Office hrs.: 8-8:25, 9:30-10:20 MWF, or by appointment--Waters 312 (except no office hours on exam day, Friday, March 12)

Classes are in Waters 329 for video presentations Jan. 22 & 29, Feb. 3 & 8, & Apr. 23

Econ 527. Environmental Economics. (3) II. Economics of environmental market failure and the efficient use of exhaustible and renewable resources. Topics include the application of markets and government policies to greenhouse warming, air and water pollution, and recycling. The course emphasizes a global perspective on environmental and natural resource economics. Pr.: Econ 120. The course is a university general education course and counts for the natural resources and environmental sciences secondary major.

Objectives:

The primary objectives of the course are to analyze international environmental problems, with special focus on the relationship between the environment, natural resources, and economic development in developing countries. The major concentrations are on ecological versus economic approaches to the environment, sustainable development, population and development, poverty and environmental stress, grassroots environmental action by poor people, pollution and development, the economics of biodiversity and global warming, correcting measures of GNP for natural asset deterioration, intergenerational allocation of resources, green markets, and the impact of market imperfections and policy failures on environmental degradation.

Required texts and reading assignments:

Claflin Books and Copies (CBC), Environmental Economics, Spring 1999.
Robert Dorfman and Nancy S. Dorfman (D&D), eds., Economics of the Environment: Selected Readings (New York: Norton, 1993).

Readings are required and are assumed in examination questions, but the lecture-discussion outline will not always parallel the reading. The CBC book is at Claflin Books and Copies (CBC) (1814 Claflin Road, diagonal to Ackert Hall). Economics of the Environment is in the bookstores. If any changes or deletions are made in readings during the course of the semester, they will be announced in class.

Field Trip and Outside Speakers:

The class is scheduled to take a field trip in late April or early May to the Land Institute, Salina, whose director, ecologist Wes Jackson, received a "genius grant" from the MacArthur Foundation and was named by Life magazine as one of the 100 most important Americans of the 20th century. We will also have lectures/discussions by chemistry Professor Kenneth Klabunde on global warming and Professor Dustin Becker, a biologist, on biodiversity.

Grades:

I plan three in-class one-hour examinations in addition to one take-home exam on the ecological vs. green markets approach. Each of the four exams is to be given a weight of one unit, and the final examination weighed two units. I have indicated tentatively the coverage of each one-hour examination (the readings and corresponding lectures just before the listing of the examination). The exam is essay/problem, with an occasional short identification or explanation question. Please bring a blue book for each examination. Students who make an excellent contribution to class can raise their semester numerical grade.

Alternative to the Second or Third Exams:

For either or both the second and third exams, the student may write a paper instead of taking the exam (the paper must be a topic related to the readings and material to be covered on the exam), provided the student notifies the instructor in writing (e.g., on a 3" by 5" card) what topic he or she is presenting a paper on by the second class after the previous exam; notifies the instructor in writing of any changes in the topic; attends class regularly; and arranges with the instructor to present the talk near the time the subject is discussed in class. (In the past, one student both took the exam and gave the talk, enabling that student to get the better of the two grades!). The average length of the paper is about 7-12 pages. You are expected to use standard bibliographical and citation procedures (if in doubt, use the procedures of a recent American Economic Review). Feel free to hand in an earlier draft so that I can give you comments that will allow you to improve your paper (but give me a few days to respond), or ask questions about your progress at earlier stages of work on your paper.

A student may instead present a 20-minute or so talk, as long as the student notifies the instructor as indicated in the previous paragraph. In addition, the student must arrange with the instructor in advance to present the talk near the time the subject is discussed in class.

No alternative is possible for the first exam, the take-home (fourth) exam, or for the final exam, Friday, May 14, 11:50-1:40, in Cardwell 129. All students are required to take these exams.

Plagiarism:

University policy is: "Plagiarism and cheating are serious offenses and may be punished by failure on the exam, paper, or project; failure in the course; and/or expulsion from the university." For more information refer to "Academic Dishonesty," http://www.ksu.edu/uauc/fhbook/fhxf.html.

1. Ecology and Economics

2. Sustainable Development
Postel, "Carrying Capacity: Earth's Bottom Line," CBC, 1-9 (for Wed., Jan. 20)
Solow, "Sustainability: An Economist's Perspective," D&D, 75-78, 179-87 (Jan. 22).
Video, "Greenbucks: The Challenge of Sustainable Development."

3. Population and Food
L. Brown, "The Future of Growth," CBC, 10-27.
Video, "Global Change--The Power to Change" (on poor campesina in Bolivia)
Pimentel & Pimentel, "Adverse Environmental Consequences of the Green Revolution," D&D, pp. 497-500.
J. Simon, "The Case for More People," CBC, 28-31.
Nafziger, "Population and Development," CBC, 32-65.
Video, "With Our Own Eyes: Rural and Agricultural Development"

4. Poverty and Environmental Stress
Video, "Power to Change #3" (on environmental action in India)

5. Grassroots Environmental Action
Serageldin, "Making Development Sustainable," CBC, 66-70.
World Bank, "Development and the Environment," CBC, 71-94.
Mahathir Mohamed, "Ending Eco-Imperialism at Rio," CBC, 95.

EXAMINATION, Mid-February

6. Market Imperfections and Policy Failures as Determinants of Environmental Degradation
Panayotou, "Environmental Degradation: Magnitude of the Problem," CBC, 96-116.
Panayotou, "Market Failures and Environmental Degradation," CBC, 117-28, 247-49.
Dales, "Land, Water, and Ownership," D&D, pp. 225-40.
Randall, "The Problem of Market Failure," D&D, pp. 144-61.
John V. Krutilla, "Conservation Reconsidered," D&D, pp. 188-98.
Panayotou, "Policy Failures and Environmental Degradation," CBC, 129-52.

7. The Tragedy of the Commons
Hardin, "The Tragedy of the Commons," D&D, 1-3, 5-19.

8. Air and Water Pollution
Ruff, "The Economic Common Sense of Pollution," D&D, pp. 20-36.
Kneese, "Analysis of Environmental Pollution," D&D, pp. 37-56.
R. Dorfman, "Some Concepts from Welfare Economics," D&D, pp. 79-96.
Passell, "Weighing Alternatives for Toxic Waste Cleanup," D&D, pp. 288-92.

EXAMINATION, Friday, March 12

9. Contingent Valuation
R. Dorfman, "An Introduction to Benefit-Cost Analysis," D&D, pp. 297-322.

10. The Economics of Global Warming
Prof. Kenneth Klabunde,"The Greenhouse Effect and the Ozone Problem," March 19
Schelling, "The Economics of Global Warming," D&D, pp. 464-83.
Ogawa, "Economic Activity and the Greenhouse Effect," D&D, pp. 484-96.
Dunn & O'Meara, in Brown, Renner, & Flavin, "Atmospheric Trends," CBC, 153-58.
Nordhaus, "Reflections on the Economics of Climate Change,"CBC, 159-73.
Flavin, "Last Tango in Buenos Aires," CBC, 174-82.

11. The Economics of Biodiversity
Professor Dustin Becker, "Biodiversity"
K. Miller, Reid, & Barber, "Deforestation and Species Loss," D&D, pp. 501-17.
Nafziger, "Global Public Goods: Climate and Biodiversity," CBC, 183-97,

EXAMINATION, Mid-April

12. Green Taxes
Feldstein, "The Case for a World Carbon Tax," CBC, 198.
Economist, "Greenery and Poverty," CBC, 199.
The Margin, "Economists Propose Taxes to Avert Global Warning," CBC, 200-01.
L. Brown, Flavin, & Postel, "Saving the Planet: Green Taxes," CBC, 202-06.
Tietenberg, "Transferable Discharge Permits and the Control of Stationary Source Air Pollution," D&D, pp. 241-70.

13. Multilateral Programs to Reduce Environmental Degradation
Barrett, "International Cooperation for Environmental Protection," D&D, pp. 445-63.
Panayotou, "Achieving Sustainable Dev. thru Policy Reform," CBC, 207-20, 225-26.
Panayotou, "Sustainable Development and Economic Growth," CBC, 221-24.

14. Will Natural Resources Shortages Limit Future Economic Growth?

15. Daly's Impossibility Theorem: Economics as the Dismal Science Again
Daly, "The Steady-State Economy," CBC, 227-40.
Daly, "From Empty-World Economics to Full-World Economics," CBC, 241-46.
Breslow, "Gluttons for Energy: A Threat to the Environment," CBC, 250-53.
Video on steady-state economics.

16. Wes Jackson's Dialectical Ecology vs. Theodore Panayotou's Green Markets (A28-30)
Field Trip to the Land Institute, Salina, late April or early May.

Analyze and evaluate the contrasting views of Theodore Panayotou and Wes Jackson with regard to the reasons for environmental and resource problems, and the policies society can use to attain environmental goals.

Sources for Wes Jackson's view include his book, Becoming Native to This Place (on Farrell library reserve) and/or the expressions of Jackson's views and Land Institute staff view during the class field trip. Sources for Panayotou include articles in CBC.

You may substitute the view of Ronald Coase, "The Problems of Social Cost," D&D, pp. 109-38; Dales, "Land, Water, and Ownership," D&D, pp. 225-40; Solow, D&D, pp. 162-87; or the Dorfmans, D&D, overviews, and pp. 79-96, 297-322, for the view of Panayotou.

TAKE-HOME EXAMINATION DUE, early May

17. Natural Asset Deterioration and the Measurement of National Income
L. Brown, Flavin, & Postel, "Better Indicators of Human Welfare," CBC, 255-62.

18. Intergenerational Allocation of Resources
Summers, "Summers on Sustainable Growth," CBC, 254.
Landefeld & Seskin, "The Economic Value of Life: Linking Theory to Practice," D&D, 377-87.

FINAL EXAMINATION, FRIDAY, May 14, 1999, 11:50 a.m.-1:40 p.m. in Cardwell 129