Texts: no assigned textbook; readings will be posted on the web or placed on reserve in Morris Library

Grading:

• one paper, ~2,500 words, on any approved topic (25%)
• two hour exams (20% each)
• final (30%)
• class attendance and participation (5%)

Course Objectives:
This course analyzes problems of resource depletion and environmental degradation as consequences of market and/or government failures.  We review some basic theories of politics and markets, then analyze various situations in which political and market institutions fail to achieve optimal resource allocations.  Topics include population, development and sustainability; depletion of finite energy reserves; over-harvesting of fisheries; pollution; biodiversity and habitat loss; etc.

Class Policies
No late work will be accepted for any reason. Your paper proposal and final paper must be computer-printed or typed.  You are assumed to know the University's policies on academic honesty, which are explained in a leaflet available from the Office of the Dean of Students; these policies will be strictly enforced.

Class Schedule

BASICS OF POLITICAL THEORY
Wednesday, February 7: introduction; the "Dismal Science" Malthus, Ricardo, Hardin
Friday, February 9: historical perspectives on resource depletion and conservation
Monday, February 12:  theory of comparative advantage, specialization and exchange; origins of money and banking
Wednesday, February 14: classical theory of government, the social contract and democracy
Friday, February 16: communism and fascism
Monday, February 19: government and prosperity: Olson, Coase, etc.
Wednesday, February 21: voting systems, fundamentals of game theory

TOOLS OF ECONOMIC ANALYSIS
Friday, February 23: consumer theory: utility and demand
Monday, February 26: producer theory: inputs
Wednesday, February 28: producer theory: output
Friday, March 2: perfect competition in the long-run; monopoly, oligopoly and their consequences
Monday, March 5: economic welfare measures, market distortions, taxes and deadweight loss
Wednesday, March 7: market failures: property rights, externalities and public goods
Friday, March 9: hour exam

POLITICAL ECONOMY
Monday, March 12: law, economic incentives, regulation and enforcement efficiency
Wednesday, March 14: government failure: rent-seeking, rational ignorance, regulatory capture
Friday, March 16: discounting; benefit-cost analysis: why and how
Monday, March 19: risk, risk aversion and insurance, irrational responses to risk
Wednesday, March 21: pollution taxes, pollution abatement subsidies; marketable emissions allowances
Friday, March 23: the Coase theorem, collective action and transactions costs (paper proposal due)

March 26--30: Spring Break

EXHAUSTIBLE RESOURCES
Monday, April 2: reserves; a competitive resource depletion model; Hotelling's rule
Wednesday, April 4: OPEC, US energy policy, strategic reserves, CAFE standards, etc.
Friday, April 6: recycling; electricity markets--regulation and deregulation

LAND RESOURCES
Monday, April 9: farmland preservation: zoning, property taxes, PDR and TDR
Wednesday, April 11: agricultural fundamentalism and US farm policy; subsidies to agriculture
Friday, April 13: public lands policies, grazing rights, irrigation, mineral rights; wetland protection

RENEWABLE RESOURCES
Monday, April 16: forestry economics; USFS and National Forest policy
Wednesday, April 18: open-access fisheries, over-harvesting; poaching
Friday, April 20: water supply: allocation doctrines, institutions and distributive inefficiencies
Monday, April 23: hour exam

ENVIRONMENTAL ISSUES
Wednesday, April 25: the Exxon Valdez spill: evaluating damages to non-market environmental resources
Friday, April 27: recreation and hedonic models for evaluating non-market environmental resources
Monday, April 30: environmental risk assessment: the valuation of lost health and lives
Wednesday, May 2: water pollution, point and non-point discharges; the Clean Water Act, TMDL's, etc.
Friday, May 4: air pollution; automobiles and congestion; acid rain and the Clean Air Act.
Monday, May 7: solid waste management: landfills, recycling, NIMBY's and LULU's
Wednesday, May 9: toxic waste, Superfund (CERCLA)
Friday, May 11: endangered species: the ESA and habitat conservation; land trusts

INTERNATIONAL ISSUES
Monday, May 14: trade barriers: sugar quotas and cocaine; biotechnology; NAFTA, WTO
Wednesday, May 16: population, women and economic development
Friday, May 18: famine, food aid and biotechnology

Tuesday, May 22: FINAL EXAM, 10:30AM--12:30PM  Paper due at the beginning of the final exam.