Undergraduate Course: Natural Resource and Environmental Economics (ECNM10022)
Course Outline
| School | School of Economics |
College | College of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences |
| Credit level (Normal year taken) | SCQF Level 10 (Year 4 Undergraduate) |
Availability | Not available to visiting 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 or Fridays 1610-1800. 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.
Important information regarding course Quota: This course has a quota and is currently full. If you would like to be added to the waitlist, please email the Course Secretary: Economics.Honours@ed.ac.uk
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Entry Requirements (not applicable to Visiting Students)
| Pre-requisites |
Students MUST have passed:
Topics in Microeconomics (ECNM10070)
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Co-requisites | |
| Prohibited Combinations | |
Other requirements | None |
| Additional Costs | None |
Course Delivery Information
| Not being delivered |
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.
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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. Tutorials to be arranged in addition. |
| Keywords | NREE |
Contacts
| Course organiser | Prof Gordon Hughes
Tel: (0131 6)50 8358
Email: Gordon.Hughes@ed.ac.uk |
Course secretary | Miss Emma Craigen
Tel: (0131 6) 51 5936
Email: ecraigen@ed.ac.uk |
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