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Environmental Economics & Sustainable Development Minor
The Environmental Economics and Sustainable Development Minor provides students with an understanding of current issues in environmental economics, development economics, natural resource management, and sustainable development. Sustainable development involves meeting “the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.”
Due to the growing importance of corporate social responsibility, companies are devoting considerably more resources to ensure they are operating in a sustainable manner. Future managers in any industry will benefit greatly from a knowledge of this important field.
Learning objectives
Upon completion of this program, students are able to:
- Analyze the effects of climate change on economic development and the domestic and international policy initiatives undertaken to mitigate these costs.
- Develop a plan that utilizes local resources to promote sustainable community economic and social development.
- Assess the efficiency and effectiveness of current or proposed projects utilizing benefit-cost analysis.
- Examine environmental issues and the public policies developed to address problems relating to resource over-utilization and pollution.
- Apply microeconomics principles to forest management, conservation and policy development.
- Investigate land use issues and the public polices relating to the preservation and conservation of agricultural lands.
- Research issues, challenges and policies options relating to sustainable economic development.
Program requirements
| At least four of: |
ECON 3410 Economics of Climate Change (3,0,0) ECON 3410 Economics of Climate Change (3,0,0)Credits: 3 credits Students investigate the climatic changes resulting from global warming and the policy actions being taken to address these problems. Topics include an overview of the science and economics of climate change; the impact of climate change on growth and economic development; the economics of stabilization including efficiency, externalities, public goods, and environmental policy instruments; inter-temporal decisions and uncertainties about the impacts of climate change; the policy responses to mitigation and adaption and their cost; international collective action and its challenges; and prominent climate policy approaches, such as the United Nations Framework Convention and the Kyoto Protocol.
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ECON 3690 Community Economic Development (3,0,0) ECON 3690 Community Economic Development (3,0,0)Credits: 3 credits Students investigate methods for effectively using local community resources to enhance economic opportunities while improving social conditions in a sustainable way. Topics include the theoretical basis for community economic development (CED), analytical techniques used to assess communities, environmental sustainability objectives for community development, competing strategies of community development, financing development strategies, and CED activity in Canada and other nations.
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ECON 3700 Benefit-Cost Analysis and the Economics of Project Evaluation (3,0,0) ECON 3700 Benefit-Cost Analysis and the Economics of Project Evaluation (3,0,0)Credits: 3 credits Students examine projects that are commonly evaluated using benefit-cost analysis, and the appropriate methods for determining their cost effectiveness. Topics include project evaluation techniques; measuring welfare change; correcting for market distortions using shadow wages and prices; finding the appropriate discount rate; making valid valuations that incorporate inflation and appropriate planning horizon, scrap, and spillover and secondary effects; public enterprise pricing rules; valuing intangibles; and incorporating risk and uncertainty. Case studies of projects are analyzed from a variety of areas, such as natural resources, the environment, human resources, public service, and transportation.
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ECON 3710 Environmental Economics (3,0,0) ECON 3710 Environmental Economics (3,0,0)Credits: 3 credits Students apply the tools of microeconomic analysis to environmental issues. Topics include property rights and efficient resource use, market failure, the over-utilization of common pool resources, the Coase Theorem, non-market valuation techniques, government policies designed to cost-effectively control pollution, and real-world strategies for controlling pollution.
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ECON 3730 Forestry Economics (3,0,0) ECON 3730 Forestry Economics (3,0,0)Credits: 3 credits Students are introduced to the concepts and analytical techniques used in forestry economics and their application to forest management, conservation, and policy analysis. Topics include techniques for analyzing forestry investments; timber demand, supply, and pricing; valuation of non-marketed goods and services, such as recreation and wildlife habitat; land allocation and multiple use; forest management issues, such as planting, thinning, and optimal age of crop rotation; and regulatory issues, including allowable annual cut regulations, property rights, tenure, and taxes.
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ECON 3740 Land Use Economics (3,0,0) ECON 3740 Land Use Economics (3,0,0)Credits: 3 credits Students focus on land use issues with particular emphasis on government policies relating to the preservation and conservation of agricultural lands. Topics include rent theory; welfare measurement; property rights and externalities; project evaluation using cost-benefit and multiple accounts analysis; the economics of soil conservation; efficiency and equity in land use planning, including zoning changes; government land preservation and conservation policies, and agricultural subsidies; water use in agriculture; forest management; and multiple uses of public lands.
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ECON 3990 ***Selected Topics in Economics (3,0,0) or (6,0,0) ECON 3990 ***Selected Topics in Economics (3,0,0) or (6,0,0)Credits: 6 credits The subject matter in this course varies from semester to semester depending upon the interests of faculty and students. Courses are taught by visiting professors to instill their unique perspectives or by regular faculty to address emerging topics in a discipline, share research or teaching interests, or test potential new courses. The added variety in the curriculum greatly enhances the student learning experience.
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ECON 4720 Sustainable Economic Development (3,0,0) ECON 4720 Sustainable Economic Development (3,0,0)Credits: 3 credits Students examine theories and issues, internal and external challenges, and alternative policy options relating to sustainable economic development. Topics include a comparative analysis of the leading theories of economic growth, development, and sustainability; lack of economic growth, poverty, and income distribution; consequences of population growth and technological change; employment and migration, human capital, agriculture, and rural development; international trade and commercial policy, foreign investment, and aid; and global integration, economic transition, and environmental degradation.
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ECON 4990 ***Selected Topics in Economics (3,0,0) or (6,0,0) ECON 4990 ***Selected Topics in Economics (3,0,0) or (6,0,0)Credits: 6 credits The subject matter in this course varies from semester to semester depending upon the interests of faculty and students. Courses are taught by visiting professors to instill their unique perspectives or by regular faculty to address emerging topics in a discipline, share research or teaching interests, or test potential new courses. The added variety in the curriculum greatly enhances the student learning experience.
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ECON 3990 and ECON 4990 can only be used if the selected topics covered are related to environmental economics and sustainable development.
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