Courses

    In 1932, Lionel Robbins defined economics, not very excitingly, as "the science which studies human behavior as a relation between scarce means having alternative uses." Not for nothing is it called "the dismal science." More expressively, in the words of such economists as Robert Heinlein and the Rolling Stones, "There Ain't No Such Thing As A Free Lunch," or "You Can't Always Get What You Want." In other words, it's all about how to best allocate scarce resources to satisfy virtually unlimited desires, wants, and needs. This focus on scarce resources makes it natural to marry the economic way of thinking with environmental policy. That many environmentalists view economics with considerable skepticism, if not outright moral revulsion, will only make this seminar more fun!

The seminar may include, among other subjects, the following: the tragedy of the commons; courts vs. agencies, and regulatory vs. common-law approaches to environmental policy; taxation vs. command-and-control regulation vs. pollution trading; cost-benefit analysis; valuation of life and environmental amenities; expert vs. layman perceptions of risk, and what biases in risk perception imply for risk regulation; regulation by information. Throughout, we may touch on the interaction, and possible conflict, between economics and various environmental ethics. The basic environmental law course is not required. Nor is an economics background required -- all the necessary economics models will be developed as required -- but students should be prepared to grapple with at least graphs, and possibly some equations.