Course:FRE526

FRE 526: The economics of environmental policy: Lowering costs to achieve our climate and conservation targets
FRE 526
Section:
Instructor:	Dr. Sumeet Gulati
Email:	sumeet.gulati@ubc.ca Phone:(604) 822-2144
Office:	341 MacMillan
Office Hours:	TBA
Class Schedule:	Jan 7 to Feb 13 Tue & Thur 2:00 to 3:30 pm
Classroom:	MCML 154
Important Course Pages
	Syllabus
	Lecture Notes
	Assignments
	Course Discussion

COURSE DESCRIPTION

A key economic principle for environmental policy is cost effectiveness: that is policy should minimize the cost of achieving its objective.  Another key principle is the recognition of how we trade-off current and future net-benefits when we make policy decisions.  We will use a simple framework to understand the concept of cost-effectiveness of policy, and inter-temporal optimization in environmental regulation.

We then apply this framework to the defining issue of our time, climate change.  We describe society’s optimal emission of greenhouse gases (GHGs), and evaluate (theoretically and in practice) two commonly employed policies for GHG reduction: carbon taxes and cap and trade.  In addition to their cost-effectiveness, we also evaluate these policies for other desirable policy properties such as their impact on equity.  We similarly evaluate policies used to regulate natural resource extraction.

LEARNING OUTCOMES

1. To understand how to lower the costs for meeting environmental goals in a society of heterogenous actors.
2. To recognize the implicit intertemporal economic tradeoff underlying the use and regulation of natural resources.
3. To determine the relative merits of different environmental policies—market-based or other regulatory solutions—in various contexts.

ASSESSMENT REPORT

You will be assigned four take-home assignments consisting of problem sets, short essays, and a blog post encouraging you to think about what you learn about in class and from your assigned readings.

These assignments will challenge students to evaluate the relative merits of different environmental policies - market-based or other regulatory solutions - in different contexts.

REAL-WORLD APPLICATIONS IN CLIMATE, FOOD & ENVIRONMENT

1. What policies are in use to regulate climate emissions across the world today?
2. How can one evaluate the merits of some major economic policies regulating climate emissions?
3. What policies are employed to regulate natural resource extraction?
4. How is the principles of cost-effectiveness influencing newer policies being employed recently?

ASSESSMENT METHODS

Your grade shall be determined as follows:

Exams and Problem Sets	Date	Percent of Grade
3 out of 4 take-home assignments	Assigned every two weeks	60 percent
Final Exam	In Class, date and time TBA	30 percent
Class Participation		10 percent