EC 2023; Economics of Resource Conservation and Sustainability

Syllabus

Spring 2008

Spring 2008

Room KH 108, MWF 9 – 9.50

Professor Womersley, South Coop 204

(Office hours every morning when not in class)

Introduction:

Of the academic disciplines influential in policy, and there are many, economics is one that is relatively old, but still very important and relevant. Most of its key insights predate modern biology. Almost all important economic theories that are broadly accepted predate modern ecology, which has only become a widespread and well developed discipline since the 1950s.

It should not be surprising that there are inherent clashes and incompatibilities between these two bodies of theory. This clash was in fact apparent at the point of birth of the great American federal conservation agencies, the National Park Service and the United States Forest Service, and the greatest protagonist for a more organic point of view was the founder of the latter, Gifford Pinchot.

The question of how to reconcile these two important disciplines is still a terribly important one for modern society. This particular avenue has been explored for nearly a century, under the guise of resource economics, particularly as developed and applied in modern forestry and fisheries management. More recently, the key insight of resource economics, the economics of sustainable yield, has been further developed and elaborated under the nomenclature of Òsustainable development,Ó Òecological economics,Ó or, most recently, just Òsustainability.Ó

This course will in turn examine the economics of resource conservation (still, in large part, the economics of Gifford Pinchot) and the economics of sustainability (the economics of Herman Daly, who is one founder of the field, and colleagues).

Books:

For students who have not studied mainstream economics, it is a bit of a stretch to leap directly to what after all are bodies of criticism of mainstream economics. (Pinchot was just as radical in his day as Daly is now.) Nevertheless, the reality of Unity College is that many students would deeply prefer not to have to take an introductory class before taking this one, and any program of study that required the prerequisite would be so unpopular as to die the death of un-required and unpopular courses everywhere: It would never be taught. This class is therefore a compromise. Some knowledge of economics is essential to discuss economic criticism in any serious manner. A handful of students have taken Introduction to Economics and Economic Criticism. The rest of you will have to work hard to catch up in the first few weeks.

For the first few weeks, a general and descriptive book has been assigned, The Making of Economic Society, first written by the eminent economist Robert Heilbronner (the new edition edited by Dr, Milberg), exactly for this kind of audience. We will begin with this book. Some students will find it repetitive or too general.

The second book Ecological Economics assigned is by Daly himself, writing with his coauthor Joshua Farley, and is the first full-scale general textbook dealing with ecological economics. It picks up where Heilbronner and Milberg leave off. This is an important book, and we will read it all the way through. There will also be important Internet readings, such as the Stern Review on the Economics of Climate Change, published by the UK government here.

Exams and other requirements:

There will be two examinations, each worth 30% of the total grade. A practical project also worth 30% will be chosen by each student, possibly working in groups. The professor reserves 10% of the grade for participation and to reward special effort shown. Your vocal participation is mandatory. Students who sit in silence the entire semester run the risk of flunking the course. Students who do not read the books, and cannot demonstrate that they have read them by correctly answering basic comprehension questions verbally or on tests, will get an automatic F.

Schedule:

We will first study the history of the development of the modern economy according to Heilbronner and Milberg. This will take from three to six weeks depending on how quickly you get through the readings. I will relate the reading to photographic and other image-based material, including slides and movies. We may take a field trip or two if the weather cooperates.

Once we are done with Heilbronner and Milberg, we will switch to Daly and Farley and proceed in much the same way.