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General Information

Course ID (CB01A and CB01B)
ECOND003.
Course Title (CB02)
Environmental Economics
Course Credit Status
Credit - Degree Applicable
Effective Term
Fall 2023
Course Description
This is an introduction to the basic principles of economics and their application to problems of environmental quality and natural resource utilization. Topics will include market failures, sustainable resource allocation, environmental degradation, pollution, and a rationale of government involvement in the market-based economy. Emphasis will be given to sustainability and the importance of including the environmental impact into the cost-benefit analysis of economic activities.
Faculty Requirements
Course Family
Not Applicable

Course Justification

This course is a major preparation requirement in the discipline of Economics Majors for CSU or UC. This course meets a general education requirement for °®¶¹´«Ã½ College, CSU, and IGETC. This course belongs on the A.A. Liberal Arts degree. This course provides students with the analytical tools to understand the shortcomings of free markets with respect to the environment, the optimal allocation of scarce resources, and the role of the government in resolving these challenges.

Foothill Equivalency

Does the course have a Foothill equivalent?
No
Foothill Course ID

Course Philosophy

Formerly Statement

Course Development Options

Basic Skill Status (CB08)
Course is not a basic skills course.
Grade Options
  • Letter Grade
  • Pass/No Pass
Repeat Limit
0

Transferability & Gen. Ed. Options

Transferability
Transferable to both UC and CSU
°®¶¹´«Ã½ GEArea(s)StatusDetails
2GDX°®¶¹´«Ã½ GE Area D - Social and Behavioral SciencesApproved
2GES°®¶¹´«Ã½ GE - Environment Sustainability and Global CitizenshipApproved
CSU GEArea(s)StatusDetails
CGDYCSU GE Area D - Social SciencesApproved
IGETCArea(s)StatusDetails
IG4XIGETC Area 4 - Social and Behavioral SciencesApproved

Units and Hours

Summary

Minimum Credit Units
4.0
Maximum Credit Units
4.0

Weekly Student Hours

TypeIn ClassOut of Class
Lecture Hours4.08.0
Laboratory Hours0.00.0

Course Student Hours

Course Duration (Weeks)
12.0
Hours per unit divisor
36.0
Course In-Class (Contact) Hours
Lecture
48.0
Laboratory
0.0
Total
48.0
Course Out-of-Class Hours
Lecture
96.0
Laboratory
0.0
NA
0.0
Total
96.0

Prerequisite(s)

Corequisite(s)

Advisory(ies)

  • EWRT D001A or EWRT D01AH or ESL D005.
  • Elementary algebra or equivalent (or higher), or appropriate placement beyond elementary algebra

Limitation(s) on Enrollment

(Not open to students with credit in the Honors Program related course.)

Entrance Skill(s)

General Course Statement(s)

(See general education pages for the requirements this course meets.)

Methods of Instruction

Lecture and visual aids

In-class exploration of Internet sites

Worksheets and examination review performed in class

Collaborative learning and small group exercises.

Discussion of assigned reading

Collaborative projects

Guest speakers

Assignments

  1. Assigned readings from the textbook and supplementary readings to enhance understanding of the material will be evaluated for comprehension and analysis using worksheets, midterms, a final exam, and oral presentations.
  2. Assigned essays, presentations, research projects, or reports on topics related to material, as well as essay exams, will be evaluated for completion, analysis and interpretation.
  3. Optional outside Internet materials and/or assignments will be offered to further enhance students' understanding and will be assessed using short answer questions and/or essays.

Methods of Evaluation

  1. Objective portions of midterms and a final exam will be used; the questions will involve quantitative problem-solving skills.
  2. Short essay questions will be assigned and evaluated for comprehension, analysis, and interpretation.
  3. Oral participation, collaborative group work and discussions, and/or online debates are evaluated for comprehension, analysis, and interpretation.
  4. Research papers/critical essays/short answer questions on exams are evaluated for comprehension, mastery of concepts, analysis, and interpretation.
  5. Homework/problem sets will be assigned and checked for completion and correctness.
  6. Collaborative presentations by students will be used to assess comprehension, analysis, and synthesis of the material covered in class and are brought into context with current events - to be used at the discretion of the Instructor.

Essential Student Materials/Essential College Facilities

Essential Student Materials: 
  • None.
Essential College Facilities:
  • None.

Examples of Primary Texts and References

AuthorTitlePublisherDate/EditionISBN
Tietenberg, Tom and Lewis, Lynne: "Environmental and Natural Resource Economics", 11th edition, Routledge, 2018
Field, Barry and Field, Martha: "Environmental Economics: An Introduction", 7th edition, McGraw Hill 2016
Tietenberg, Tom and Lewis, Lynne, "Environmental Economics and Policy", 7th edition, Routledge, 2019
Goodstein, Eban and Polasky, Stephen: "Economics and the Environment", 8th edition, John Wiley and Sons 2017
Harris, Jonathan and Roach, Brian: "Environmental and Natural Resource Economics. A Contemporary Approach", 4th edition, Taylor & Francis, 2017.

Examples of Supporting Texts and References

AuthorTitlePublisher
State of the World 2016: "Can a City be Sustainable?", Michael Renner, Thomas Prugh, Gary Gardner, Worldwatch Institute, 2016
Leading Journals in Environmental Economics and Natural Resource Economics, such as: Review of Environmental Economics and Policy, Journal of Environmental Economics and Management
Goulder, Lawrence and Stavins, Robert: "An Eye on the Future", Nature, 419: 673, 2002
Kelman, Steven: "Cost-Benefit Analysis: An Ethical Critique". AEI Journal on Government and Society Regulation, January-February 1981
Coase, Ronald: "The Problem of Social Cost", Journal of Law and Economics, 3:1, 1960
Fullerton, Don and Stavins, Robert:"How Economists See the Environment", Nature, 395:6701, 1998
Hardin, Garrett: "The Tragedy of the Commons", Science, 162:1243, 1968
Anderson, David: "Environmental Economics and Natural Resource Management", 5th edition, Routledge, 2019

Learning Outcomes and Objectives

Course Objectives

  • Define environmental sustainability and explain the ecological imperative underlying it.
  • Calculate the marginal benefits and marginal costs of environmental clean-up and contrast the free market solution versus competing views of valuing the environment
  • Analyze resource allocation in an intertemporal context and discuss the importance of environmental policy instruments used to correct for market failures
  • Evaluate and classify natural resources according to depletability, recyclability, renewability, and discuss diverse government policies and their impact on various population groups.
  • Compare and contrast the costs and benefits of incentive-based versus top down environmental regulation
  • Evaluate the interdependency and the long-term thinking necessary to grow the world economy while protecting environmental resources at the same time.

CSLOs

  • Demonstrate an understanding of environmental responsibility and natural resource scarcity and its role within economic science and economic growth.

  • Identify the interdependent relationship between the economy and the environment, and the long-term thinking necessary to grow the world economy while protecting environmental resources.

  • Evaluate the marginal benefits and marginal costs of environmental clean-up and contrast the optimal solution of the free market versus competing views of valuing the environment.

  • Evaluate outcomes and government policy responses in markets with negative externalities, and their effectiveness in the U.S. and the international community.

Outline

  1. Define environmental sustainability and explain the ecological imperative underlying it.
    1. Develop visions for the future
      1. Future environmental challenges: climate change, water accessibility
      2. Meeting the challenges: the role of economics
    2. Formulate and calculate a value for the environment
      1. The relationship between people and the environment
      2. The environment as an asset
      3. Criteria for decision making: finding the optimal outcome
      4. Preservation and development
    3. Define sustainability and sustainable economic development
      1. Weak and strong sustainability
      2. Precautionary principle
    4. Combine macroeconomics and the environment
      1. National income accounting conventions (GDP)
      2. National income accounting, including the environment
        1. Greening the national income accounts
        2. Genuine Progress Indicator
  2. Calculate the marginal benefits and marginal costs of environmental clean-up and contrast the free market solution versus competing views of valuing the environment
    1. Compare and contrast benefits and costs: pricing the environment
    2. Analyze market failures
      1. Negative and positive externalities
      2. Public goods
    3. Illustrate, interpret, and apply supply and demand: theory and models in the context of climate change.
    4. Discuss the economics of efficiency and markets in the context of climate change and sustainability criteria.
      1. Role of property rights
      2. Divergence of private and social discount rate
  3. Analyze resource allocation in an intertemporal context and discuss the importance of environmental policy instruments used to correct for market failures
    1. Illustrate the concept of sustainable development
      1. Intertemporal fairness
      2. Sustainability criterion
    2. Recognize and discuss the role of environmental policy and the impact of policies on diverse populations.
  4. Evaluate and classify natural resources according to depletability, recyclability, renewability, and discuss diverse government policies and their impact on various population groups.
    1. Analyze the population problem: population growth and economic development
    2. Discuss energy sources: depletable and non-recyclable energy resources
      1. Oil: the cartel problem
      2. Natural gas: price controls
      3. Transition to renewable energy sources: hydroelectric power, wind, photovoltaics, active and passive solar energy, ocean tidal power, bio-fuel, geothermal energy
    3. Appraise water: a replenishable and depletable resource
      1. Efficient allocation of scarce water
      2. Current allocation system
      3. Remedies
    4. Evaluate land
      1. The economics of land allocation
      2. Sources of inefficient use and conversion
      3. Effects of strip-mining, removal of mountain tops by coal companies, and mountain range removal (adjoining valleys and streams get buried)
      4. Policy solutions
    5. Examine agriculture
      1. Scarcity of food
      2. Role of technological progress
      3. Genetically modified organisms
      4. Energy costs and environmental costs
      5. Agricultural policies
    6. Evaluate forests: storable and renewable resources
      1. Forest harvesting decisions and sustainable forestry
      2. Sources of inefficiency
      3. Debt for nature swaps (example: Belize)
      4. Analyze various policy responses and perspectives with respect to deforestation and rainforest destruction and their impact on diverse populations.
    7. Inspect fisheries: renewable common-pool resources
      1. Efficient allocations
      2. Public policy responses towards fisheries: aquaculture, raising the real cost of fishing, taxation, individual transferable quotas, marine reserves
  5. Compare and contrast the costs and benefits of incentive-based versus top-down environmental regulation
    1. Analyze the economics of pollution control
      1. Emission charges
      2. Subsidies
      3. Taxation (Pigouvian taxes)
      4. Quotas, caps, and tradable permits
    2. Evaluate the economics of stationary-source local air pollution
      1. Conventional pollutants
      2. Innovative approaches: the effectiveness of emissions trading and other programs
    3. Debate the economics of mobile-source pollution: transportation
      1. Possible reforms: fuel taxation
      2. Congestion pricing
      3. Private toll roads
    4. Evaluate different water pollution control policies
      1. Identify sources of contamination
      2. Incidence of groundwater pollution
      3. Local sanctuaries and threats due to drilling for oil
    5. Critically evaluate policies targeted at hazardous waste
      1. Extraction and disposal costs
      2. Toxic and hazardous waste
      3. Managing waste
    6. Discuss and debate international agreements on climate change and how it affects diverse age, gender, racial, ethnic, and/or socioeconomic groups.
      1. Regional pollutants: acid rain
      2. Global pollutants: ozone depleting chemicals
      3. The European emissions trading scheme
  6. Evaluate the interdependency and the long-term thinking necessary to grow the world economy while protecting environmental resources at the same time.
    1. Consider and analyze the limits on technological progress
      1. The natural resource curse
      2. Jobs versus the environment
      3. Barriers to development: poverty, population growth, trade policies, debt, natural disasters
    2. Discuss various perspectives and their impact on diverse age, racial, ethnic, gender, and/or socioeconomic groups, and formulate the quest for sustainable development.
      1. Pollution havens versus more environmental protection
      2. Opportunities for global cooperation
      3. Economic incentives for sustainable development
      4. Changes in institutional structures
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