Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Economics
Sedef Akgüngör
Lecture 1
Course Introduction and
Objectives
The aim of the course is to explore the economic
basis of environmental issues and policies. The
course content covers the sustainability issues
with emphasis on current generation efficiency
and intergenerational efficiency.
Economic principles underlying environmental
problems and policy remedies will be discussed.
The class examines property rights, externalities
and the common-property basis of environmental
problems.
Alternative policies are studied, involving such
issues as air and water pollution, solid-waste
disposal, hazardous substances, wilderness
preservation and the protection of endangered
species.
Reading Materials
Selected chapters from the following
textbooks will be your reading package. A
sample copy will be available for
photocopying. The textbooks from which
chapters will be selected are:
- Tietenberg, T., Environmental Economics
and Policy, Fourth Edition, Pearson, 2005.
- Goodstein, E.. Economics and the
Environment, Prentice Hall, 1995.
Term Paper
Subject: The paper should provide a
critical evaluation of an environmental
problem, policy, or proposal, with
particular attention to its economic
aspects. The paper should illustrate that
you can apply some of the concepts and
methods developed in class to a real world
problem. It should not be limited to a
simple description of the issue, but should
include your own economic analysis.
Outline of the term paper
1. Introduction of the Environmental
Problem
2. Economic Reason behind the
Environmental Problem (what are the
economic reasons behind such a
problem; what is the economic
explanation) (hint: externality, public
good, asymmetric information, etc; see,
Goodstein, Ch. 3)
3. Policy implications (what is being done;
examples from anywhere in the world)
Topics may be one of the following headings
(please note that this list is give to give you an
idea and it is not a complete list).
Energy
Water
Agriculture
Biodiversity
Air pollution
Acid rain
Transportation
Solid waste
Iguazú National Park, located in
Argentina near its borders with Brazil
and Paraguay, contains remnants of
the highly endangered Paranaense
Rain Forest.
Iran’s Lake Hamoun is fed primarily
by water catchments in neighboring
Afghanistan. In 1976, when rivers in
Afghanistan were flowing regularly,
the amount of water in the lake was
relatively high. Between 1999 and
2001, however, the lake all but dried
up and disappeared, as can be seen
in the 2001 satellite image.
Las Vegas is the fastest growing
metropolitan area in the United
States. Its growth was fairly slow
during the first half of the 20th
century, but as the gaming and
tourism industry blossomed the
population increased more rapidly. In
1950, Las Vegas was home to 24
624 people.
This pair of satellite images shows
the impact of massive and rapid
agricultural development in Almeria
Province along Spain’s southern
coast. In the earlier image, the
landscape reflects rather typical rural
agricultural land use.
The Huang He (Yellow River) is the muddiest
river on Earth and is China’s second longest river,
running 5 475 km (3 395 miles) from eastern
Tibet to the Bohai Sea.
The Huang He’s yellow color is caused by its
tremen-dous load of sediment, composed
primarily of mica, quartz, and feldspar particles.
The sediment enters the water as the river carves
its way through the highly erodable loess plateau
in north-central China. (Loessial soil is called
huang tu, or “yellow earth,” in Chinese.)
Centuries of sediment deposition and dike
building along the river’s course has caused it to
flow above the surrounding farmland in some
places, making flooding a critically dangerous
Environmental Economics
Some Concepts for Policy
Analysis
Others
Loss of biodiversity
Irreversible eco-system change
Soil fertility losses
Accumulation of toxins in various media
Economy-Environment Interactions