Undergraduate Course: Natural Resource and Environmental Economics (ECNM10022)

Course Outline
School	School of Economics	College	College of Humanities and Social Science
Credit level (Normal year taken)	SCQF Level 10 (Year 4 Undergraduate)	Availability	Available to all students
SCQF Credits	20	ECTS Credits	10
Summary	The aim of this course is to provide an overview of the substantial amount of work on environmental and natural resource economics, which has been carried out over the past decade. The course covers a major area of applied welfare economics, which will build on the material introduced in Economics 2 and Topics in Microeconomics and show how economics can contribute to policy formulation on a range of topics that are generating increasing public concern.
Course description	Topics covered include: renewable resources; fisheries and forests; replenishable resources; water; non-renewable resources; mining and energy; externalities and environmental policy; air pollution; water pollution; sustainable development, urban and industrial growth, rural growth and natural resource management; regional and global environmental issues. Gordon Hughes is a leading 'practitioner', who runs an economics consultancy and travels the world advising on natural resource, environmental and other issues. As he is in Edinburgh at weekends between travel commitments, the course will be taught mostly on Mondays 0900-0950. Class members are notified by email when classes will be held. Note that since there may be some irregularity of classes this places a premium on good time-management skills and flexibility/adaptability, in comparison to more standard weekly classes.

Entry Requirements (not applicable to Visiting Students)
Pre-requisites	Students MUST have passed: Topics in Microeconomics (ECNM10070)	Co-requisites
Prohibited Combinations		Other requirements	None
Additional Costs	None

Information for Visiting Students
Pre-requisites	None
High Demand Course?	Yes

Course Delivery Information

Academic year 2015/16, Available to all students (SV1)		Quota: None
Course Start	Semester 1
Timetable	Timetable
Learning and Teaching activities (Further Info)	Total Hours: 200 ( Lecture Hours 20, Summative Assessment Hours 2, Programme Level Learning and Teaching Hours 4, Directed Learning and Independent Learning Hours 174 )
Assessment (Further Info)	Written Exam 60 %, Coursework 40 %, Practical Exam 0 %
Additional Information (Assessment)	2,500 word essay (40%) 2 hour degree examination (60%) Visiting Student Variant Assessment Essay (40%) Two x 1500 word essays (60%)
Feedback	Not entered
Exam Information
Exam Diet	Paper Name		Hours & Minutes
Main Exam Diet S2 (April/May)			2:00

Academic year 2015/16, Part-year visiting students only (VV1)		Quota: None
Course Start	Semester 1
Timetable	Timetable
Learning and Teaching activities (Further Info)	Total Hours: 200 ( Lecture Hours 20, Programme Level Learning and Teaching Hours 4, Directed Learning and Independent Learning Hours 176 )
Assessment (Further Info)	Written Exam 0 %, Coursework 100 %, Practical Exam 0 %
Additional Information (Assessment)	2,500 word essay (40%) 2 hour degree examination (60%) Visiting Student Variant Assessment Essay (40%) Two x 1500 word essays (60%)
Feedback	Not entered
No Exam Information

Learning Outcomes
On completion of this course, the student will be able to: A knowledge and understanding of the analytical and practical foundations of the economics of natural resource and environment management with particular emphasis on policy analysis and the choices that must be made between competing objectives. They should be familiar with the techniques of evaluating non-market outcomes, the design and application of policy instruments, the relationship between local, regional and global aspects of natural resource and environment problems, and the application of economic models to complex systems. Research and investigative skills such as problem framing and solving and the ability to assemble and evaluate complex evidence and arguments. Communication skills in order to critique, create and communicate understanding. Personal effectiveness through task-management, time-management, dealing with uncertainty and adapting to new situations, personal and intellectual autonomy through independent learning. Practical/technical skills such as, modelling skills (abstraction, logic, succinctness), qualitative and quantitative analysis and general IT literacy.

Reading List
The primary textbook for the course is: T. Tietenberg & L. Lewis - Environmental and Natural Resource Economics (9th Edition, Pearson Education, 2011) This provides a comprehensive coverage of the subject matter of the course together with a good range of illustrations and supplementary reading. There are two other textbooks that provide more detailed material on the theoretical underpinnings of the subject. References will be provided to appropriate chapters in these texts and students should consult them in order to familiarize themselves with the basic analytical models. These are: R. Perman, Y. Ma, M. Common, D. Maddison & J. McGilvray � Natural Resource and Environmental Economics (4th Edition, Pearson Education, 2011) N. Hanley, J.F. Shogren & B. White - Environmental Economics in Theory and Practice (2nd Edition, Palgrave Macmillan, 2006) Further specific readings will be recommended from a variety of other books that provide more extensive coverage of individual topics in the course.

Additional Information
Graduate Attributes and Skills	See Learning Outcomes
Additional Class Delivery Information	1 x 2 hour lecture per week, students are notified by email in advance whether to attend the Friday/Monday session each week.
Keywords	NREE

Contacts
Course organiser	Ms Dawn Hutcheon Tel: (0131 6)51 5958 Email: Dawn.Hutcheon@ed.ac.uk	Course secretary	Ms Dawn Hutcheon Tel: (0131 6)51 5958 Email: Dawn.Hutcheon@ed.ac.uk