(You can change the apparent size of text by clicking on View in Menu Bar, then Text Size)

Announcements (important course announcements and revisions to appear here):  Welcome!

• (5/9) Final Exam available!  Due by 11:59pm Monday, May 10.
• (4/6) Exam 2 available!  Due by 8am Thursday, April 8.
• (2/24) Exam 1 available!  Read carefully before responding.  Due by end of the day Thursday, Feb. 25.

INSTRUCTOR:  Prof. Jeff Heinrich
Office: Hyland Hall 4304C (the main Economics department office)
phone: 472.5583 (office)
Office Hours:  MWF 10a-11a; MW 1p-2p; Tuesday, 1-4 (electronic by email); or by appointment.  Office hours may occasionally be cancelled as my administrative duties require.
email: heinricj@uww.edu

COURSE DESCRIPTION

Welcome to Natural Resource and Environmental Economics!  Economics concerns itself with questions of resource allocation decisions and the methods of economics can be applied to natural/environmental resources as well as capital and labor.  However, the market mechanism of allocation is not necessarily as well-developed in the case of these resources which can make application of the tools of economic analysis more of a challenge.  In this course, we will discuss the application of economic methods and principles to environmental and natural resource issues.  We will first discuss the economic theory of how markets work as well as how markets "fail" and what government intervention can do to improve or worsen market outcomes.  We will then discuss the valuation of environmental and natural resources (not a simple affair when markets fail to price these correctly).  From these theoretical foundations, we then move on to particular issues in the field such as energy and pollution, renewable and non-renewable resource issues.  

This syllabus owes a debt of inspiration to Dr. Mark Eiswerth and draws heavily upon his administration of this course in previous terms.  All errors and shortcomings of this offering are nonetheless solely of my own making.

Prerequisite:  Principles of Microeconomics (ECON 201 or 212 )

COURSE MATERIALS

• Textbook Rental:  Kahn, James R., The Economic Approach to Environmental and Natural Resources, 3rd edition, Thompson/South-Western press, 2004.  This text is widely recognized and used throughout the United States.  It contains well-written chapters on a wide array of topics in a way meant to be accessible to students without a strong economics background yet still rewarding to those students with such training.
• Other readings as we stumble across them. 
• Highly recommended: News sources with significant environmental coverage from economic, scientific, and policy points of view.  I recommend Science Daily for science headlines. The Economist is a good news weekly which often has articles on sustainability, the environment, and natural resources.
• Dr. Heinrich's lecture videos.  The stuff from Modules 1 and 2 should suit your micro review needs and will be directly applicable to the first part of the course.  Modules 3 and 4 stuff is relevant, but only the presentation on Market Consequences of Government Policy will be directly applicable.
   

GRADED ASSIGNMENTS

• 2 midterm exams, each worth 20% of the course grade.  Expect them on or about the last full week in February and first full week in April.  These dates may change depending on the pace of the course and where we are with the material.  All exams are comprehensive.
• A final exam worth 30% of the grade.  The final will be at the time scheduled for finals in the Schedule of Classes, 1-3p, Monday, May 10.  The exam will be comprehensive.
• A term paper worth 30% of your grade.  This paper will be the culmination of a research project which students will be sharing with the rest of the class.  There will be activities throughout the term building up to the final product.  Students will be organized into groups of 3 or 4 individuals, and each group will choose a topic of mutual interest.  Each group will do research on that topic and put together a short presentation on their findings.  However, each student in the group will be writing their own research paper covering a specific aspect of the group's topic, and within a group each student should have a different subtopic.  A major emphasis of the presentations is to share with the rest of the class questions and answers/findings of interest...that is, to teach the rest of the class something about the group's topic.  The presentations are open-ended and information...the content is what is of interest.  It is hoped that this structure will help the class to learn together about a range of issues relevant to the course.  Also, see the Instructor's Note attached to the Honor Code below...all writing should be completely in the student's own words.

GRADING POLICY

This course will use the plus/minus grading scale.  92%-100% = A; 90-91.x = A-, 87-89.x = B+; 83-86.x = B; 80-82.x = B-, 77-79.x = C+; 73-76.x = C; 70-72.x = C-, 67-69.x = D+; 63-66.x = D; 60-62.x = D-; <60% = F.  I may curve this at my discretion, but never in a way that gives you a worse grade than indicated by this scale.  An "A" in this course is taken to mean exceptional accomplishment.

Attendance and Make-ups:   Your enrollment in this course is taken as a commitment to attend class regularly and complete all tasks in the time allowed.  It is expected that you have arranged or will arrange all other activities in a way consistent with your being able to submit assignments on time and take quizzes and exams when scheduled.   It is the student’s responsibility to obtain any materials or information missed due to absence.     Make ups are permitted only by prior arrangement with proof of participation in a University-sanctioned event which conflicts with an exam, except for the paper which has sufficient lead time that no make-up is necessary.  

UWW POLICY STATEMENT

The University of Wisconsin-Whitewater is dedicated to a safe, supportive and non-discriminatory learning environment. It is the responsibility of all undergraduate and graduate students to familiarize themselves with University policies regarding Special Accommodations, Misconduct, Religious Beliefs Accommodations, Discrimination and Absence for University-sponsored events. (For details please refer to the Undergraduate and Graduate Timetables; the "Rights and Responsibilities" section of the Undergraduate Bulletin, the Academic Requirements and Policies and the Facilities and Services sections of the Graduate Bulletin; and the "Student Academic Disciplinary Procedures" [UWS Chapter 14]; and the "Student Nonacademic Disciplinary Procedures" [UWS Chapter 17].

COBE STUDENT HONOR CODE

As members of the University of Wisconsin – Whitewater College of Business & Economics community, we commit ourselves to act honestly, responsibly, and above all, with honor and integrity in all areas of campus life.  We are accountable for all that we say and write.  We are responsible for the academic integrity of our work.  We pledge that we will not misrepresent our work nor give or receive unauthorized aid.  We commit ourselves to behave in a manner that demonstrates concern for the personal dignity, rights and freedoms of all members of the community.  We are respectful of college property and the property of others.  We will not tolerate a lack of respect for these values.

Instructor's Note:  Everything you write should be solely in your own words, with the exception of quotes which should be few in number and clearly attributed to the author.  Cutting and pasting from any source with or without proper citation is expressly prohibited.  Academic dishonesty of any sort will be met with the harshest available measures.  All students in this course will be held to this code.

COURSE SCHEDULE

I reserve the right to alter this schedule as I believe necessary.  These changes will be announced in class.  Dates are subject to the flow of the course.  This gives us the flexibility to spend more or less time on a topic in reaction to the needs and interests of the class.

Basic Outline:

• Preliminaries and Welcome
• Kahn Chapter 1, Introduction;   Price Fixing:  Why it is Important to Put a Price on Nature, Green.view column on The Economist,  Jan. 18, 2010.
• Kahn Chapter 2, Economic Efficiency and Markets
• Kahn Chapter 3, Market Failure and Government Intervention
• Kahn Chapter 4, Valuing the Environment
• Special Topics, Presentations, and Essays #1
• Midterm 1, last week of February
• Kahn Chapter 7, Global Climate Change
• Kahn Chapter 10, Exhaustible Resources: Materials Extraction and Waste
  • "The Economics of Recycling", WorldView 10/9/2008, Chicago Pulic Radio
  • "Examining the Justification for Residential Recycling," Kinnaman, T.C., 2006, Journal of Economic Perspectives 20(4), 219-232.
• Kahn Chapter 11, Renewable Resources: Fisheries
• Kahn Chapter 15, Renewable Resources: Water
• Midterm 2, first week of April
• Discussion Groups for Final Projects
• Topic from parts II, III, or IV of text (based on student interest) - Kahn Chapter 8: Energy (and selected parts of Ch.9)
• Discussion Groups for Final Projects
• Topic from parts II, III, or IV of text (based on student interest) - Globalization and the Environment
  •  The Environment and Economic Globalization, mimeo, Jeff Frankel, 2002.  PDF
  • Selected Readings, Connected Dreams; Globalization and the Environment, Our Planet, Feb 2007, United Nations Environmental Programme.
• Special Topics/Group Projects/Essays
• Final Exam, 1-3 Monday May 10; Final Papers/Projects Due.