ECON 4535: NATURAL RESOURCES ECONOMICS
EDWARD MOREY
FALL 1999 (October 31, 1999)
I do not anticipate covering the complete outline. Which sections we cover will depend on class interests and the amount of time we devote to the chosen sections. The readings we don't get to are a good source for paper material. The intent is give you new tools and perspectives for analyzing natural resource and environmental issues, not to learn some specific bundle of facts and theories, so we have latitude as to how best to approach the task at hand.
Articles with .html extensions are can be accessed from the Readings section of the Web page.
I. An Introduction to NR Economics
A. Defining natural resources and NR economics
B. To what extent does the finiteness of natural resources seriously limit long run growth?
Rosenbery, N., "Innovative Responses to Materials Shortages," AER: Papers and Proceedings 1973. (available online at JSTOR)
Kahn Ch. 18: "Prospects for the Future"
Tietenberg: Ch. 13: "Generalized Resource Scarcity"
"The Big City: Optimism by the Numbers," NYT magazine, January 3, 1999 (j-simon.html)
"Most Consuming More, and the Rich Much More," NYT September 13, 1998 (consume.html)
"Copper Mining Retrenches Amid Excess Capacity and Sagging Prices," NYT, Setember 11, 1999.
Gano, "World Resources Running Out: Prof says religion of growth will doom us," in the Colorado Daily, Sept. 21, 1987 ( running.pdf)
Fisher, Ch.4: "Resource Scarcity: Are Resources Limits To Growth?" in Resource and Environmental Economics, Cambridge University Press 1981 . (fisher.pdf)
"Betting the Planet," NYT Magazine, 1990. (betting.pdf)
C. What is conservation?
Herfindahl, "What is Conservation," in Three-Studies-in-Mineral Economics . (conserv.pdf)
D. The history of the conservation movement.
"An Environmentalist on a Different Path; A Fresh View of the Supposed 'Wilderness' and Even the Indians Place in It." NYT, April 3, 1999 (consvhis.html)
"Gifford Pinchot" from Encyclopedia Britannica Online
"Filmmakers study a man who studies the apes." NYT, March 23, 1999 (coolidge)
"The Forest Service's New Deal," NYT Editorial Desk, February 16, 99 (forestsv.html)
"Celebrating an Ecologist's Eloquence and Vision," NYT, October 19, 99 (leopold.html)
Searching for Eden; The Definition of Wilderness Is Increasingly Elusive," NYT, September 12, 99 (define-wilderness.html)
E. Non-Market Valuation: CVM and Travel-Cost
"They Exist. Therefore They are. But, Do You Care?, NYT October 17, 99 (salmonexist.html)
"Polls May Help Government to Decide the Worth of Nature," NYT September 7, 93 (polls.pdf)
"Pollsters Enlist Psychologists in Quest for Unbiased Results," NYT September 7, 93 (pollster.pdf)
Breffle, B., E.R. Morey, and T. Lodder, "Using Contingent Valuation to Estimate a Neighborhood's Willingness to Pay to Preserve Undeveloped Urban Land," Urban Studies, Vol.35, No. 4, 715-727, 1998. (cunning.pdf)
"The Burden of Faulty Science," a Mobil ad in Time Magazine, April 17, 1995. (faulty.pdf) "Congress Asks, Is Nature Worth More than a Shopping Mall? NYT, April 25, 1995. (congress.pdf)
Morey, Edward, Valuing Site-Specific Cultural Resources in Italy: Some Preliminary Thoughts, discussion paper, November 1994. (vitaly.pdf)
Morey, Rossmann, Chesnut and Ragland, "Modeling and estimating wtp for reductions in acid deposition injuries to cultural resources: using choice experiments in a group setting to estimate passive use values," September 1998, forthcoming in a book on valuing cultural resources. (monument.pdf)
Buchanan, T., E. R. Morey and D. Waldman, "Happy Trails to You: The Impact of Trail Characteristics and Access Fee on a Mountain Biker's Trail Selection and Consumer's Surplus, March 17, 1998 (mtbike.pdf)
F. Macro models that include natural resources.
Kneese, A.V., "Analysis of Environmental Pollution," Swedish Journal of Economics, March 1971, also in Economics of the Environment: Selected Readings (edited by Dorfman and Dorfman), 21-44 .
Pearce, D., and K. Turner, Chapter 2: "The Circular Economy," in Economics of Natural Resources and the Environment, 1990.
II. An Introduction to Renewable Resources: Fishery Economics and the Common Property Problem
A. Commercial fishing and the CP problem
Morey, E.R., "Fishery Economics: An Introduction and Review," Natural Resources Journal, October 1980, 827-851 .
"Turtles Vanish in Black Hole: Soup Pots and Pans of China." NYT, May 4, 99 (turtles.html)
"Outdoors: Full Rescue Mission for Cod is Discussed," NYT, March 7, 99 (cod-resc.html)
"Council Puts Strict Limits on Fishing to Save New England Cod," NYT, January 30, 99 (codlimit.html)
"Is this Guy a Threat to the Rules, Or the Fish? NYT, October 18, 1998 (license.html)
"Outdoors; Sea Protected Areas Are Source of Debate," NYT, July 11, 99 (mp-areas.html)
Brennan, Timothy J., "Discounting the Future: Economics and Ethics," Resources, Summer 1995, No. 120, pages 3-6. (see also the section on discounting and present value)
"U.S. Fleet Trawling Coastal Water Without Fish," NYT March 7, 1994.
Scallop article in the CSM .
Oyster article in the WSJ .
Krakaner, J., "A Fishing Frenzy Strikes on Sitka When Herring Run," Smithsonian, Oct. 1986.
Lobster article in the WSJ, Feb 2, 1988 .
Catfish ad .
"Overfishing Depletes a U.S. Resource," NY Times, June 19, 1989 .
"Citing Data on Damage to Pacific Group Seeks Drift Net Fishing Ban," NY Times, November 14, 1989 .
"How to Fish," The Economist, December 10, 1988
"Appetite for Sushi Threatens Giant Tuna," NY Times, September 17, 1991.
"A Food Fad's Ripple Effect on Reefs of Pacific: Cyanide," NY Times, October 31, 1995.
B. Static Common Property problems: roads and parks
"Priorities in the National Parks," NYT, July 26, 1998 (natparks.html)
"National Parks: Crowed Now, and Crowed Then," NYT, August 14, 99 (np-crowd.html)
"Bargain Travelers Trample National Parks." NYT, July 27, 99 (parkfees.html)
"A Move to Rid Park of Snowmobiles," NYT, February 7, 99 (snowmobl.html)
Varian, Section 31.6 "The Tragedy of the Commons" in Intermediate Microeconomics .
"Cheapest Protection of Nature May Lie in Taxes, Not Laws," NYT November 24, 1992.
"Newest Chapter of Robin Hood: Sherwood Forest", NYT, September, 7, 93.
Article on Deforestation in the CD .
Hardin, G., "The Tragedy of the Commons," Science, Vol. 162, December 1968, also in Economics, Ecology, and Ethics, (edited by Daly) .
Edney, J. "Free Riders En Route to Disaster," Psychology Today, August 1979, 80-87 102 .
"Invaders on the Black River," Time Magazine, June 13, 1988
C. Recreational fishing, hunting and the CP problem
"A Slaughter of Cormorants in Angler Country." NYT, Aug 1, 1998 (courmora.html)
"Ranch Hunting: One Person's Sport, Another's Slaughter, Business Grows: So Does Opposition," NYT, May 11, 99
Web pages for "game ranches": www.777ranch.com , www.luckystar.ranch - where you can blast almost anything for a price!
III. Discounting and Present Value
Brennan, Timothy J., "Discounting the Future: Economics and Ethics," Resources, Summer 1995, No. 120, pages 3-6. (see also the section on discounting and present value)
Chiang, Fundamental Methods of Mathematical Economics, 3rd edition, Ch. 10 (pp. 280-294 and 313-316 only) and Ch. 13 (pp. 452-459 only)
IV. Trees and Nonrenewable Resources
A. Trees and Portfolio Theory: optimal rotation, market failure?, and possible corrections
Lecture notes on trees
B. Trees: Other Issues
"Judge, Faulting Agencies, Halts Logging Deal," NYT August 5, 1999 (judgeowl.html)
"New Logging Approach Tries to Mimic Nature," NY Times, June 12, 1990 .
"Senate Passes Measure to Protect Alaskan Forest," NY Times, June 14, 1990 .
"Loss of Tropical Forests is Found Much Worse Than Was Thought," NY Times, June 8, 1990 .
"In Spring, Nature's Cycle Brings a Dead Tree to Life," NY Times, March 24, 1992.
"Forest Supervisors Say Politicians are Asking Them to Cut Too Much, NY Times, September 16, 1991.
(See also the articles relating to Trees in Section V.B. - the "owl" articles, and the articles in Section V.C. on "Our National Parks" and "Yellowstone Fires".)
C. Nonrenewable resources and portfolio theory: optimal extraction rates, market failure?, and possible corrections
1. An efficient allocation
Solow, R., "The Economics of Resources or the Resources of Economics," American Economic Review, May 1974, 1-13 .
Devarajan, and Fisher, "Hotelling's Economics of Exhaustible Resources," Journal of Economic Literature, March 1981, 65-73.
Lecture notes on nonrenewable resources
2. Market and nonmarket failure
"Bush Cuts Back Areas Off Coasts Open for Drilling," NY Times, June 27, 1990 .
"Miners Digging In Against Wave of Reform," USA Today, September 11, 199.
V. Extinction and Preservation
A. Extinction: Economic causes
Review the readings from Section II.
"The Endangered Species Act gets a Makeover," NYT, June 2, 1998 (endanger.html)
Article on Swans in the WSJ .
Smith, V., "The Primitive Hunter Culture, Pleistocene Extinction, and the Rise of Agriculture," Journal of Political Economy, 1975 no. 4, 727-735 (Packet D) - you only have part of the article.
Butler, M., "Plight of the Bluefin Tuna," National Geographic, August 1982, 220-239 .
"New Approaches Bring Predators Back from the Wilds," NY Times, March 13, 1989
"For Yellowstone Bears, Nature Works," NY Times, August 22, 1989 .
"U.S. Seeks to List African Chimpanzees as Endangered," NY Times, March 7, 1989
"Symbolic Flames," McCleans, July 31, 1989 .
"Ivory Market Collapses After Ban," NY Times, June 5, 1990 .
"Comeback for Rhinos in a Preserve," NY Times, June 5, 1990 .
"Species Loss: Crisis or False Alarm," NY Times, August 20, 1991.
"The Killings Fields," Newsweek, Nov 18, 1991.
"U.S. Designates Sockeye Salmon Endangered Species," Washington Post, November 15, 1991.
B. Is it ever optimal to drive a species to extinction?
"U.S. Declares Owl to be Threatened by Heavy Logging," NY Times, June 23, 1990.
"Softening Stand on Spotted Owl, Administration Delays Protection," NY Times, June 27, 1990.
"No Red Squirrels? Mother Nature May be Better Off," WSJ, June 7, 1990 .
"What Kind of Stewards of the Planet are We?," NY Times, June 5, 1990 .
"Wolves at Park's Door Set a Test for Wildlife," NY Times, May 29, 1990 .
"5 Rattlesnakes to Go Home to Woods," NY Times, July 31, 1991.
C. Preserving natural environments
"Rare Alliance in the Rockies Strives to Save Open Space," NYT, Aug 14, 1998 (clark.html)
"US Hopes to Buy Picture-Perfect Slice of the West," NYT, Aug 25, 1998 (slice.pdf)
"Victim of War: The Jungle Gorillas and Tourism, NYT, March 31, 99 ()
"Latest Threat to Yellowstone: Admirers Loving it to Death,"NYT, September 13, 1995
"Unlikely Alliances Attack Property Rights Measure, NYT, May 15, 1995
Chase, "How to Save Our National Parks," Atlantic Monthly, July 1987 .
Romme and Despain, "The Yellowstone Fires," Scientific American, November 1989 .
"Over E.P.A. Protest White House Alters Wetland Agreement," NY Times, February 8, 1990 .
"Ordinance on Wetlands Has no Fans," Colorado Daily, January 13, 1991.
"Efforts to Halt Wetland Loss Turn Their Attention Inland," NY Times, March 13, 1990 .
"For Farmers, Wetlands Mean a Legal Quagmire," NY Times, April 24, 1990 .
"In Wetlands Debate, Acres and Dollars Hinge on Definitions," NY Times, Oct 15, 1991.
"Washington Offers Mountain of Debt to Save Forest," NY Times, January 22, 1991.
"Environmental Group Sells Land For Gas Station," Colorado Daily, January 13, 1991.
"First Refuge for Plants Sought in Florida," NY Times, June 18, 1991.
"Green-Thumbed Ecologists Resurrect Vanished Habitats," NY Times, March 19, 1991.
"Can Oil and Wilderness Mix," Ny Times Magazine, August 4, 1991.
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