Fundamentals of Environmental Economics

Priority Reg: CEE Concentration. Human societies depend on and derive well-being from the natural environment, but we also transform, deplete, and degrade the environment. Indeed, the human imprint is so great that, to some scientists, the planet has entered a new epoch, the Anthropocene. In this course we shall look not only at what humans have done to modify the environment (impacts), but why we have done these things when the consequences are detrimental to our own well-being (behavior), and how this behavior can be changed to make people better off (policy). The course develops a conceptual framework for policy analysis that integrates the natural and social sciences to answer these “what,” “why” and “how” questions. The framework is rooted in economics, but prior study of economics is not a prerequisite.