| Institute of Food and Resource Economics | |||||||||||||
| Earliest Possible Year | |||||||||||||
| Duration | 1 semester | ||||||||||||
| Credits | 6 (ECTS) | ||||||||||||
| Course Level | MSc | ||||||||||||
| Examination | written examination Aid allowed Description of Examination: 13-point scale, external examiner Dates of Exam: | ||||||||||||
| Organisation of Teaching | Lectures: 1 course module per week Practicals: 2 hours per week | ||||||||||||
| Block Placement | E5, fall Monday 13-15 | ||||||||||||
| Teaching Language | English | ||||||||||||
| Optional Prerequisites | 095251 Microeconomics (formerly Economic theory) | ||||||||||||
| Course Objectives | |||||||||||||
| The objective of the course is to give a thorough introduction to and an overview of the economics of natural resources. At the end of the course, the students should be able to work with economic models of natural resources and to read and understand the literature in this field. | |||||||||||||
| Course Contents | |||||||||||||
| Natural Resource Economics deals with the optimal utilisation of renewable and exhaustible resources. There are several features of natural resources that make them different from other economic goods. First of all, natural resources are both consumption/production goods and assets. The latter implies that they have to be treated in the same way as other assets, such as bonds and stocks. A second feature is that both harvesting or extraction and growth (for renewables) take place over a long period of time. This makes it necessary to use a dynamic approach. Thirdly, it is often hard to define ownership of natural resources. If at the same time there is open access to the resource, the problem of the commons arises. This makes regulation of the utilisation of the resource necessary from the point of view of both the extractors and Society. Finally, especially for renewable resources, values other than those related to direct consumption and production are important in determining the optimal social stock level of the resource. These other values could be recreational (such as in a forest), biodiversity or pure existence value. All these factors will be examined in the course. Topics examined in the course include: · Exhaustible resources such as fossil fuels, metal ore and minerals · Fisheries · Forests · Regulation of natural resources | |||||||||||||
| Teaching And Learning Methods | |||||||||||||
| The course consists of both lectures and practicals. In the lectures, the theoretical background and an overview of the literature are given. The practicals are used to give greater insight into the technical details of the models used in the literature, to let the students work with the models and to review assignments. | |||||||||||||
| Course Litterature | |||||||||||||
| Hanley, N., J.F. Shogren and B. White (1997), Environmental Economics in Theory and Practice, Macmillan press. Several articles, which will be announced on the course website. | |||||||||||||
| Course Coordinator | |||||||||||||
| Jan-Tjeerd Boom, jtb@life.ku.dk, Institute of Food and Resource Economics/Fisheries Economics and Management Division, Phone: 35282293 | |||||||||||||
| Study Board | |||||||||||||
| Study Committee NSN | |||||||||||||
| Course Scope | |||||||||||||
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