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COURSE PAGE FOR ECON/ENVS 331 - Spring 2007
Natural Resource Economics


Source : US Geological Survey
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 Class: MW(F) 8:35-9:50 in King 227

Instructor: Sylvestre Gaudin
Office: Rice Hall 027
Office hours: T 2:30-4:30; W 10-11 - SIGN UP SHEET by my door for priority during office hours and for extra slots.
Phone: 775-8915 (Office)

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Course Description:The course applies microeconomic analysis to the allocation and management of natural resources.  Economic modeling is used to analyze the optimal use of specific resources such as land, water, fossil fuel and mineral resources, fisheries, and forests (although forests management models will not be presented in this course).  Issues of land use and urban sprawl, efficient pricing for water and power, species extinction, optimal extraction of a mineral over time, and the reliance on natural resources in the context of growing populations will be explored.  Simplest models using a static (or steady state) framework are presented first but when dynamics add important policy dimensions to the problem, a more realistic dynamic setting is explored.  In all cases, the influence of property right regimes and market structure will be considered as a central part of the economic analysis.
Emphasis will NOT be on descriptive topics such as understanding the state of natural resources in the US and the world or on the current/past policies regulating the use of natural resources but on understanding the factors that determine the optimality or sub-optimality of patterns of use, extraction, and depletion of key natural resources for use in the economic process.  Emphasis will be on efficiency consideration. Equity issues will also be addressed throughout the course, although in a less rigorous manner.