Environmental and Natural Resource Economics

Professors: Bond/Nataraj/Burger
Units: 1.0
Elective Course
Concentration: Economic Analysis

Broadly speaking, natural resource economics studies the flow of resources from nature to the economy, whereas environmental economics studies the flow of residuals from the economy into nature. Many services provided by the environment are not valued explicitly, and virtually all environmental and resource misallocations arise from a structure of incentives that differs from that of market-traded goods and services. This course introduces students to the economic theory and methods relevant to analyzing policy choices related to externalities, public goods, and non-renewable and renewable resources (e.g. minerals, forests, and fisheries) in the context of the coupled human/natural system under alternative property rights, biological, and technology regimes. We also discuss non-market valuation techniques used to price non-traded goods.