AREC 240 Spring 2007

AREC240
Introduction to Economics and the Environment
Spring 2007

Course description
This course deals with the relationship between the economy and the environment. It examines the causes of environmental problems and policies that can be used to address them. The role of externalities, property rights, and public goods is considered. There are two important themes of environmental economics: methods of measuring the benefits of environmental improvements and approaches to designing policies for addressing environmental problems. Class debates will focus on important and controversial environmental policy issues.

Location                      Jimenez (JMZ) 0105
Time                            Tuesday, Thursday 2-3:15
Discussion sections    Section 0101   Wednesday at 1 PM Symons 0215
                                    Section 0102    Wednesday at 2 PM Symons 0215

Instructor                    C. McAusland
Office                          Symons 2124
Phone                          301 405 1288
Email                           cmcausland@arec.umd.edu
Office Hours               Tuesdays 11-11:50am

Teaching Assistant    Michael Taylor
Office                          Symons 3107
Email                           mtaylor@arec.umd.edu
Office Hours               Tuesdays, 6-6:50pm; Fridays 9-9:50am

Required reading       Environmental Economics: An Introduction (4th edition), Barry C. Field and Martha K. Field, McGraw-Hill, 2006.

Online Course Materials
Syllabus, course schedule, announcements, assignments and course material are all available on the web. Start at http://www.arec.umd.edu/AREC240/ for links to these resources.

Course Requirements
There will be three exams: two midterms and a final. In addition, there will be five assignments. The assignments will emphasize critical thinking and the use of economic principles in the analysis of environmental policy problems. Each student is required to participate as a panelist in a class debate. This involves an oral presentation and a typewritten 10 page paper analyzing your side of the debate issue. Class participation and discussion are encouraged.

Grading
The course grade will be computed as follows, with one exception:

Assignments (highest 4 out of 5)
15%
Debate paper (10%) / Presentation (10%)
20%
Attendance at other debates
10%
Midterm exam 1
15%
Midterm exam 2
15%
Final exam
25%

The exception: no student will be eligible for a grade higher than C+ who does not take part in the debate at the appropriate time and who does not turn in a paper, regardless of his or her grades in the rest of the course. The final exam will be comprehensive, covering material from the beginning of the course and including major themes from the debates.

Exams
Missed exams require a note from a physician. Exams are closed-book. Students will not be permitted access to any outside materials/persons. This prohibition extends to cell phones, mp3 players and any device capable of storing or transmitting data, including programmable calculators. Many students will want to bring calculators, so secure a non-programmable calculator early.

Homework Assignments
Assignments are due AT THE START OF CLASS on the due date. Late assignments will not be accepted---no exceptions. So if, for example, you have an assignment due on February 8, and illness, flood, incarceration or another impediment keeps you from submitting your homework by 2:30pm that day, then you will get a zero for that assignment. Because there are valid reasons why assignments cannot be turned in on the due date, the assignment with the lowest score will not be counted in the grade. Thus a single "zero" for a missed assignment will not count against you; repeated missed assignments will. Note, you may submit your homework electronically by emailing your assignment as an attachment to the TA: mtaylor@arec.umd.edu; if you are submitting your assignment electronically, the 2:30pm deadline still applies.   Assignments will be graded by the TA and returned to students at the next discussion section. Students are advised to form study groups, however the assignment each student turns in must be her/his own work.

Attendance
You are encouraged to come to class. The material that you will need to learn will be presented during the classes. It is difficult to learn economics only by reading. However, attendance is required only during the debates, when attendance will be taken. Please be prompt for class. Arriving late is an imposition on others in the class as well as the instructor.

Debates
The final portion of the course will center around debates on important and controversial environmental issues, selected with your input. There will be one debate each class period with 3-5 students assigned to each side of the issue. Each student will make an individual oral presentation of approximately 5 minute to the class. The presentations will alternate between panelists on each side. After the initial presentations there will be approximately 15 minutes for open debate between the panelists. Remaining time will be open to the entire class to allow questioning of the panelists, and to allow other issues of relevance to be raised. Each student will be a panelist in one debate.
Although the general topic for each debate will be pre-determined, the specific question debated is to be determined jointly by the teams of each side of the debate. Be sure to pick a specific question that is fair to both sides. Note that specific questions are much easier to argue than are general questions: "The metro DC area should adopt an Urban Growth Boundary akin to Portland's" is a clearer, more easily argued question than "Sprawl is bad."
Each student will do research to prepare for his or her presentation in the debate (see Papers below). The debates are not a joint research project. However, it is up to each panel to coordinate their presentations so that arguments do no overlap. The objective of each panel is to convince the class of your side's view of the issue. Students' grades will partly depend on how well they argue their case. Students must be sure to argue for their side of the issue.
As part of the class, all students are expected to be present and pay attention in the debates. Attendance will be taken during the debate portion of the class, and this will count as part of your grade. Potential debate topics include: compensation for takings under the Endangered Species Act, nuclear energy, urban sprawl, toll roads, bioprospecting as conservation, gasoline taxes, genetically modified organisms, ecolabeling, biofuels, a "World Environment Organization" akin to the WTO; a ban on trade in products from endangered species (CITES). Topics suggested by the class will also be considered. The final set of debate topics will be distributed around the fourth week of class. Every team must address economic aspects of the issue; failure to include economic issues will lower the grade of the entire team.

Papers
Each student is required to turn in a 10 page typewritten paper analyzing your side of the debate issue. The paper should provide a complete analysis of your side of the issue, not just the aspect presented in your oral presentation. Each paper must include some analysis of economic aspects related to the issue. Failure to include some economic analysis will lower your grade. Your grade for the paper will also depend on the following:
How good are your sources? For example, Wikipedia is a nice place to get start to learn the scope of a problem, but it is not subject to expert-review, and so should not be cited as an authority. At least two thirds of the resources you cite should be from peer reviewed sources, i.e. academic journals, books published by university presses, or technical government reports.
To what extent are your arguments substantiated by quantitative evidence? Wherever possible get and cite quantitative studies; this is far preferable to editorials and expert "opinion".
How coherent is your paper's layout? Do you state your central hypothesis clearly on the first page of your paper? Are you arguments logical and consistent? Have you made sure that grammatical errors have been fixed (and so do not impede readers' understanding?)
How well does your paper match the specific question your team is debating?

           Each student is to submit his/her debate papers digitally (i.e. email) one week before your debate; papers not received by 4pm on the appropriate day will be considered late. E.g. if your debate is scheduled for Tuesday April 17, then you must have your paper submitted electronically by 4pm on Tuesday April 10. Note, some students will find their papers due on the same day as the second midterm---plan ahead! Late essays will be penalized at a rate of one whole letter grade per 24 hours (including weekends and holidays). Electronic copies must be text-searchable; essays will be submitted by the instructor to an internet service designed to detect plaigarism. The instructor also reserves the right to interview student authors individually to confirm that papers submitted are original work.

The papers are individual research papers. They are not collaborative efforts between members of a debate team. The papers should conform to the following guidelines.
The papers should be 10 pages, typed double-spaced in a 10-12 pt font, with margins between 1" and 1 1/2". As with any research paper, you need to reference all your sources including books, journals, magazines and online material. Anything quoted directly from a source should be identified by surrounding quotes and an appropriate reference. Facts and material that are paraphrased must be cited using an appropriate reference. A failure to cite your source material constitutes plagiarism (see policy on academic integrity below). The following format should be used.

Sample text:
During the early and mid 1970's the majority of chemicals were tested by the National Cancer Institute. These chemicals were selected rather informally by a small group of investigators (Maugh, 1978, p. 1202). Since the late 1970's more structured prioritization methods have been adopted, but, in general, "agency risk assessments for priority setting have been more informal, less systematic, and less visible than those for establishing regulatory controls" (National Research Council, 1983, p. 38).

References:
Maugh, T.H. 1978. Who chooses chemicals for testing? Science, 201: 1202.
National Research Council. 1983. Risk Assessment in the Federal Government: Managing the Process, Washington, National Academy Press.

Online (WWW) sources should be referenced as follows. In the text of your paper cite the reference as indicated above. In the reference list use the format below (omit any missing fields, but the URL is required):
Author’s last name, author's first name. "Title", Publication, Date, URL.
The following is a sample reference to one of the traffic congestion articles in the syllabus.
Parker, Larry. "Global Climate Change: Market-Based Strategies to Reduce Greenhouse Gases" Congressional Research Service Issue Brief 97057, October 6, 1999, http://www.cnie.org/nle/clim-5.html.

Cutting and pasting from online materials without proper citation is plagiarism (see policy on academic integrity). If you have any questions about citing your sources please see me.

Policy on Academic Integrity
It expected that every student has read and understands the University policy on academic integrity as stated in the Schedule of Classes. (See also http://www.jpo.umd.edu/SHC/code.html .) Any suspected cases of academic dishonesty (cheating, fabrication, facilitating academic dishonesty, or plagiarism) will be reported to the Honor Council.

Students with disabilities
If you have a documented disability and wish to discuss academic accommodations with me, please contact me as soon as possible.

APPROXIMATE SCHEDULE AND TOPICS
Dates subject to some change as class progresses
F&F denotes the text, Field and Field (2006)

Changes arising from inclement weather indicated in red.

JANUARY 2007
Monday
Tuesday
Wednesday
Thursday
Friday

24
No Discussion Sections Today
25
Introduction
(F&F Ch1)

30
Benefits and Demand (F&F ch 3)
Assignment 1 Handed Out, due February 8
31
Discussion Sections:
Q&A for Assig 1

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Last updated: 03/9/2009