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Ec 476 Professor Tietenberg
Colby College Miller Lib 234
Spring, 2002 email: thtieten
Tel: 3143
Advanced Topics in Environmental Economics
As a senior seminar, this course will acquaint you with the latest developments in the field (many of the papers we shall consider have not even been published yet.) We shall examine the basic research (theory, and the empirical work) as well as the lessons that can be learned from implementation experience as these ideas have been put into practice.
This course is designed as a seminar in which all participants are expected to contribute to group learning, not merely to absorb material passively. Sustainable Development, a concept that lies on the frontier of environmental economics, provides the focus for our inquiry. Analyzing this concept closely reveals the large contributions that economic analysis can make in understanding the nature of the problems and in providing guidance on solutions, but it also raises fundamental questions about the appropriate domain for economic analysis. You will be exposed to both the emerging insights and the controversies and given ample opportunities to develop your own perspective.
Topics will be examined using both discussion and presentation formats.
Discussion Format: Having read the background readings, each participant will be expected to contribute to a discussion that extracts the major insights in the readings and assesses their validity and import. My role will be to ask leading questions and to probe the responses.
Presentation Format: These sessions will focus on presentations by student and faculty members of the seminar.
Some World Wide Web Sites of Interest
This information can be very useful in selecting topics and
researching the two projects required for this class.
Colby’s Sustainable Development/Economics Page: http://www.colby.edu/personal/thtieten/sustain.html
National Center for Environmental Economics (EPA) Site: http://www.epa.gov/economics/
Free U. of Brussels Sustainable Development Site: http://www.ulb.ac.be/ceese/meta/sustvl.html
Institute for Sustainable Development: http://iisd1.iisd.ca
NSF Environment and Global Change: http://www.nsf.gov/geo/egch/
OECD Environment Reports: http://www.oecd.org/env/online.htm
United Nations Development Program: http://www.undp.org/
United Nations Environment Program: http://www.unep.ch/index.html
National Institute for the Environment: http://www.cnie.org/
Association of Environmental and Resource Economists: http://www.ecu.edu/econ/aere/
And finally when only humor will do: http://netec.wustl.edu/JokEc.html
Let me know if you find some helpful sites not on this list.
The texts for this course will be:
Bromley, Daniel W., ed. The Handbook of Environmental Economics (Oxford, UK: Blackwell, 1995)
Stavins, Robert N., Economics of the Environment: Selected Readings (New York: W. W. Norton & Company)
The United States Experience with Economic Incentives for Protecting the Environment by Robert Anderson ( EPA#-240-R-10-001), This is a very helpful EPA report that can be downloaded in sections from http://www.colby.edu/economics/ec476tietenberg/ec476tietenberg.htm Reading this pdf report requires Acrobat Reader. If you don’t have it, it can be downloaded free from http://www.adobe.com/products/acrobat/readstep2.html
This course presumes that you have had a survey course in environmental and natural resource economics. If you wish to review that material you may want to consult:
Tietenberg, T. (1999). Environmental and Natural Resource Economics. 5th ed. Reading, MA: Addison-Wesley Longman.
or
Tietenberg, T. (2000). Environmental Economics and Policy. 3rd ed. Reading, MA, Addison-Wesley Longman.
The grades in this course will be based upon: (1) class participation (quality and consistency of contributions - zeros are assigned for each missed class), 20%, (2) concept paper (content, analytical depth, organization and style), 25% (3) class presentation report 20%, (4) two oral presentations (organization, content and delivery), 20%, and (5) the internet project. 10%.
Each student will be expected to have set up an email address and to check it regularly. I will use email to communicate with participants in the intervals between classes.
Research Projects and Oral Presentation Assignments:
Conceptual Paper: Each student in the class is responsible for writing a major paper on some economic aspect of sustainable development policy. While the internet project (described below) is designed to focus on implementation issues in the context of a specific economic and cultural setting, the conceptual paper is designed to provide a broad overview of both the theory and empirical evidence which lie behind our current level of understanding of that issue. The target audience for your paper is assumed to be economically literate, but not familiar with your particular topic. Models for this type of paper would be the survey articles that appear at the beginning of each issue of the Journal of Economic Literature. The normal paper will about 7000 words. I have included a list of possible topics at the end of this syllabus. (These are meant to be suggestive, not meant to limit your choice.) Please include your word count on the title page of your paper.
Paper Proposal: The paper proposal will consist of a two-page, single spaced document which provides: (1) the title of the project, (2) the scope of the project (research questions, coverage, etc.), (3) a tentative outline (using three levels of headings) of the final report and a tentative bibliography of sources you will consult. This proposal should reflect sufficient knowledge of the literature that you can specify both the subjects to be covered by the report and how they fit together. This proposal will count 10% of the conceptual paper grade.
Due: Monday, March 4 at noon.
Optional First Draft: At your discretion you may submit a first draft of the paper for my critique. I will make comments on the paper and provide suggestions for improvement. No grades will be assigned to the first draft. You can use the comments to improve the paper. If you chose this option, I must receive the paper by noon, Friday, April 17. For me to make comments the paper must be substantially complete—no half written sections of papers, missing references or footnotes to be added later or spelling errors that could easily have been detected by a spelling checker. (No exceptions—plan ahead.)
Final Paper: The final paper is due at noon Friday, May 8. A three-point-per-day penalty will be assigned (out of 100) for each day the paper is late. This implies, for example, that a paper, which, if handed in on time, would have received an 82%, would, after a three-day-late penalty, receive a 73%.
Conceptual Paper Oral Presentation: Each member of the class will be responsible for a major oral presentation on the work covered by the concept paper. Each presenter will have fifteen minutes for the presentation. The presentation will be judged on organization, depth of analysis, breadth of coverage and synthesis of findings and delivery. Fo
The Class Presentation Project. Each seminar participant will be responsible for writing up and reporting orally one case study to the class. The options are listed below.
Presentation Proposal: Your proposal should list: (1) the complete citation for the case study, (2) the focus of the study, and (3) the features which appear to make this a particularly interesting case study for the class to hear. This will count 10% of your final case study grade. Due: One week before the presentation at class time.
Final Report: The final report is due one week after the class at class. A three-point-per-day penalty will be assigned (out of 100) for each day the case study is late.
Oral Presentation. Each member of the class will be responsible for a 15 minute presentation on the nature of the case study. The presentation will be judged on organization, depth of analysis, and the value of the insights for the class.
Class Presentation Project Descriptions
These reports will be graded on the quality of the description of the case study, the relevance of it to our study of sustainable development and the quality of the critique, including its contribution to class understanding.
The Four Valuation Case Studies. Each seminar participant choosing this option will be responsible for selecting one study that uses a specific valuation methodology to shed light on some subject of interest to the field of environmental and natural resource economics. (To provide an entry into the literature one short list of such studies is provided in Session 6 on this syllabus. Many more studies exist and you are free to chose any study you wish, whether it is on this list or not.) For the chosen study the participant will be responsible for: (1) identifying the focus of the research, (2) briefly describing the valuation technique used and any unique aspects of its use in this context, (3) the results of the exercise and (4) the participant's critique of the exercise.
The Two Measurability Case Studies. Each seminar participant choosing this option will be responsible for describing one of the two major alternatives to traditional economic measures of sustainability: Ecological Footprint and the Genuine Progress Indicator/ Index of Sustainable Economic Welfare (these are related indicators). These reports will describe how these measures are constructed, assess their strengths and weaknesses vis a vis economic measures and discuss the lessons that can be extracted from any applications. I can supply references.
The Four Natural Resource Sustainability Case Studies: This assignment involves writing a brief, but revealing report on the application of the principles of sustainable development and conventional economic analysis to one particular natural resource problem (fisheries, agriculture, energy, deforestation, etc.) in a specific geographical and cultural setting. Do not choose studies that simulate what might happen if the policies or circumstances were changed. These presentations are designed to reveal actual, not hypothetical or possible outcomes. Having selected a specific case, the author will review the evidence that is available on that subject. Each report will identify the important facts of this case study and the lessons that can be taken away from it.
The Two Corporate Sustainability Case Studies. This assignment involves writing a brief report and making an oral presentation on some corporation that has made an explicit attempt to build sustainable development into its business practices. The case study should examine what the corporation did and how it worked out both economically and environmentally. Are there any more general lessons that emerge from this study about when sustainability and profitability are might be compatible? Was this experience the result of very special circumstances or do you think it could be generalized?
The Two Trade and Environment Case Studies. This assignment involves writing a brief report and making an oral presentation on one or more studies that analyze a specific trade and environment relationship. The study or studies should involve an actual situation involving actual data, not a conceptual model.
The Environmental Taxation Case Study. This assignment involves selecting and reporting on the experience of a country that has used environmental taxation to control pollution. What does the tax system look like? How are the rates determined? What activities are they applied to? What happens to the revenue? How did it work out?
Internet Project. This assignment involves creating material (one implementation case study) to be put on the sustainable development home page created here at Colby for the World Wide Web. Using a prescribed format (I will supply a template) those who select the option will write a brief, but revealing report on the application of the principles of sustainable development and conventional economic analysis to one particular environmental problem (air pollution, fisheries, agriculture, energy, deforestation, etc.) in a specific geographical and cultural setting. Do not choose studies that simulate what might happen if the policies or circumstances were changed. These internet studies are designed to reveal actual, not hypothetical or possible outcomes. Having selected a specific case, the author will review (and write a short executive summary report on) the evidence that is available on that subject. (Examples of previous reports can be found on the worldwide web at http://www.colby.edu/personal/thtieten/ sustain.html. The reports in this class obviously should not duplicate case studies already on the web site.) Each report will attempt to condense down to no more than two pages the major conclusions to be taken away from that case study. (These are to take the form of extended Boxed Inserts in a typical text). The objective is to make available to worldwide audience brief, but revealing, summaries of the application of economic principles to sustainable development. (If you pique web readers’ interest, they can get the details from the cited articles on which these summaries are based.) The internet reports should be forwarded to me as an attachment via email. I will load them on the web. It can be the same topic as your concept paper, but not the same as your class presentation.
Topic Proposal: Your topic proposal should list: (1) the title of the case study, (2) the main subject to be examined, (3) the features which appear to make this a particularly interesting case study for the class to hear and (4) the literature on which this case study will be based. This will count 10% of your final case study grade. The Colby Sustainable Development site contains a large bibliography separated into specific areas of interest. Due: Monday, February 25th. at noon.
Final Report: The final internet project report is due at class time on Friday March 22nd. A three-point-per-day penalty will be assigned (out of 100) for each day the case study is late. Since these reports will be placed on the internet please be sure they are in the same format as all the others. I will share with you the format, but you can also visit the site to see how the others were done.
Part I. The Basics
Session #1 An Overview
Monday, February 4
Faculty Presentation Format
This session will open with an overview of the material to be covered and the mechanics of coverage.
Sessions #2-3 Defining and Modeling Sustainable Development
Wednesday, February 6
Monday, February 11
Discussion Format
Assigned Reading
John Pezzey, Sustainable Development Concepts: An Economic Analysis (Washington, DC: World Bank Environment Department Report #2) 9-16.
Robert M. Solow, “Sustainability: An Economist’s Perspective” in Stavins, Robert N., Economics of the Environment: Selected Readings (New York: W. W. Norton & Company): 131-138.
Toman, Michael A., John Pezzey, and Jeffrey Krautkramer, “Neoclassical Economic Growth Theory and Sustainability” in Daniel Bromley, ed. The Handbook of Environmental Economics (Oxford, UK: Basil Blackwell, 1995): 139-165.