INTRODUCTION TO ENVIRONMENTAL AND NATURAL RESOURCE ECONOMICS

Credit Hours: 3 · Undergraduate Lower-Level

The course uses a policy-oriented approach to study some of the major environmental and natural resource issues. We use economic theory and empirical work from the field to understand the causes and consequences of these issues and explore how economics can provide potential solutions. Some of the topics covered include: the problem of externalities and property rights, static and dynamic efficiency, depletable resource allocation, recycling resources, fishery, forestry, and climate change. Students will leave the course with a global perspective of both environmental and natural resource economics and how they interact. Various techniques in Excel for general calculations, optimization, present value analysis, regression, and graphs are taught and used in the course. No previous knowledge of excel is required.