University of
Wyoming, College of Business
Department of
Economics and Finance
Economics 2400: Economics of the Environment
Tuesday and
Thursday 11:00-12:15, EN 2102
Spring 2002
Instructor: Dr. Jo Burgess
Office: Ross Hall 239
Telephone: Office
#: 766-2546, Department #: 766-2178
Office Hours: Tuesday and Thursday 9:30-11:00 AM
Email: jburgess@uwyo.edu
Fax: 766-5090
Course
Description: This course serves as an introduction to the economics of the
environment, with an emphasis on examining environmental management and policy
from an economic perspective. The
course will explore general resource and environmental issues and problems,
such as those involving energy, water, agricultural, biodiversity, fisheries
and pollution, as well as current global concerns, such as population growth,
global climate change, and sustainable development.
Prerequisites:
ECON 1010 and ECON 1020 or consent of the instructor.
Course
Objectives: The main aim of this
course is to introduce students with a good understanding of economic
principles to the basic tools of environmental economics and to examine the
potential contribution of economics to environmental policy and
management. An important focus will be
on current economic thinking on key environmental issues facing the world
today. The course will comprise
readings, lectures, class discussions, short take-home essays, a term paper and
a final exam.
Grading and Course Requirements: The letter grade assignments are as follows:
A: above 90 B: 80-90 C: 70-79 D: 50-69 F: below 50
The academic requirements of this
course consist of three short essays, a term paper and a final exam. Each student’s final grade in the course
will be determined as follows:
Three short essays 45% (15% each)
Term paper 30%
Final examination 25%
The three short essays will be
assigned during the course. Further
guidelines for each essay will be distributed at the time of its
assignment. Each essay should be a
minimum of 750 words and a maximum of 1,250 words (i.e. 3-5 pages), and it must
be handed in by the assigned due date.
These are: February 5, March 5,
and April 9. Any essay handed in after
its assigned due date will lose automatically ten points for each day
late. If the essay is more than three
days late, it will not be graded and receive zero points. This policy is not negotiable. Undertaking these essays will be an
important preparation for the term paper and final exam.
As this course satisfies the University studies writing requirement (W2), a term paper is a required component of the final course grade. The term paper is to be between 10 and15 pages in length. Further guidelines for the paper will be handed out during the course. The term paper will be due on Tuesday April 30. Any paper handed in after this due date will lose automatically ten points for each day late. If the term paper is more than three days late, it will not be graded and receive zero points. This policy is not negotiable.
The final examination is scheduled for: Thursday May 16th, 10:15-12:15.
The exam will involve answering two
out of four essay-based questions. Their aim is to test students’ knowledge of
the economic concepts, methods and applications covered in the entire
course.
Attendance
Policy: Students are expected to
attend all classes. Any student who
fails to attend regularly will inevitably fall behind and find that his or her
performance is badly affected.
Academic
Dishonesty: Also known as
“cheating” academic dishonesty will not be tolerated in this class. Cases of academic dishonesty will be
prosecuted in accordance with UNIREG 802 Rev.2. Cheating in this course can result in an “F” final grade. In this course, academic dishonesty includes
(but is not limited to) unapproved assistance on examinations, copying the work
of other students, plagiarism or other use of published materials without
complete citations, or fabrication of referenced information, including
purchasing and/or downloading from the internet others’ work without
acknowledging this source.
Group
Work Guidelines: In-class group
discussion will be part of this course, but no graded group work is
anticipated. Students are encouraged to
discuss lectures, readings and assignments with each other outside of
class. However, each student is
responsible for submitting his or her own short essays and term paper, and will
be graded accordingly.
Course
Calendar: A tentative calendar for
the course is indicated below under the heading Course Readings and
Schedule.
Disclaimer: The instructor may need to modify the course
requirements, grading standards and calendar during the teaching of the course
this semester. If so, the instructor
will notify all students in class of any changes and confirm these changes in a
written memo, handout and/or email.
Course
Readings: The two required texts
for this course are:
Tietenberg,
Tom. 2001. Environmental Economics and
Policy, 3rd ed. Addison-Wesley Longman, New York.
Pearce,
David W. and Barbier, Edward B. 2000. Blueprint
for a Sustainable Economy.
Earthscan Publications, London.
Most
of the required reading for this course will be from Tietenberg (2001), and
this text will be used as the basis for most lectures. However, Pearce and Barbier (2000) will also
be useful for some topics.
Occasionally,
short readings and articles to supplement the two texts may be distributed in
class. Such readings will be for your
interest only.
Course
Schedules and Assignments:
Week 1: Topic
1: Introduction and key concepts
Tietenberg, Chapters 1-2; Pearce and Barbier, Chapter 1.
Tietenberg, Chapter 5; Pearce and Barbier, Chapter 2.
Tietenberg, Chapter 3; Pearce and Barbier, Chapter 3.
First short essay due on Tuesday February 5.
Tietenberg, Chapters 4, 6 and 20; Pearce and Barbier, Chapter 6.
Tietenberg, Chapters 7 and13.
Tietenberg, Chapters 7 and13.
Week 8: Topic 6: Air pollution: global and local
Tietenberg, Chapters 14-16.
Second
short essay due on Tuesday March 5.
Tietenberg, Chapters 17-19.
Tietenberg, Chapters 11 and 12.
Week 1
Tietenberg, Chapters 11 and 12.
Week 12: Topic 9: Energy, water and agriculture
Pearce and Barbier, Chapters 7-8.
Tietenberg, Chapters 21-22; Pearce and Barbier,
Chapters 9-11.
Term paper due on Tuesday April 30.