UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, LOS ANGELES

Department of Economics

Economics 134B - ECONOMICS OF ENVIRONMENTAL REGULATION

Request: If you wish to "bookmark" these materials, please bookmark through the ClassWeb access point, so that your "hits" will be noted in the accounting of Social Sciences Computing. I will be uploading revisions and additional details and linked material for this syllabus as the quarter progresses.

Lectures: T, Th, 8:00 - 9:15, Bunche 1209B
Midterm: May 8, 2001, during lecture period
Final: Thursday, June 14, 2001, 11:30:00 AM - 2:30:00 PM
Instructor's Office: Bunche Hall 9367
Phone: 825-3925 (or leave message at 825-1011)
e-mail: tcameron@econ.ucla.edu
Office Hours: TBA (and by appointment).
Discussion Board (authenticated): http://www.sscnet.ucla.edu/01S/econ134b-1/wwwboard
Announcements: http://www.sscnet.ucla.edu/01S/econ134b-1/announce.php

TA: TBA
TA Sections (quizzes will be held in alternate weeks; no meeting Week 1):
   1A - Tuesday 1-1:50 pm Public Policy 2238
   1B - Thursday 1-1:50 pm Public Policy 2238
   1C - Tuesday 2-2:50 pm Public Policy 2238
   1D - Thursday 2-2:50 pm Public Policy 2238
We will try to consolidate the quiz sections if at all possible.
TA Office: Bunche 9360???
TA Office hours: TBA
e-mail: Ben Bolitzer: benjaminbolitzer@hotmail.com

Synopsis: Lecture, three hours; discussion/quiz, one hour (even-numbered weeks). Requisite: course 134A. Social choice theory, efficiency and markets, public bads and externalities, property rights, Pigovian fees, marketable permits, legal solutions, risk and uncertainty, international and interregional competition, economy-wide effects of environmental regulations, and formal environmental demand theory. P/NP or letter grading.

Course Objectives:

  • Gain familiarity with the most important economic models pertaining to environmental economics and the management of environmental goods;

  • Learn more about those "externalities" that are not dealt with in much detail in most other courses in Economics;

  • Understand how economists deal with benefit-cost analysis of alternative allocations of environmental goods where markets do not exist;

  • Learn (or review) how to employ the key information databases available for determining the state-of-the-art in this discipline

    •

    NOTE: There is a substantial on-line component to this course. "Virtual Handouts" will be used to supplement lecture materials (a good deal of this material is for enrichment; absolutely essential supplementary readings will be noted in lectures). Also, access to a number of on-line data bases will be one of the important parts of this course. For these tasks, you will need to be able to access the Web from a UCLA IP address (e.g. via BruinOnline, not AOL or some other provider). Some of the important databases we will need are not accessible outside UCLA's system.

    Review Sessions: will be scheduled for a late afternoon/early evening time slot a few days prior to each exam.

    Textbooks and Other Useful Materials:

    This quarter, the text will be:

    Kolstad, Charles (2000) Environmental Economics, New York: Oxford University Press
    Self-scoring Online Practice Quizzes (not for credit, require Netscape browser: http://home.netscape.com/download/index.html)
    Practice Problems
    Detailed Course Outline:
    The course outline provided below represents only an ex ante course plan, to be revised and amended during the quarter as warranted.
    Abbreviated Outline and Readings:
    1. Background:
      2.    
      READINGS: Kolstad, Ch. 1

    2. Environmental Problems and Policy Solutions:
      3.    
      READINGS: Kolstad, Ch. 2

    3. Social Choice: How Much Environmental Protection?
      4.    
      READINGS: Kolstad, Ch. 3

    4. Efficiency and Markets
      5.    
      READINGS: Kolstad, Ch. 4

    5. Market Failure: Public Bads and Externalities
      6.    
      READINGS: Kolstad, Ch. 5

    6. Property Rights
      7.    
      READINGS: Kolstad, Ch. 6

    7. Pigovian Fees
      8.    
      READINGS: Kolstad, Ch. 7

    8. Regulating Pollution
      9.    
      READINGS: Kolstad, Ch. 8

    9. Emission Fees and Marketable Permits
      10.    
      READINGS: Kolstad, Ch. 9

      MIDTERM EXAM will cover to this point at most (or to whatever
      we can cover by the end of Lecture 9 (note correction) on May 1, which is
      one week prior to the exam).

    10. Regulation with Unknown Control Costs
      11.    
      READINGS: Kolstad, Ch. 10

    11. Audits, Enforcement and Moral Hazard
      12.    
      READINGS: Kolstad, Ch. 11

    12. Risk and Uncertainty
      13.    
      READINGS: Kolstad, Ch. 12

    13. International and Interregional Competition
      14.    
      READINGS: Kolstad, Ch. 13

    14. Economy-wide Effects of Environmental Regulations
      15.    
      READINGS: Kolstad, Ch. 14

    15. Environmental Demand Theory
      16.    
      READINGS: Kolstad, Ch. 15

    16. Hedonic Price Methods
      17.    
      READINGS: Kolstad, Ch. 16

    17. Household Production
      18.    
      READINGS: Kolstad, Ch. 17

    18. Constructed Markets
      19.    
      READINGS: Kolstad, Ch. 18

    Course Requirements: There are a total of 300 possible points in the course. NOTE: the practice quizzes and practice problems are designed to help you anticipate the questions you will encounter in the section quizzes and on the midterm and the final exams. Please be sure to take advantage of these online resources.
    Links to Relevant Organizations
    Links to Relevant Journals

    Updated: 10:43 AM 3/31/00
    Prepared by: Trudy Ann Cameron