraced policy advice from the pages of many leading environmental econmists. And how about the biggest economic downturn in the last several decades, whose long-term impact may well be tempered by fiscal stimulus designed to accelerate the clean-energy future. Looming over all of this is the prospect of runaway climate change and the need for economic reasoning in order to improve environmental outcom.

This course is dedicated to the proposition that economic reasoning is critical for (a) analyzing the persistence of environmental damage and ecosystem destruction and (b) designing cost-effective environmental policies.

Over the next twelve weeks, my objective is that each of you:

1. Understands the economic approach to the environment:
2. Can use microeconomics to illustrate the theory of environmental policy:
3. Comprehends and can critically evaluate:

  • alternative environmental standards;
  • benefits and costs of environmental protection;
  • incentive-based environmental policies;
  • socially responsible business practices;
  • the role of social capital in determining environmental outcomes;
  • challenges in the global commons, including biodiversity preservation, energy production, and climate change.

4. Researches and helps to compile a first-rate consulting project.

The course schedule, outlined below, is the 12-week road map for our reading, discussions, and writing. Throughout the semester, feel free to contact me at the coordinates listed on the 'professor' page.

Good luck in this course.

Professor Isham