Environmental and Resource Economics 2400-ZEWW743

This is an English version of a course taught in the Economics Department. Its aim is to introduce main issues of environmental economics and policy. Particular emphasis is placed on discussing the role of markets, as well as questions of economic efficiency in using the natural environment and its resources. The lecture is recommended for Economics majors and it is obligatory for students enrolled in the Interdepartmental Curriculum in Environmental Protection. Basic text: H. Folmer and H. L. Gabel (eds.), Principles of Environmental and Resource Economics. A Guide for Students and Decision-Makers. Second Edition, Edward Elgar Publishing 2000.

Topics:

01 Review of contemporary environmental problems and their economic contexts. Basic concepts of a market economy. Efficiency of competitive markets pp.xxi-xxxii, 3-33.
02 Market failures accompanying external effects and public goods; pp.3-33.
03 Correcting for externalities. Coase theorem, Pigouvian taxes, marketable permits; pp.3-33.
04 Public policies. Democracy and environmental protection; pp.363-395.
05 Decision making under uncertainty; pp.396-419.
06 Intertemporal choice. Discounting; pp.104-129.
07 Economics of exhaustible resources. Hotelling rule; pp.665-699.
08 Economics of renewable resources. Maximum Sustainable Yield concept. Immobile resources; pp.665-699.
09 Economics of renewable resources. Mobile resources; pp.665-699.
10 Welfare indices and the environmental resource base. Environmental damages and national product; pp.564-601.
11 Economic role of environmental resources. Valuing the environment and valuation methods; pp.34-103
12 Environmental policy: goals, principles and constraints. Typical policy failures; pp.130-156.
13 Environmental policy instruments I; pp.157-201.
14 Environmental policy instruments II (applied marketable permits); pp.157-201.
15 "Eco-taxation" issues; pp.529-563.

Final exam (multiple choice test; additional oral exam upon request)