The purpose of this course is to learn to read, write, and think analytically about the politics and economics of environmental policy. To accomplish those goals, you will do an extensive amount of reading, writing, and discussion. You will also learn to separate normative from positive analysis.

This course concentrates on institutions and incentives. That is, what are the rules and what incentives do they create for private citizens, bureaucrats, politicians, voters, and organized interests? Good intentions do not produce good policy or good results. I will argue that many of the political institutions now used to manage environmental resources expect too much.

The political system includes the rules under which the environment is managed and resources are allocated. Within the political context the analytical tools of economics help us to understand why resources are used in certain ways. These tools help us understand results, both positive and perverse, from well intentioned policies. To understand how and why natural resources are allocated as they are, we are obliged to understand some politics and some economics (but not mathematical economics).

Economics is the study of individual choices among scarce resources. Scarce resources are those resources for which people are willing to give up something. They are contrasted with those that are free or available without sacrifice. Thus, economics deals with the production and allocation of scarce resources (time, money, love, physical work) among competing uses (children, skiing, saving souls, pets, hedonism).

Political science is the study of collective choices among scarce resources. The resources allocated collectively vary between political bodies and over time but environmental goods are being allocated collectively at an increasing rate.

This course combines the study of economics and the study of politics as they apply to the environment. You do have a slight advantage if you have had an introductory course in economics but the advantage will have a short duration because the first portion of the course presents those concepts of economics I consider essential for anyone concerned with environmental policy.

This course will be taught under a modified seminar format. Mondays and Wednesdays will be a combination of lecture and class discussion. Fridays will be discussion days. You will have a typed 200 word essay due each Wednesday and it will be the basis for the Friday These essays, which I call "microthemes," are in response to an assigned question. Your essay must show that you read the material and responded thoughtfully to it.

The grade will consist of three parts:

1. Microthemes (15%) A microtheme is a 150-200 word typed response to an assigned question. They are due in class and will not be accepted late. If you are going to leave town, do your microthemes in advance and email them to me. With 13 microthemes due, each will be worth just over 1% of your grade.
2. Three in-class tests (20% each) These are essay tests for which I will ask you two questions that will require you to apply class materials to policy problems.
3. A major research paper (25%) You are expected to write a major research paper (15-25 pages) applying the ideas of the class to a real policy problem. A 3-5 page proposal is due in class on March 6. Each day the proposal is late reduces the research paper grade by five percent. The usual prohibitions against plagiarism apply.

Four books are required. All other sources are available as text on the internet.