UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, LOS ANGELES

Department of Economics

Economics 134 - ENVIRONMENTAL ECONOMICS
Spring, 1999, Professor Cameron

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, 3:30 - 4:45; Bunche 1209B
Midterm: Thursday, May 6, 3:30-4:45 (no make-up exam)
Final: Wednesday, June 16, 8-11 am. (no exceptions, including travel plans)
Instructor's Office: Bunche Hall 9367
Phone: 825-3925 (or leave message at 825-1011)
e-mail: tcameron@econ.ucla.edu
Office Hours: M,W 2:00-3:50 and by appointment (may be revised early in quarter)
Discussion Board (authenticated): http://www.sscnet.ucla.edu/99S/econ134-1/wwwboard
Announcements: http://www.sscnet.ucla.edu/99S/econ134-1/announce.php

TAs: Heidi Pickman; [TBA]
TA Sections: Tuesdays; Section 1A: 9-9:50 am, Section 1B: 10-10:50 am.; other sections pending
TA Section locations: Sections 1A and 1B in Math Sciences 6229 (First-day signup will be held.)
TA Office: Bunche
TA Office hours: either mornings or after 6 pm, T, W. (To be finalized)
e-mail: hap117@ucla.edu

Synopsis: Lecture, three hours; TA section, one hour (recommended). Requisites: courses 11, 101. Application of economic theory to natural and environmental resources problems. Topics include sustainability and natural resource scarcity, steady-state models for renewable resources (land and water, fisheries, forests), externalities and pollution (including use of incentives for pollution control), and nonrenewable resources (minerals). Emphasis on the major environmental issues and problems facing Californians, especially air, water, and toxic substances. Readings to be assigned from textbook and supplementary course reader; midterm (25%), final exam (50%), and up to four homework sets (25%). Letter grading.

Course Objectives:

  • Gain familiarity with the most important economic models pertaining to issues of allocation and management of natural resources and 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

    •

    Computer Orientation: In the first TA section (week of April 12-16) the TA sections will meet in the PPB Social Sciences Computing labs, rather than in the regular classroom. If you are not familiar with how to access the World-wide Web from the Social Sciences Computing Lab, you are encouraged to attend an orientation session. I have reserved the PPB 2035B lab (50 computers) from 9-10 am on Tuesday, April 13, and the PPB 2035H lab (35 computers) from 10-11 a.m. on April 13. At least one additional orientation session will be added as we learn about demand for orientation opportunities. (Detailed instructions for each lab session will be posted on the web so that students can do the lab from remote locations at times convenient to their schedules.)

    Access to a number of on-line data bases will be one of the important parts of this course. 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:

    Tietenberg, Tom (1996) Environmental and Natural Resource Economics (4th edition) New York: Harper Collins College Publishers
    A course reader containing about 20 additional readings and supporting materials (available at Course Reader Materials, 1133 Westwood Boulevard, Westwood, (310) 443-3300).
    Self-scoring Online Practice Quizzes (not for credit)
    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. This is the first time this subject matter has been taught at the undergraduate level at UCLA, so your feedback will be appreciated. The pace may be adjusted if necessary, and a few topics may be dropped, but the general order of topics will probably remain as shown. The title link here will contain an ex post list of what we manage to cover each day.
    Abbreviated Outline and Readings:

    Items not from the text are from the Course Reader. During the quarter, a small number of additional readings may become available. These will be placed on reserve at Powell Library.

    1. Background:
      2.    
      READINGS: Tietenberg, Ch. 1    
      Barcott (1999); Costanza et. al(1998)

    2. Tools:
      3.    
      READINGS: Tietenberg, Ch. 2    
      Duffield (1997), Gellert et al (1994)

    3. Property Rights and Externalities:
      4.    
      READINGS: Tietenberg, Ch. 3    
      Kahn and Matsusaka (1997)

    4. Regulating the Market: Information and Uncertainty
      5.    
      READINGS: Tietenberg, Ch. 4

    5. The Allocation of Depletable and Renewable Resources: Overview
      6.    
      READINGS: Tietenberg, Ch. 6

    6. Energy Resources: Oil, Gas, Coal, and Uranium
      7.    
      READINGS: Tietenberg, Ch. 7

    7. Water Resources (quantity issue)
      8.    
      READINGS: Tietenberg, Ch. 9    
      Ward et al. (1996), Loomis (1998), and Barcott(1999) again.

      MIDTERM EXAM will cover to this point at most (or to whatever
      we can cover by the end of Lecture 8 on April 29, which is
      one week prior to the exam).

    8. Forests
      9.    
      READINGS: Tietenberg, Ch. 11    
      Dwyer and Murphy (1995)

    9. Fisheries
      10.    
      READINGS: Tietenberg, Ch. 12

    10. Economics of Pollution Control: Overview
      11.    
      READINGS: Tietenberg, Ch. 14

    11. Stationary Source Local Air Pollution
      12.    
      READINGS: Tietenberg, Ch. 15    
      Hall and Walton (1996), Lents and Leyden (1996), Foster and Hahn (1995), Kling (1994), Johnson and Pekelney (1996)

    12. Regional and Global Air Pollutants: Acid Rain and Atmospheric Modification
      13.    
      READINGS: Tietenberg, Ch. 16    
      Shaw (1996)

    13. Mobile-Source Air Pollution
      14.    
      READINGS: Tietenberg, Ch. 17    
      Small and Kazimi (1995), Kazimi (1997), Hahn (1995)

    14. Water Pollution
      15.    
      READINGS: Tietenberg, Ch. 18

    15. Toxic Substances
      16.    
      READINGS: Tietenberg, Ch. 19    
      (Oskamp et al. 1994 – not really "toxic")

    16. Environmental Justice
      17.    
      READINGS: Tietenberg, Ch. 20    
      Pulido et al. (1996), Vaughan (1995)

    Course Requirements: There are a total of 300 possible points in the course.
    Expected Grade Distribution
    Letter Grade Percentage Points/300
    A+ 95% < grade 286+
    A 90% < grade < 95% 271-285
    A- 85% < grade < 90% 256-270
    B+ 80% < grade < 85% 241-255
    B 75% < grade < 80% 226-240
    B- 70% < grade < 75% 211-225
    C+ 60% < grade < 70% 181-210
    C 50% < grade < 60% 151-180
    C- 40% < grade < 50% 121-150
    D-F grade < 40% <120


    Course Conduct and Policies:
    Links to Relevant Organizations
    Links to Relevant Journals
    Monitoring: daily usage statistics.  Updated: 3/20/99
    Prepared by: Trudy Ann Cameron