Agricultural and Applied Economics 2060
Economic Perspectives on the Environment and Natural Resources

Fall 2002
T TH 9:30-10:45
210 Conner Hall

Instructor:

Jeffrey Mullen
Office: 314B Conner Hall
Phone: 542-0767
email: jmullen@agecon.uga.edu

Course Description:

An exploration of the relationships between a healthy environment and a healthy economy. Students will gain conceptual insight, problem-solving skills, and general knowledge needed to better understand and solve environmental and natural resource issues and problems from an economic perspective that recognizes important linkages between economic, environmental, and ethical systems.

Textbooks:

REQUIRED: Tietenberg, Tom, Environmental Economics and Policy, Third Edition (Addison Wesley Longman Inc, 2001). Available at the UGA Bookstore.

SUGGESTED: Goldfarb, Theodore D., Taking Sides: Clashing Views on Controversial Environmental Issues, Ninth Edition (McGraw-Hill, 2001).

Grading:

• Homework -- 25 %
• Midterm -- 20 %
• Debates -- 25 %
• Final -- 25 %
• Attendance -- 5 %

Office Hours:

To be set first day of class. I will also be available outside of scheduled office hours by appointment. Email is another effective way of communicating concerns and posing questions about the course. I will NOT be available Tuesdays and Thursdays from noon to 3:30 p.m. Please do not disturb me during this time.

Course Outline:

1. Valuing the Environment

Reading: Tietenberg Ch. 1 – 3

Debate #1: Should a price be put on the goods and services provided by the world's ecosystems?

2. Important Concepts: Property Rights, Sustainable Development, and Population

Reading: Tietenberg Ch. 4 – 6

Debate #2: Is limiting population growth a key factor in protecting the global environment?

3. Natural Resource Economics

Reading: Tietenberg Ch. 7 – 10

Debate #3: Should pollution prevention and reduction be a focus of agricultural policy

4. Biodiversity

Reading: Tietenberg Ch. 11 – 12

MIDTERM

5. Air and Atmospheric Pollution

Reading: Tietenberg Ch. 13 – 15

Debate #4: Will pollution rights trading effectively control environmental problems?

6. Transportation, Water Pollution, and Waste Management

Reading: Tietenberg Ch. 16 – 19

Debate #5: Is recycling an environmentally and economically sound waste management strategy?

7. Sustainable Development

Reading: Tietenberg Ch. 20 – 22

Debate #6: To be determined