Institute of Food and Resource Economics | |||||||||||||
Earliest Possible Year | |||||||||||||
Duration | One block | ||||||||||||
Credits | 7.5 (ECTS) | ||||||||||||
Course Level | MSc | ||||||||||||
Examination | Final Examination written examination Written Exam in Lecturehall All aids allowed Description of Examination: Four hour written examination in the course curriculum Weight: Written exam 100% 7-point scale, external examiner Dates of Exam: 03 November 2007 | ||||||||||||
Organisation of Teaching | Lectures and Exercises | ||||||||||||
Block Placement | Block 1 Week Structure: B | ||||||||||||
Teaching Language | English | ||||||||||||
Optional Prerequisites | Microeconomics, Welfare Economics and Policy Analysis, Environmental and Natural Resource Economics | ||||||||||||
Restrictions | None | ||||||||||||
Areas of Competence the Course Will Address | |||||||||||||
Competences obtained within basic science: Knowledge and comprehension of economic theory of natural resources. Competences obtained within applied science: Be able to apply the models developed in the course on natural resource problems Competences obtained in Ethics & Values Is aware of the values behind the theoretical foundation of natural resource economics. | |||||||||||||
Course Objectives | |||||||||||||
The objective of the course is to give a thorough introduction to and an overview of the economics of natural resources. After taking the course students should: - have a thorough knowledge and comprehension of economic theory of natural resources - be able to distinguish the various value aspects of natural resources - be able to approach problems of natural resources in an anaytical manner - apply the models developed in the course on natural resource problems | |||||||||||||
Course Contents | |||||||||||||
Natural Resource Economics deals with the optimal utilisation of renewable and exhaustible resources. Here, a distinction is made between renewable resources such as forests and fisheries and non-renewables such as deposits of minerals and metals. 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. | |||||||||||||
Teaching And Learning Methods | |||||||||||||
Teaching will be in the form of lectures and practicals. The lectures will provide an overview of the main issues. Since the field of natural resource economics is rather mathematical, practicals will form a relatively large part of the course. During the practicals, the more technical parts of the literature will be discussed thoroughly and time will be taken to go through exercises. | |||||||||||||
Learning Outcome | |||||||||||||
Stipulated in "Areas of Competence the Course Will Address" | |||||||||||||
Course Litterature | |||||||||||||
Hanley, N., J.F. Shogren and B. White (2006), Environmental Economics in Theory and Practice, Oxford: Oxford University Press P. Neher (1990), Natural Resource Economics - Conservation and Exploitation, Cambridge, Cambridge University Press (Selected chapters) P.S. Dasgupta and G.M. Heal (1979), Economic Theory and Exhaustible Resources, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press (Selected chapters) C.W. Clark (1980), Towards a Predictive Model for the Economic Regulation of Commercial Fisheries, Canadian Journal of Fish. Aquat. Sci. 37, 1111-1129 R. Dorfman (1969), An Economic Interpretation of Optimal Control Theory, American Economic Review 59, 817-831. R. Hartman (1976), The Harvesting Decision When a Standing Forest Has Value, Economic Inquiry, 14, 52-58 Strang, W.J. (1983), On the Optimal Forest Harvesting Decision, Economic Inquiry 21, 576-583 Plus some other papers and articles. | |||||||||||||
Course Coordinator | |||||||||||||
Eirik Schrøder Amundsen, esam@life.ku.dk, Institute of Food and Resource Economics/Environmental Economics and Rural Development Div., Phone: 35336828 | |||||||||||||
Study Board | |||||||||||||
Study Committee NSN | |||||||||||||
Course Scope | |||||||||||||
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