EC 391
Environmental and Natural Resource Economics
Fall Semester, 2007

Most recent update: 12/6/07

Syllabus (in Word)
Term Paper Rules (in Word)

Guide for writing papers using the APA style (in Word)
Rules for Citing Sources—from Brad Mathies (in Word)
 
Sign-up Sheet for Current Events Presentations (in Word)

MT Review (part I) (in Word)

MT Review (part II) (in Word)

NEW Final Exam Review (in Word)

Handouts

The Connection Between Marginal Analysis and Maximizing Net Benefit (in Word)

 "Efficiency and the Competitive Market" (in Word)

"Thoughts About Utility Functions, Social Welfare Functions, and Welfare Economics"

 Excel Spreadsheet for Marginal Analysis Problem. (Excel 97 version)
 

Informal Assignment dealing with “Thoughts About Utility Functions…” (in Word)

Informal Assignment on the Taxation of Externalities (in Word)

Informal Assignment on Public Goods (in Word)

Informal Spreadsheet Assignment on the “Highway” problem (in Word)

Notes on the Highway Congestion Problem—informal assignment for Tuesday, September 25 (in Word)

Informal Assignment on Monopoly Allocation of Non-Renewable Resource (in Word)

Correction of Wording in K&O, p. 220 (in Word)

Informal Assignment on Sustainability (in Word)

Tietenberg on Sustainability, p. 1 (.pdf)

Tietenberg on Sustainability, p. 2 (.pdf)

Informal Assignment on the “Value of Life Saving”

Background on Open Access Problem

Informal Assignment on Public Goods

“Private Property as a Solution to Open Access Problems.” (in Word)

Notes on the Intertemporal Allocation of Exhaustible Resources (in Word)

Informal Assignment Dealing With Exhaustible Resources and Sustainability

Informal Assignment on the n-period Exhaustible Resource Problem

Informal Assignment:  Spreadsheet for exhaustible resource with rising MEC

Other Handouts

Spreadsheet for the n-period problem (in Excel)

Spreadsheet for the Increasing MEC Case (in Excel)

Excel Spreadsheet for Exhaustible Resources Problem (in Excel)

Excel Spreadsheet to Model Optimal Level of Emissions (in Excel)

Spreadsheet on Cost Effectiveness (from October 20) (in Excel)

For October 9 Handout on the Choice Between Controlling Quantities or Prices (Weitzman) (in Word)

"Now is a Good Time to Raise Gasoline Taxes," by Hal Varian (in Word 97)
 
Gas Tax Paper by Parry and Small (.pdf)

Notes on Efficient Allocation of Exhaustible Resources Over Time and Competitive Markets (in Word 97)
 Efficiency vs. Cost Effectiveness (in Word)

Newer Links on Global Warming

“Talking Points” (NYtimes, 7-4-06) (in Word)

IPCC Report (NYTimes, 2-3-07) (in Word)

Link to the IPCC Policy makers’ summary 2007

The Peculiar Economics of Global Warming, by Robert Mendelsohn (.pdf)

“My Nobel Moment,” by John Christy (in Word)

Link to William Nordhaus’s paper “The Challenge of Global Warming: Economic Models and Environmental Policy”

My lecture on Global Warming (2005) (in Word)

Testimony before Congress by Peter Orszag 11/16/07 (.pdf)

An article on “geoengineering” from the WSJ (in Word)

Full Text of the Kyoto Protocol (in Word)

Links to web pages dealing with the Kyoto Protocol (in Word)

“After Kyoto,” by William Nordhaus (in .pdf)

“Why President Bush Is Right To Abandon the Kyoto Protocol,” by Charlie Coon (in .pdf)

Climate Change Report of the National Research Council (in .pdf)

Link to Understanding Climate Change: A Beginner’s Guide to the UN Framework Convention and its Kyoto Protocol

Link to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change web site: http://unfccc.int/

List of “Annex I” Countries in the Kyoto Protocol (in Word)

Midterm from 2003.  The topic coverage is somewhat different.  I am providing this to you just to give you an idea of the style of questions I might ask.

Exercises on Collusion and the “Dominant Firm” Model (in Word)

Informal Assignment on Fuel Taxes—due April 8, 2003 (in Word)

NYTimes article on new techniques for extracting oil from Alaska (in Word 97)
Print-out of Resource Exhaustion Spreadheet Page (html)
 Excel File of Resource Exhaustion Spreadsheet
        Spreadsheet and Documentation to Model Airborne Carcinogens: Documentation (in Word 97); Spreadsheet (in Excel 97)
   "Thoughts About Recycling" (in Word)
    "Another Model of Recycling" (Word 97 Version)
    Spreadsheet to Accompany "Another Model of Recycling" (Excel 97 Version)
    Recycling Exercise (Word 97 Version)
"The Peculiar Economics of Global Warming," by Robert Mendelsohn (in .pdf)
 Final exam for spring semester, 2003

Assignments

Informal Assignment on Present Value (in Word)

Informal Exercise on Non-Uniformly Mixed Pollutants (in Word)

Informal Assignment on Taxes vs. Trading for Greenhouse Gases (in Word)

Informal Assignment on Efficiency With Private Goods

Informal Assignment on Open Access Resources

Coase Theorem Exercise (in Word 97)

Model of Recycling (in Word)

Recycling Exercise—(in Word)

Recycle3.xls (in Excel)

Spreadsheet Assignment on Fishery—(in Word)

Informal Assignment on Sustainability
Informal Assignment on Exhaustible Resources
Informal Spreadsheet Assignment on Exhaustible Resources
Informal Assignment on Monopoly Exploitation of Exhaustible Resources
Homework on Pollution Control—due 10-20-05 (in Word)

Informal Spreadsheet Assignment on Cost Effectiveness—due 10-20-05 (in Word)

Weitzman Assignment (formal) (in Word)

Informal Assignment on Non-Uniformly Mixed Pollutants–due November 10 (in Word)

Links


Talk of the Nation Science Friday Discussion of Arctic Drilling (scroll down to the Arctic Drilling program).

Tom Tietenberg's Sustainable Development/Economics Web Page
 US Environmental Protection Agency
 Resources for the Future (Environmental Think Tank)
 World Business Council for Sustainable Development (Switzerland)
 Greenpeace
 Environmental Defense Fund
 Friends of the Earth
 Institute for Energy and Sustainable Development (UK)
 International Institute for Sustainable Development (links to information on SD)
 The Sierra Club
 SustainAbility (a British organization of companies)