AREC/ECON 377
Economics of Natural Resources

Reading List Spring 2007

I. INTRODUCTION TO NATURAL RESOURCE ECONOMICS

A. The Economic Approach

Barry C. Field, Natural Resource Economics (McGraw-Hill/Irwin, 2001), chapter 1.

Edward Lazear, “Economic Imperialism,” Quarterly Journal of Economics (2001), pp. 99-105, 141-143.

Harvey S. Rosen. “Methods of Empirical Analysis” in Public Finance 7th edition. Boston: Irwin, McGraw-Hill, 2006.

Steven E. Landsburg, Price Theory and Applications (Thomson Southwestern, 2005), chapter 19.

B. Fundamentals of Natural Resource Economics

Field (chapter 2)

Field (pp. 52-54, 65-66, 78-82 141-144), “Present Values and Discounting”

Scott Gordon. “Economics and the Conservation Question.” Journal of Law and Economics (1958).

Steven E. Landsburg, Price Theory and Applications (Thomson Southwestern, 2005), chapter 17.

C. Economic Growth and Environmental Quality

Field (chapters 20 and 21).

** PROBLEMS 1-4

II.  Ownership and Institutions

A. Property Law

Pierson v. Post. Supreme Court of New York, 1805 (3 Cai. R. 175, 2 Am. Dec 264).
Haslem v. Lockwood. 37 Conn. 500 (1871).

B. Property Rights, Transaction Costs, and the Coase Theorem

Harold Demsetz, “Property Rights.” In Peter Newman ed., The New Palgrave Dictionary of Economics and the Law Vol. 3 (1998) 144-155.

Charles D. Kolstad.  “Property Rights,” chapter 6 in Environmental Economics New York: Oxford University Press, 2000. pp. 99-116.

Boudewijn Bouckaert.  “Original Assignment of Private Property.” In Bouckaert and DeGeest,eds. Encyclopedia of Law and Economics (1998), Available on line at: http://allserv.rug.ac.be/~gdegeest/1100book.pdf

Demsetz, Harold, “Toward a Theory of Property Rights,” 1967.

C. Resource Ownership

Steven E. Landsburg, Price Theory and Applications (Thomson Southwestern, 2005), chapter 14.

Martin Bailey, “Property Rights in Aboriginal Societies.” In Peter Newman ed., The New Palgrave Dictionary of Economics and the Law Vol. 3 (1998) 155-157.

Dean Lueck. "Contracting into the Commons," in Terry L. Anderson and Randy T. Simmons eds. The Political Economy of Custom and Culture (1993).

D. Political Economy in a Democracy

Field (chapter 6, 7).

Steven E. Landsburg, Price Theory and Applications (Thomson Southwestern, 2005), chapter 13.

Harvey S. Rosen. “Political Economy,” chapter 7 in Public Finance 7th edition.  Boston: Irwin, McGraw-Hill.

Delworth Gardner.  “The Political Economy of Public Land Use” Journal of Agricultural and Resource Economics 22 (1997):12-29.

** PROBLEMS 5-8

III.  NONRENEWABLE RESOURCES

A. Theory of Depletion

Field (chapters 10, 11).

**PROBLEMS 9-11

B. Natural Resource Scarcity

Thomas Tietenberg. "Generalized Resource Scarcity," Chapter 14 in Environmental and Natural Resource Economics 5th edition. Reading, Massachusetts: Addison Wesley Longman, 2000. pp. 310-333.

Bjorn Lombord, “Things are Getting Better,“ Chapter 1, in The Skeptical Environmentalist (Cambridge University Press, 2000).  Available online at: http://www.lomborg.com/skeptenvironChap1.pdf

** PROBLEMS 12,13

C. Oil

Barnard v. Monongehela 216 PA. 362 (1907)

Dean Lueck.  “The Law and Economics of Petroleum Conservation.” Class materials (2003).

Gary D. Libecap. "Contracting for the Unitization of Oil Fields," in Contracting for Property Rights Cambridge University Press (1989), pp.93-107,114.

** PROBLEMS 14,15

D. Water

Coffin et al., v. Left Hand Ditch Co.  6 Colo. 443 (1882).

Aral Sea: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/3107915.stm

Field (chapter 15).

David H. Getches, “Overview and Introduction to Water Law”, Chapter 1, in Water Law in a Nutshell 3rd Ed. (West Publishing, 1997): 1-14.

Dean Lueck.  "Summary of Water Law," Class materials (2003).

** PROBLEMS 16-18

IV. Renewable Resources

A. Biological Growth and the Theory of Harvest

Dean Lueck. "Renewable Resource Models." Class materials (2003).

** PROBLEMS 19,20

B. Forests

Field (chapter 12).

** PROBLEMS 21-23

C. Ocean Fisheries

Field (chapter 13).

Rognvaldur Hannesson, “The Privatization of the Oceans,” in Evolving Property Rights in Marine Fisheries, ed. Donald R. Leal, 2005.

“The promise of a blue revolution.” The Economist, August 9, 2003, pp.19-21.

Anderson "Property Rights, Fisheries, Aquaculture, and the Future" in Evolving Property Rights in Marine Fisheries, 2005.

Adler "Antitrust Barriers to Cooperative Fishery Management" in Evolving Property Rights in Marine Fisheries, 2005.

** PROBLEMS 24-26

D. Wildlife

Field (chapter 18).

Dean Lueck. "The Economic Organization of Wildlife Institutions."  in Terry L. Anderson & Peter J. Hill eds. Wildlife in the Marketplace Rowman & Littlefield, (1995):1-24.

Geer v. Connecticut

** PROBLEMS 27,28

V. Resource Preservation & Recreation

A. Land use

Field (chapter 14).

B. Outdoor Recreation 

Field (chapter 17).

C. Resource Preservation

Field (chapter 9), “Valuation of Resources”

Field (chapter 19), “Biodiversity Preservation”

Terry L. Anderson & Peter J. Hill.  "Rents from Amenity Resources: A Case Study of Yellowstone National Park" in Terry L. Anderson & Peter J. Hill eds. The Political Economy of the American West Rowman & Littlefield, (1994):113-127.

** PROBLEMS 29,30

VI. CLIMATE CHANGE

Stern Review: The Economics of Climate Change, Executive Summary.

Mendelsohn & Neumann "Synthesis and Conclusions" in The Impact of
Climate Change on the United States Economy.

William Nordhaus, “The Stern Review on the Economics of Climate Change,” 2006.

Lawrence H. Goulder and William A. Pizer, “The Economics of Climate Change,” 2005.

VII. CONCLUSIONS: ECONOMICS VS. THE ENVIRONMENT?

Steven E. Landsburg. “Why I Am Not An Environmentalist” in The Armchair Economist New York: Free Press

 

Last updated March 27, 2008
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