NEXT SET OF NOTES IS UP (TYPO IN THE NOTES IS CORRECTED). SEE BELOW

Course Description

General Information

Course Meetings: Tuesdays and Thursdays from 11:00 to 12:15 pm in room Memorial 312 (MM312).

Office: Room 521B, Jenkins School of Business.

Office hours: Wednesdays at 2-3 pm (Dave is almost always around during business hours, but try to come during office hours if you can).

Contacts: Dave can be contacted via phone (8x3725) or email (dkelly@miami.edu).

Web Site: Dave has established a website (http://moya.bus.miami.edu/~dkelly/teach/eco345/index.html) for this course. At this site, you can download or view course material (homeworks, etc.), as well as a continuously updated syllabus.

Final Exam: Wednesday, December 9 from 11 am to 1:30 pm (Section P).

Prerequisites

Textbooks

Charles D. Kolstad, Environmental Economics Oxford University Press, 2000.

Grades

You can now access your grades on line HERE!

Additional Notes

• Attendance is very important for this class. All exam material comes from class notes, and not all class notes are available in the book. Dave tries to reference every topic (whether in the book or elsewhere). However, the wily student usually aces the course by attending every class and taking careful notes.
• The two quizzes are Thursday October 1 and Thursday November 5. Now is the time to mark your calendars. Only in the most dire emergencies can the student not take a quiz at the scheduled time. Even in dire emergencies, Dave does not allow a make-up, but instead counts the next quiz double. Students must let Dave know of their dire emergency before the quiz begins or else a zero is automatically recorded.
• Homeworks are due in class, at the beginning of class. Showing up 20 minutes late because you didn't finish the homework on time is not acceptable. Putting a homework in my mailbox, under my door, etc. is also not acceptable. Emailing homework is only acceptable if done in advance. Only in the most dire emergencies can a student be excused from turning in a homework on time. Even in dire emergencies Dave does not allow the homework to be turned in late, but will instead weight the final more. Students must let Dave know of their dire emergency before the beginning of the class for which the homework is due or else a zero is automatically recorded.

Course Outline

1. Introduction (August 27 - September 3).
1. What is Environmental Economics? (1.1).
2. Topics (1.6)
3. Approach
1. Positive versus Normative (1.5).
2. Moral neutrality and market failure. (1.0)
3. Resource Economics, ecological economics (1.3-1.4).
4. The economy and the environment: stylized facts (2.1, 2.3).
5. Environmental Regulation (2.2).
2. Social choice, markets, and market failure (September 3-17).
1. Social Choice.
1. Utility (3.3).
2. Pareto criterion (3.3).
2. Markets
1. Pareto efficiency (3.1).
2. Edgeworth Box (3.2).
3. Welfare theorems (3.3)
4. Surplus (4.3)
3. HOMEWORK 1, DUE SEPTEMBER 17
3. Market failure.
1. Public Goods (5.1-5.2).
2. Externalities (5.4).
3. FIRST QUIZ OCTOBER 1
4. Regulation under certainty (October 12 - October 19).
1. Property rights.
1. Coase theorem (6).
2. Polluter pays principle (6.1).
2. Market based regulation.
1. Pigouvian Taxes (7,9).
2. HOMEWORK 2, DUE OCTOBER 22
3. Tradeable permits (8.3,9).
4. Liability (8.3).
3. Command and control (8.3).
5. Regulation under uncertainty and other issues (October 19 - November 17).
1. Taxes versus permits (10).
2. SECOND QUIZ, NOVEMBER 5
3. Safety valves and other hybrids (10)
4. Optimal monitoring (11.2).
5. HOMEWORK 3, DUE NOVEMBER 19
6. Double dividend (14.3).
6. International trade and the environment (November 19-24).
1. Pollution Havens (13.1-13.3).
2. Transboundry pollution (13.4).
7. Environment and macroeconomics (December 1 - December 3)
1. Environmental Kuznets curve (13.1).
2. Climate change (articles).

LEARNING OBJECTIVES.

Class Handouts

Note: all handouts may be downloaded as Adobe Acrobat pdf files. If your computer cannot read acrobat files, download the reader for free HERE .

Homework 1, Due Thursday, September 17.

Homework 1, Solutions.

Review, First Quiz.

First Quiz.

First Quiz, Solutions.

Homework 2, Due October 22.

Homework 2, Solutions.

Review, Second Quiz.

Second Quiz.

Second Quiz, Solutions.

Homework 3, Due November 19.

Notes, graphs, tables, etc.

Below are some notes for the class. I will add notes periodically throughout the semester. You will see that these notes, while helpful, are in an outline format and do not substitute for the notes taken in class.

Notes: Introduction (Section I)

Notes: Markets and Market Failures (Section II-III)

Notes: Regulation Under Certainty (Section IV)

Notes: Uncertainty and other issues. (Section V)

Notes: Initial permit allocation (V.f)

Up to Dave Kelly's homepage

Careers in Economics