Environmental Economic Theory

Catalog description

This class draws on simple economic tools and game theory to provide a coherent framework that can be used to analyze environmental problems as well as political solutions. The models are relevant for both local and international environmental problems. We will analyze environmental problems as market failures, and how these can be corrected with policies, f.ex., taxes or permits. We will model countries' strategic choices of emissions, their investments in technology, international negotiations and bargaining, and alternative designs of agreements. We will also study political economy forces, documented to be important by the political science literature, that prevent good policies from being introduced, and how policies ought to be designed in order to take these political constraints into account. Approved field credit for the ECON BA and Minor Programs.