Environmental and Ecological Economics and Policy

Catalog description

This course applies microeconomic concepts and techniques to such issues that arise from the growth, use, depletion and degradation of natural systems and their components, including land, energy, air, water, and biodiversity. It also looks for solutions that exploit economic facets of human behavior to address these issues in ways that get the most done a minimum cost. We draw from traditional neoclassical economics and the emerging discipline of ecological economics. In this way, we ensure that our understanding of the economic subsystem is grounded in sufficient understanding of the larger biophysical or natural system on which the economic subsystem depends. We will also address questions of sustainability (how big can/should the economy be), and justice (who benefits and who pays when natural resources are used) as equally important with the question of whether the use of natural resources is efficient.