Instructor: Robin D. Hanson, Asst. Professor, Economics (rhanson@gmu.edu, http://robinhanson.com)
Office Hours: Officially TT 10:30-12:00am. But I'm usually in at 10b Carow Hall. Call ahead (703-993-2326) if you want to be sure.

Catalog Entry:

Econ 335 Environmental Economics (3:3:0). Prerequisites: ECON 103 and 104. Microeconomic analysis of environmental problems. Topics include an analysis of externali ties and market failure, alternative solutions and policies, problems in monitoring and enforcement, economic analysis of the development of legislation and regulation, and applications to current policy issues.

Eban S. Goodstein, Economics and the Environment, 4th Edition, Wiley, 2005, ISBN 0471470546, Sample Price $78. (Supposedly this text becomes available January 23.)

Scott J. Callan, Janet M. Thomas, Environmental Economics & Management, Third Edition, South-Western College Pub, 2004, ISBN 0324171811, Sample Price $103.

Tom Tietenberg, Environmental and Natural Resource Economics, Sixth edition, Addison-Wesley, 2003, ISBN 020177027X, Sample Price $80.

Bjorn Lomborg, The Skeptical Environmentalist Measuring the Real State of the World, Harvard University Press, 2001, ISBN 0521010683 Sample Price $17.

To become familiar with basic facts and issues in environmental economics, and to be able to make an economically-coherent defense of one's opinions on environmental questions.

• Class Participation Please contribute to class discussions.
• Quizes Three In-Class Quizes will given. Quizes and the final are open book, open notes.
• Defended Opinions Three times you will turn in a written defense of your opinions on an environmental question.

1. Should we replace government can and bottle recycling programs with higher taxes or tradeable permits on sources and sinks (i.e., mines and landfills?)
2. Should nations get CO2 credits for seeding oceans with iron?
3. You may choose the last topic.

• Quizes: 10Feb,4Mar,6Apr
• Defended Opinions: 2Mar,8Apr,29Apr
• Final: 1:30 - 4:15pm, May 6.

Week	Lecture Topic
20 Jan	Introduction & Econ Review
27 Jan	Externalities & Public Goods
3 Feb	Mechanisms to Mitigate Externalities
10 Feb	More Mechanisms
17 Feb	Efficiency, Ethics, & Politics
24 Feb	More Efficiency, Ethics, & Politics
2 Mar	Human Life & Health
9 Mar	Spring Break
16 Mar	Food, Energy, Space
23 Mar	Air & Water
30 Mar	Global Warming
6 Apr	Forestation & Biodiversity
13 Apr	Human Population
20 Apr	Transhumans
27 Apr	Review & Slack

Misc Links

Guess Lecture on RECLAIM pollution trading

US EPA National Center for Environmental Economics

Journal of Environmental Economics and Management

NBER papers on Environmental Economics

Rant by Michael Chrichton