Professor Kahn
office hours: TuTh 9:00 to 11:00, or whenever.
e-mail: KahnJ@wlu.edu
office phone: X8036
cellphone: 540-460-1421
EITHER E-MAIL OR PHONE--NO TEXTING ALLOWED
This course examines the relationship between the environment and the economic system and the implications of this relationship for sustainable development. A critical aspect of this will be understanding the role of ecological services and their vulnerability to human activities.
This will be a relatively intense course, with a lot of reading and the student presenting four case studies. Students will read journal articles with formal economic models, with empirical studies, and construction of new policy instruments. Grades will be based on class participation (15%), four case studies on assigned topics (15% each), and the fifth case study on your choice of topic (25%). Since this is a short semester, students should not miss class except for participation in official university activities (such as an away game in a varsity sport).
Since the learning experience of other students is dependent on the quality of your case studies, mediocre effort will result in a failing grade.
COURSE OUTLINE:
Readings that are not available online will be available in the Environmental Studies Lab (A-103, science bldg). These are listed in the outline in purple. You will receive instructions regarding the key.
DO NOT REMOVE READINGS FROM THE ENVIRONMENTAL STUDIES LAB EXCEPT FOR THE PERIOD OF TIME IT TAKES TO PHOTOCOPY. OTHERWISE, READ THEM IN THE LAB.
Class 1: (April 21)
freview of environment and economy
readings: first five chapters of Kahn, the Economic Approach to Environmental and Natural Resources or Characteristics and Criteria for Environmental Decision-Making: Implications for Materials Policy, Technical Report CETEM/IMAAC, http://w3.cetem.gov.br/imaac/publicat.html, 98 pages, 2001 {note: go to site, click on reports, click on reports in English})
Millenium Assessment Report, pages v to 24.
Second half: Choose topics for May 18 talks on energy
Class 2: (April 23)
First hour: Economic Development-Guest lecture by Professor Hugo Blunt
Readings to be announced
Second hour: Sustainable development
readings:
Dernbach Stumbling Towards Sustainability, Chapter 1
Franceschi and Kahn, Beyond Strong Sustainability
Pearce and Warford, World Without End
Kahn and Rivas, The Sustainable Economic Development of the Indigenous and Traditional Peoples
Third Hour: presentation of first case study-- Country profile
You are required to prepare a profile of a country as if you were briefing an important government official in the US. In this profile you should give basic socio-economic and political information about the country, and a brief summary of its major environment-growth conflicts. If you are from a developing country, you must chose a country different from your home country. You have 12 minutes for the presentation and 3 minutes for questions and answers. This sort of very short report is typical for high level briefs.
Class 3: (April 28)
continue with sustainability presentations
second half: finish country profiles by students
Class 4: (April 30)
first half-presentation of country profiles
second half-water
readings:
Denbach, chapters 9 and 10
first half: sustainable forest management and discussion of incentive instruments
Readings:
Class 5: (May 5)
Continue with water discussion
Begin macro economics and the environment
first half: Trade and the Environment, Development Assistance,
Dernbach, Stumbling Towards Sustainability, chapters 5-7
Frankel and Rose, Is Trade Good or Bad for the Environment? Sorting Out the Causality
Kahn, The Economics Approach to Environmental and Natural Resources
Class 6: (May 7)
water presentations
begin forestry discussion
Kahn, The Development of Markets and Market Incentives for Sustainable Forestry: Application to the Brazilian Amazon,
Kahn and McDonald, Third World Debt and Tropical Deforestation
Kahn and Rivas, Road Building and Environmental Preservation in Amazonia: Turning an Environmental Liability into an Environmental Asset
third presentation: Look at Forest management in a developing country and how forests are or are not contributing to sustainable development. Look at causes of deforestation, value-added in the forest industry, and policy. Suggest alternative policies for improving the social benefits arising from forests.
Make-up class: Monday May 11 B hour in Huntley 301
Class 7: (May 12)
deforestation continued
first half: local and indigenous populations
Freitas, Kahn and Rivas,
Kahn and Rivas
Second half: Third case study
This case study will be with a partner and you have twice the time for your presentation. Do a case study of a trade, development and the environment. To what extent will the trade lead to development? Focus on market failures and discuss how these market failures have or should be addressed. Also examine distributional issues and how these inequities have or should be addressed.
make-up class, Wednesday May 13 B hour Huntley 301
Class 8: (May 14)
Deforestation presentations
Class 9: May 19 (Professor Kahn at conference)
Class 10: May 21
Global Climate change
Global Climate change and the developing world
Begin Case study four: Look at the impact of global climate change on a developing country. How is this likely to limit development options (be specific, not general) ? What strategies are available for reducing the impact of global climate change in your choice country. Individual, 20 minute presentation.
Class 11: May 26
Present case study four
I am still working on the syllabus below this point.
Agriculture and the environment.
readings to be announced
Case study five:
This case study is on a topic of your choice. The topic does not have to appear on the course outline, for example, you could chose to focus on mining and the environment, the environment and malaria, etc. Your discussion needs to utilize some of the analytical tools that we have developed in this course. You will have 30 minutes to present this topic including discussion.
irst half: Energy and the environment
readings: to be announced
second half: Case study four— These are 20 minute presentations with five minutes for discussion Do a profile on a particular energy source in a particular developing country. To what extent is this energy source feasible for sustainable development? How can policy reduce the social costs of this energy source? How can this energy source contribute to sustainable development.
Class 12: May 28
Fisheries
Continue case studies
Class 12: May 28 or May 30
Continue case studies
Water Resources: