CURSO : ENVIRONMENTAL AND NATURAL RESOURCE ECONOMICS
SIGLA : AGE305E
CRÉDITOS : 10
MÓDULOS : 03
REQUISITOS : EAE105A
CARÁCTER : OPTATIVO
I. NATURE AND PURPOSE OF THE COURSE
This course provides a survey from the perspective of economics of public policy issues regarding the use of
natural resources and the management of environmental quality. The course covers both conceptual and
methodological topics and recent and current applications. The first part of the course is an introduction to the
principles of environmental and resource economics. In the second part of the course, the focus is on natural
resources, both nonrenewable and renewable resources. In the third part of the course, we examine
environmental policy, with the focus on air pollution problems, including: local problems (both stationary and
mobile sources); regional problems (acid rain); and global problems (climate change). In the fourth part of the
course, the focus is on sustainability and macroeconomic aspects of environmental policy, including positive
political economy.
II. OBJECTIVES
1. Understand environmental and natural resource problems from an economic point of view.
2. Apply microeconomic analysis to environmental and natural resource problems.
3. Understand the applicability of economic valuation methodologies.
III. CONTENTS
1. Introduction and overview.
2. Principles and methods of environmental economic analysis.
A. Fundamentals.
1. Net present value analysis.
2. The costs of environmental policies.
3. The benefits of environmental policies.
4. Valuing the environment: economic concepts and methods.
B. Environmental benefit estimation methods.
1. Revealed preference i: recreation demand models.
2. Revealed preference ii: hedonic pricing & averting behavior.
3. Stated preference (contingent valuation) and benefit transfer.
4. Benefits of morbidity and mortality risk reduction.
3. Natural resource economics and policy.
A. Nonrenewable resources.
1. Optimal extraction & use of nonrenewable natural resources.
2. Markets, market failure, & public policy.
B. Renewable resources:
1. Forestry.
2. Water scarcity.
3. Fisheries.
4. Environmental economics and policy: theory & selected applications.
A. Economics of pollution control: an overview.
B. Local air pollution.
C. Acid rain.
D. Global climate change.
PONTIFICIA UNIVERSIDAD CATOLICA DE CHILE
FACULTAD DE AGRONOMIA E INGENIERIA FORESTAL / Julio 2006
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5. Sustainable development, politics, and policy.
A. Ecological values and sustainability.
B. Trade, growth, and the environment.
C. Positive political economy.
IV. METHODOLOGY
- Class lectures supported with required and optional readings.
- Several guest lecturers will be invited.
- Several problem sets will be handed out to develop critical thinking and analysis of environmental nad
natural resource problems
V. COURSE GRADING
- Problem sets: 10%
- Test N?? 10%
Quizes:
- Test N 1: 25%
- 2: 25%
- Exam: 30%
Students are expected to attend all classes and exams and are responsible for any work missed. Unexcused
absences can lead to a warning, grading penalties or even dismissal from the course in the (hopefully
extremely unlikely) event of a flagrant disregard for this policy.
VI. BIBLIOGRAPHY
The following textbooks will be extensively used in the course.
Tietenberg, T. Environmental and natural resource economics. 2005 (7th ed).
Stavins, Robert N., ed. Economics of the environment: Selected readings. New York, W.
W. Norton & Company, 2005 (Fifth Edition).
Pernman, R.; Y. Ma; J. McGilvery y M. Common.
Natural resource and environmental economics. Bakersville,
Longman, 1999 (Second Edition).
Field, B. and M. Field. 2002. Environmental economics and introduction. Boston, McGraw Hill,
2002 (Third Edition).
The companion web site for this text can be found at: http://cursos.puc.cl/catalogo/. At that location you can
find hyperlinked web sites of general interest in environmental economics, chapter-specific web sites of
interest, web data sources and chapter-specific historic and current references to the relevant literature.
Further reading on any topic you wish to pursue further is not difficult to find. A number of journals are
devoted either exclusively or mostly to the topics covered in this course. One, Ecological Economics, is
dedicated to bringing economists and ecologists closer together in a common search for appropriate solutions
for environmental challenges. Interested readers can also find advanced work in the field in journalsResource
Land Economics, JournalEnergy such as
Economics, Resource and of Environmental EconomicsResources
Economics and Natural and Management, Environmental and
Journal, among others.
PONTIFICIA UNIVERSIDAD CATOLICA DE CHILE
FACULTAD DE AGRONOMIA E INGENIERIA FORESTAL / Julio 2006
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