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EEMT 666: Environmental Management: Problems and Solutions Report a Broken Link

Environmental issues abound in the energy and natural resource sectors. Companies in these sectors are faced with an increasingly diverse and complex array of environmental regulations, at all levels of their operations and from all levels of government. This course will introduce you to an economic perspective on the environment, with focus on the most recent trend in public policy solutions to environmental issues: market-based mechanisms. Viewing environment and resource issues from an economic perspective provides insight into both the nature of the problems posed and possible solutions to those problems.

Course Objectives

This course will provide you with the following:

  • Familiarity with the different types of environmental issues in the energy and natural resources sectors
  • An understanding of the rationale for environmental regulation: that markets – left to themselves – will not deal satisfactorily with many environmental and resource issues from a societal point of view
  • Familiarity with the types of market-based mechanisms currently being used to replace traditional “command-and-control” regulation
  • A better understanding of the business challenges created by environmental issues and how these challenges affect business strategies and choices.

Required Readings

Lesson 1

Reading 1: Fullerton, D., & Stavins, R.  (1998, October). How economists see the environment. Nature, 398(6701), 433-434.
Reading 2: Stavins, R. N. (2008). Environmental economics. In Durlauf, S. N., & Blume, L. E. (Eds.), The new Palgrave dictionary of economics online. doi:10.1057/9780230226203.0486
Reading 3: (1999, June 12). A price on the priceless. The Economist, 351(8123), 61-62.
Reading 4: Landsburg, S. (2002). Chapter 8: Welfare economics and the gains from trade. In Price theory and applications (5th ed.) (pp. 229-247). South-Western College Publishing.

Lesson 2

Reading 5: Arrow, K., Cropper, M., Eads, G.,  Hahn, R., Lave, L., Noll, R., et. al. (1996, April 12). Is there a role for benefit-cost analysis in environmental, health and safety regulation? Science, 272(5259), 221-222.
Reading 6: Goodstein, E. (2004). Chapter 10: Benefit-cost in practice: Implementing the efficiency standard. In Economics and the Environment (pp. 189-209). John Wiley & Sons Inc.

Lesson 3

Reading 7: Hardin, G. (1968). The tragedy of the commons. Science, 162(3859), 1243-1248.

Click on the hyperlink to access this reading. Note that this article is maintained on the Science Web site. The Science home page is listed as follows: http://www.sciencemag.org
Reading 8: Stroup, R., & Baden, J. (1979, Sept-Dec). Property rights and natural resource management. Literature of Liberty, ii(4), 5-44.

Click on the hyperlink to access this reading. Note that this article is maintained on the Library of Economics and Liberty Web site. The Library of Economics and Liberty home page is listed as follows: http://www.econlib.org/index.html

Lesson 4

Reading 9: Heal, G. (2008). Exhaustible resources. In Durlauf, S. N., & Blume, L. E. (Eds.), The new Palgrave dictionary of economics online. doi:10.1057/9780230226203.0522

Lesson 5

Reading 10: Slattery, K. (2003). What went wrong? Lessons from Cochabamba, Manila, Buenos Aires, and Atlanta. Annual Privatization Report 2003. Reason Public Policy Institute.
Reading 11: Bauer, C. (2003, Summer). Marketing water, marketing reform: Lessons from the Chilean experience. Resources For the Future.

Click on the hyperlink to access this article. Note that this article is maintained on the Resources for the Future Web site. The Resources for the Future home page is listed as follows: http://www.rff.org/

Lesson 6

Reading 12: Hahn, R. W. (1989, Spring). Economic prescriptions for environmental problems: How the patient followed the doctor's orders. Journal of Economic Perspectives, 3(2), 95-114.

Lesson 7

Reading 13: Ellerman, A. D. (2003, October). Are cap-and-trade programs more environmentally effective than conventional regulation? 03-015 WP, Center for Energy and Environmental Policy Research.

Click on the hyperlink to access this article. Note that this article is maintained on the EconPapers Web site. The EconPapers home page is listed as follows: http://econpapers.repec.org/
Reading 14: Kruger, J. (2005, February). Companies and regulators in emissions trading programs. RFF Discussion Paper 05-03. Resources for the Future.

Click on the hyperlink to access this article. Note that this article is maintained on the Resources for the Future Web site. The Resources for the Future home page is listed as follows: http://www.rff.org/

Lesson 8

Reading 15: IPCC. Introduction to Climate Change. United Nations Environment Programme.

Click on the hyperlink to access this article. Note that this article is maintained on the United Nations Environment Programme Web site. The UNEP home page is listed as follows: http://www.unep.org/
Reading 16: IPCC. Observed Climate Trends. United Nations Environment Programme.

Click on the hyperlink to access this article. Note that this article is maintained on the United Nations Environment Programme Web site. The UNEP home page is listed as follows: http://www.unep.org/
Reading 17: IPCC. Potential impacts of climate change. United Nations Environment Programme.

Click on the hyperlink to access this article. Note that this article is maintained on the United Nations Environment Programme Web site. The UNEP home page is listed as follows: http://www.unep.org/
Reading 18: Goulder, L., & Pizer, W. (2006, June). The economics of climate change. RFF Discussion Paper 06-06. Resources for the Future.

Click on the hyperlink to access this article.
Reading 19: Jaccard, M. et al. (2006, May). Burning our money to warm the planet. Commentary No. 234, C. D. Howe Institute.

Click on the hyperlink to access this article. Note that this article is maintained on the C. D. Howe Institute Web site. The C. D. Howe Institute home page is listed as follows: http://www.cdhowe.org/index.cfm