ECON 460

 

Seminar in Envrionmental Economics


Dr K.J. Wainwright
Email: wainwrig@sfu.ca


 

 

Sections:

  • D100 Tuesdays 2:30 - Virtual Class
  • D200 Fridays 5:30 - Virtual Class
Office Hours: by Appointment
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Course Description:

The objective of the course is to apply economic models to environmental problems. After a brief examination of some of the key microeconomic models applied to environmental problems, a variety of topics in environmental economics will then be covered, with emphasis dependent on the interests of the class. Environmental policy analysis will be emphasized and applied to problems such as ecosystem degradation, climate change, urban air pollution, and water pollution. Other topics may include the effects of environmental policy on economic innovation and growth, international trade, and development. Seminar presentations will be related to these specific topics and dispersed throughout the semester.

Video Lectures:

Zoom Video Archive

Required Texts:

Kolstad, Charles D. Environmental Economics. 2nd ed. New York, NY: Oxford University Press, 2000. ISBN: 0195119541

 

Environmental Economics: A Survey by Maureen Cropper and  Wallace Oates JEL Vol XXX (June 1992)

 

[1] Calculus Primer

[2] Economics and Optimization

[3] Notes on solving Congestion and Peakload problems

Grading:    

written/online assignments

20% Notes: HW1 Key
Literature Reviews 20% Notes

Term Paper

20% Notes
Final Exam 40% Notes1     Notes2

 

 

           

 


 

  Outline:    

Topic

Kolstad

Supplimental Materials

1

The Role of Government and Social Choice

CH 1, 2 and 3.

 

2

Efficiency and Markets

CH 4

 

 

& Market Failure and Externalities

CH 5

 
3 Benefit Cost Analysis
CH 6
 
4 Environmental Demand Theory
CH 7, 8

(1) Intro to CV/EV   (2) Calculating CV/EV

5

Regulating Pollution

CH 11

 
6

Pigovian Taxes

CH 12

 
7

CAC, Emission fees, Marketable permits

CH 12

 
8 Property Rights
CH 13
 
9

More on Marketable permits:

Cap and trade

CH 14
 
10

Regulation with Unkown Controls

CH 15

 
11

Risk, uncertainty and Moral Hazard

CH 16

 
 
Journal Articles
   
 

An alternative approach to the analysis of taxation

Yoram Barzel JPE 1976 (Read only sections I to V; up to page 1190 only)

   
 

On Marketable Air-Pollution Permits: The Case for a System of Pollution Offsets

KRUPNICK, OATES AND VANDEVERG JEEM (1983)

 

Marketable Permits for the Prevention of Environmental Deterioration

MCGARTLAND AND OATES JEEM(1985)

 

Environmental Regulation, Asymmetric Information, and Moral Hazard,

Wainwright, K

   
 

 

The structure of a contract and the theory of a non-exclusive resource

Cheung, S.N.S. JLE 1970 pp 49-70

   
 

 

The Use of Standards and Prices for Protection of the Environment

William J. Baumol and Wallace E. Oates

The Swedish Journal of Economics, Vol. 73, No. 1, Environmental Economics, (Mar.,1971), pp. 42-54

Prices vs. Quantities

Martin L. Weitzman, The Review of Economic Studies(Oct., 1974)

 

Uncertainty and the Choice of Pollution Control Instruments

ZVI ADAR AND JAMES M. GRIFFIN, JEEM (1976)

 

Emission Control Policies under Uncertainty

GIDEON FISHELSON, JEEM (1976)

 

   
 

Equilibrium in competitive insurance markets: an essay on the economics of imperfect information

Rothchild, M and Stiglitz, JQE, 90, 1976

   

 


  Readings by Topic Category
Externalities & Property Rights

Required:

The Problem of Social Cost

Ronald Coase

Journal of Law and Economics, pp1-44 Oct. 196

.

The Exchange and Enforcement of Property Rights

Harold Demsetz

Journal of Law and Economics, Vol. 7, (Oct., 1964), pp. 11-26

 

Some Aspects of Property Rights

Harold Demsetz

Journal of Law and Economics, Vol. 9, (Oct., 1966), pp. 61-70

 

The Transferability and Depletability of Externalities

PETER J. W. N. BIRD

JOURNAL OF ENVIRONMENTAL ECONOMICS AND MANAGEMENT 14, 54-57 (1987)

 

COMMENTS One More Externality Article

HENRY M. PESKIN

JOURNAL OF ENVIRONMENTAL ECONOMICS AND MANAGEMENT 15, 380-381 (1988)

.

One More Externality Article: Reply

PETER J. W. N. BIRD

JOURNAL OF ENVIRONMENTAL ECONOMICS AND MANAGEMENT 15, 382-383 (1988)

 

Pigouvian Taxes

External Diseconomies, Corrective Taxes, and Market Structure

James M. Buchanan

The American Economic Review, Vol. 59, No. 1, (1969), pp. 174-177

Required:

An alternative approach to the analysis of taxation

Barzel, Y

JPE, 84, 1976

Recommended:

Depletable Externalities and Pigouvian Taxation

A. MYRICK FREEMAN III

JOURNAL OF ENVIRONMENTAL ECONOMICS AND MANAGEMENT 11,173-179 (1984)

Pigovian Taxes Which Work in the Small-Number Case

DONALD WITTMAN

JOURNAL OF ENVIRONMENTAL ECONOMICS AND MANAGEMENT 12, 144-154 (1985)

Recommended:

The Use of Standards and Prices for Protection of the Environment

William J. Baumol and Wallace E. Oates

The Swedish Journal of Economics, Vol. 73, No. 1, Environmental Economics, (Mar.,1971), pp. 42-54

Uncertainty and Asymmetric Information

Required

Environmental Regulation, Asymmetric Information, and Moral Hazard

Wainwright, K

discussion paper

Prices vs. Quantities

Martin L. Weitzman

The Review of Economic Studies, Vol. 41, No. 4, (Oct., 1974), pp. 477-491

Recommended:

Uncertainty and the Choice of Pollution Control Instruments

ZVI ADAR AND JAMES M. GRIFFIN

JOURNAL OF ENVIRONMENTAL ECONOMICS AND MANAGEMENT 3, 178-188 (1976)

 Recommended:

Emission Control Policies under Uncertainty

GIDEON FISHELSON

JOURNAL OF ENVIRONMENTAL ECONOMICS AND MANAGEMENT 3, 189-197 (1976)


Uncertainty and incentives for nonpoint pollution control
Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Volume 15, Issue 1, March 1988, Pages 87-98

Kathleen Segerson

Pollution Control Mechanisms when Abatement Costs are Private Knowledge, Olivar Bergland, Jan 1990 (dissertation)

 

Technology Choice and Environmental Regulation under Asymmetric Information

Alessio D'Amato and Bouwe Dijkstra, Resource and Energy Economics 2015

Marketable Permits

Marketable Pollution Permits and Acid Rain Externalities
Scott E. Atkinson
The Canadian Journal of Economics / Revue canadienne d'Economique, Vol. 16, No. 4 (Nov., 1983), pp. 704-722

Efficiency in Pollution Control in the Short and Long Runs: A System of Rental Emission

Permits

Robert A. Collinge and Wallace E. Oates

The Canadian Journal of Economics, Vol. 15, No. 2, (May, 1982), pp. 346-354

 

On Marketable Air-Pollution Permits: The Case for a System of Pollution Offsets

ALAN J. KRUPNICK, WALLACE E. OATES AND ERICVANDEVERG

JOURNAL OF ENVIRONMENTAL ECONOMICS AND MANAGEMENT 10,233-247 (1983)

 

Marketable Permits for the Prevention of Environmental Deterioration

ALBERT M. MCGARTLAND AND WALLACE E. OATES

JOURNAL OF ENVIRONMENTAL ECONOMICS AND MANAGEMENT 12,207-228 (1985)

 

Tradeable Permits ofr Pollution Control when Emission Location Matters: What Have We Learned?

Tom Tietenberg, Environmental and Resource Economics 1995

 

 

Efficiency, Enforcement and Innovation

An Empirical Analysis of Economic Strategies for Controlling Air Pollution

EUGENE P. SESKIN, ROBERT J. ANDERSON JR. AND ROBERT 0. REID

JOURNAL OF ENVIRONMENTAL ECONOMICS AND MANAGEMENT 10, 112- 124 ( 1983)

The Structure of Penalties in Environmental Enforcement: An Economic Analyis

KATHLEEN SEGERSON & TOM TIETENBERG

JOURNAL OF ENVIRONMENTAL ECONOMICS AND MANAGEMENT 23, 179-200 (1992)

Markets for pollution control when firms are noncompliant
Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Volume 18, Issue 2, Part 1, March 1990, Pages 97-106
Arun S. Malik

Permanent versus interim regulations: A game-theoretic analysis
Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Volume 21, Issue 2, September 1991, Pages 127-139
Arun S. Malik

Nonpoint pollution control: Inducing first-best outcomes through the use of threats
Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Volume 51, Issue 2, March 2006, Pages 165-184
Kathleen Segerson, JunJie Wu

The Effect of Allowing Pollution Offsets with Imperfect Enforcement

Hilary Sigman and Howard Chang, NBER Working Paper Series March 2011

 

Innovation in Pollution Control

Paul Downing and Lawrence White, JEEM 1986

Natural Resources

Contracting Problems and Regulation: The Case of the Fishery Ronald Johnson and Gary Libecap, AER 1982

 

Fishery Reading

 

Forestry Reading

 

Chronological Listing

Many articles are also listed above

 

 

The Problem of Social Cost

Ronald Coase

Journal of Law and Economics, pp1-44 Oct. 196

.

The Exchange and Enforcement of Property Rights

Harold Demsetz

Journal of Law and Economics, Vol. 7, (Oct., 1964), pp. 11-26

 

Some Aspects of Property Rights

Harold Demsetz

Journal of Law and Economics, Vol. 9, (Oct., 1966), pp. 61-70

 

Why Regulate Utilities?

Harold Demsetz

Journal of Law and Economics, Vol. 11, No. 1 (Apr., 1968), pp. 55-65

 

External Diseconomies, Corrective Taxes, and Market Structure

James M. Buchanan

The American Economic Review, Vol. 59, No. 1, (1969), pp. 174-177

.
The structure of a contract and the theory of a non-exclusive resource

Cheung, S.N.S.

JLE 1970 pp 49-70

 

The Use of Standards and Prices for Protection of the Environment

William J. Baumol and Wallace E. Oates

The Swedish Journal of Economics, Vol. 73, No. 1, Environmental Economics, (Mar.,

1971), pp. 42-54

 

Prices vs. Quantities

Martin L. Weitzman

The Review of Economic Studies, Vol. 41, No. 4, (Oct., 1974), pp. 477-491

.

An alternative approach to the analysis of taxation

Barzel, Y

JPE, 84, 1976

 

Uncertainty and the Choice of Pollution Control Instruments

ZVI ADAR AND JAMES M. GRIFFIN

JOURNAL OF ENVIRONMENTAL ECONOMICS AND MANAGEMENT 3, 178-188 (1976)

 

Emission Control Policies under Uncertainty

GIDEON FISHELSON

JOURNAL OF ENVIRONMENTAL ECONOMICS AND MANAGEMENT 3, 189-197 (1976)

 

Efficiency in Pollution Control in the Short and Long Runs: A System of Rental Emission

Permits

Robert A. Collinge and Wallace E. Oates

The Canadian Journal of Economics, Vol. 15, No. 2, (May, 1982), pp. 346-354

 

An Empirical Analysis of Economic Strategies for Controlling Air Pollution

EUGENE P. SESKIN, ROBERT J. ANDERSON JR. AND ROBERT 0. REID

JOURNAL OF ENVIRONMENTAL ECONOMICS AND MANAGEMENT 10, 112- 124 ( 1983)

 

On Marketable Air-Pollution Permits: The Case for a System of Pollution Offsets

ALAN J. KRUPNICK, WALLACE E. OATES AND ERICVANDEVERG

JOURNAL OF ENVIRONMENTAL ECONOMICS AND MANAGEMENT 10,233-247 (1983)

 

Depletable Externalities and Pigouvian Taxation

A. MYRICK FREEMAN III

JOURNAL OF ENVIRONMENTAL ECONOMICS AND MANAGEMENT 11,173-179 (1984)

 

A General Equilibrium Analysis of the Optimal Number of Firms in a Polluting Industry

Robert E. Kohn

The Canadian Journal of Economics, Vol. 18, No. 2, (May, 1985), pp. 347-354

 

Effluent Regulation and Long-Run Optimality

DANIEL F. SPULBE

JOURNAL OF ENVIRONMENTAL ECONOMICS AND MANAGEMENT 103-116 (1985)

  

Pigovian Taxes Which Work in the Small-Number Case

DONALD WITTMAN

JOURNAL OF ENVIRONMENTAL ECONOMICS AND MANAGEMENT 12, 144-154 (1985)

 

Marketable Permits for the Prevention of Environmental Deterioration

ALBERT M. MCGARTLAND AND WALLACE E. OATES

JOURNAL OF ENVIRONMENTAL ECONOMICS AND MANAGEMENT 12,207-228 (1985)

 

The Rate of Emission and the Optimal Scale of the Polluting Firm

Robert E. Kohn

The Canadian Journal of Economics, Vol. 19, No. 3, (Aug., 1986), pp. 574-581

 

The Transferability and Depletability of Externalities

PETER J. W. N. BIRD

JOURNAL OF ENVIRONMENTAL ECONOMICS AND MANAGEMENT 14, 54-57 (1987)

 

COMMENTS One More Externality Article

HENRY M. PESKIN

JOURNAL OF ENVIRONMENTAL ECONOMICS AND MANAGEMENT 15, 380-381 (1988)

.

One More Externality Article: Reply

PETER J. W. N. BIRD

JOURNAL OF ENVIRONMENTAL ECONOMICS AND MANAGEMENT 15, 382-383 (1988)

  

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