This course explores some of the intricacies of applying the principles of economic theory and analysis to environmental issues. The first half of the course will explore selected topics that will likely include final and intermediate public goods, discounting, cost-benefit analysis, risk, decision-making under uncertainty, insurance, the relative efficacies of alternative ex post and ex ante response options under uncertainty, iterative risk management, the value of information, and the like. The second half of the course will apply these concepts to climate change. It will quickly review the fundamentals of what we do and do not know about human influence on the climate system (and vice versa). What remains will be organized around the three responses available to humanity (abate, adapt, or suffer) and the two components of risk (likelihood and consequence). Both parts of the course will evolve as relevant current events emerge within the US and around the world; students will therefore be responsible for paying attention to the corresponding public discourse as informed by evolving media and AI coverage. |