Economics 332: Environmental Economics
Fall 2007

Campbell Hall A5; MW 2:50–4:10 pm
Professor Hilary Sigman
Office: New Jersey Hall 419                                                      Telephone: (732) 932–7594
Office hours: Mon 10:30-noon                                                    E-mail: sigman@econ.rutgers.edu

This course uses economics to analyze public policies for environmental protection. The course discusses the role of environmental policy in a market economy, conventional and incentive-based approaches to environmental policy, and tools for evaluating environmental policies. We will study examples of policies from the U.S. and international environmental policy.

Prerequisites: You must have successfully completed intermediate microeconomics and econometrics before this course.

Text:  Callan and Thomas, Environmental Economics and Management, 4th edition 2006. There is no need to get the version packaged with the supplemental material; a used copy should be fine. For more technical background, I recommend Charles Kolstad, Environmental Economics Oxford, 1999, which should also be available at the bookstore and on reserve at Alex. A few supplemental readings will be available through electronic reserves.

Problem sets: Six problem sets will be distributed during the term. Problem sets are due at the beginning of class on their due date.  Timely submission of these problem sets will count for 10% of your course grade. You may drop one problem set and still get full credit for problem set submission. This dropped problem set gives you an automatic excuse for a date when you have a conflict, illness, or transportation problem. Otherwise, no problem sets will be excused for any reason. Late, faxed, or emailed problem sets will not be accepted.

Email addresses:  Any emergency announcements (e.g., weather-related cancellations) will be sent to students’ RU email addresses.  If you do not check your RU account, please set up forwarding to an account that you do use (instructions are provided at http://faq.rutgers.edu/).

Class web site: http://econweb.rutgers.edu/sigman/ec332  The web site includes copies of class handouts, such as this syllabus and problem sets. It also provides links to background information elsewhere on the web. I will try to make lecture outlines available on the web site before each class.

Exams: Two in-class midterm exams (see attached calendar) and a cumulative final exam at the time scheduled by the Registrar (Wednesday, December 19, noon-3pm).  The exams will be based on the lectures, readings, and the problem sets. The lecture and readings will not always cover the same material. You are responsible for the material in both the lectures and readings.

Please check to be sure that you can attend all the exams before deciding to take the class. There will be no alternative exam dates.  

Grading policy: Course grades will be based on problem set completion (10%), midterms (25% each), and final (40%).  All course grades will be curved and fit to approximately the average grade distribution of Economics 300 level classes. No additional assignments will be available to students dissatisfied with their grades.  

Economics 332: Environmental Economics                                                  Prof. H. Sigman
Calendar*                                                                                                                   Fall 2007

*Exam dates are definite; all other dates are approximate.

Day	Topic	Reading (all in C&T text)	Due dates
W, 9/5	Introduction	Chapter 2
M, 9/10	Public goods	pp. 46–54
W, 9/12	Externalities	pp. 54–61
M, 9/17	The role of property rights	pp. 61–63
W, 9/19	Design of environmental policy; Standards	Chapter 4	PS 1 due
M, 9/24	Taxes and subsidies	pp. 86–96
W, 9/26	Tax and subsidy example: Municipal solid waste	Chapter 18
M, 10/1	Marketable permits	pp. 100–107
W, 10/3	Marketable permit example: SO2 allowances	pp. 231–233, App  5.2	PS 2 due
M, 10/8	Review
W, 10/10	First Midterm Exam
M, 10/15	Legal liability as environmental policy and example: Superfund	pp. 335–343 Supp. reading 1
W, 10/17	Monitoring and enforcement	Supp. reading 2
M, 10/22	Measuring benefits of environmental policy	Chapter 7
W, 10/24			PS 3 due
M, 10/29	Measuring costs of environmental policy	Chapter 8
W, 10/31	Cost benefit comparisons	Chapter 9
M, 11/5	Incidence of environmental policies	Supp. reading 3	PS 4 due
W, 11/7	Review
M, 11/12	Second Midterm Exam
W, 11/14	Clean Air Act	Chapters 10 and 12
M, 11/19
M, 11/26	Clean Water Act	Chapter 14
W, 11/28	Growth and the environment	pp. 392–394 (on EKC), Apps 1.2 (p. 12) and  1.3 (p. 14)	PS 5 due
M, 12/3	International trade and the environment	pp. 400–404
W, 12/5	Climate change	pp. 247–258 Supp. reading 4
M, 12/10			PS 6 due
W, 12/12	Review
Wed 12/19 12-3pm	Final Exam (cumulative)