James F. Casey's Blog

ECON 295: Introduction to Sustainable Development Washington and Lee University   Spring 2018   Professor: James F Casey Email: caseyj@wlu.edu Class: MWF 9-12, Wilson Hall 2019 Office Hours:   MWF 12-1 and TR by appointment Office Location: Holtkamp 119 Course Description In September 2015, the world adopted a set of Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) for 2015-2030 to replace the Millennium Development Goals when they expired in 2015. These SDGs set targets for reducing poverty, protecting the environment, and increasing equality of opportunity for those who may have had less than equal opportunity in the past – These are the three pillars of Sustainable Development.   The primary objective of this course is to provide an introduction to the concept, theories, and potential outcomes of sustainable development.   In addition to this, we will take a case study approach and look at policies and programs that have aimed...

Tuesday: http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/990301468046859794/pdf/927040v10WP00O0sh0Executive0Summary.pdf Thursday: http://barryyeoman.com/2013/02/beach-happiness-neuroconservation/

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/03/17/opinion/sunday/carbon-tax-on-beef.html?action=click&pgtype=Homepage&version=Moth-Visible&moduleDetail=inside-nyt-region-1&module=inside-nyt-region&region=inside-nyt-region&WT.nav=inside-nyt-region

Tuesday https://www.clcouncil.org/media/TheConservativeCaseforCarbonDividends.pdf Thursday https://nicholasinstitute.duke.edu/sites/default/files/publications/ni_wp_15-04_full.pdf

http://climate.miami.edu/ https://news.stanford.edu/2015/06/08/50states-renewable-energy-060815/ https://www.thenation.com/article/donald-trumps-extract-everything-energy-policy-dooms-us-all/ https://www.eia.gov/todayinenergy/detail.php?id=23812 https://www.nytimes.com/2017/12/19/climate/china-carbon-market-climate-change-emissions.html

Please take a look at the assigned readings on the syllabus for Tuesday. Here is the reading for our Thursday discussion. http://bostonreview.net/forum/can-we-stop-global-warming/economics-must-be-heart-any-discussion-how-fight-climate-change

https://ohvec.org/full-cost-accounting-life-cycle-coal/

http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/store/10.1111/j.1749-6632.2010.05890.x/asset/j.1749-6632.2010.05890.x.pdf;jsessionid=10928C77210ACBE198357DFBFE313632.f03t01?v=1&t=jea4ak2m&s=d0168251189633c0b8ba798c479a411890c52755

Tuesday - I will answer any questions you have in preparation for the midterm.  Then we will begin our conversation on Environmental Justice. Let's start with this interview -  http://e360.yale.edu/features/a-troubling-look-at-the-human-toll-of-mountaintop-removal-mining Thursday - We will discuss this Janet Currie paper -  https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4847437/pdf/nihms764460.pdf I will send out the midterm as a take-home exam after class on Tuesday and it will be due at the beginning of class on Thursday.

Tuesday we will discuss material from chapters 11 and 15.  The only model we will use is the fisheries biology one.  Do not worry about all the other graphs. For Thursday, please read these papers to inform our discussion: http://e360.yale.edu/features/can-the-world-find-solutions-to-the-nitrogen-pollution-crisis https://www.nature.com/articles/nature21708.pdf https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Susana_Perera-Valderrama/publication/320190902_Marine_protected_areas_in_Cuba/links/59d54e2da6fdcc87469564ce/Marine-protected-areas-in-Cuba.pdf For your blog post - pick something from one or more of these articles that you would like to discuss in class.

Tuesday we will talk about chapter 4. Please read this paper for Thursday: https://ac.els-cdn.com/S0964569116302150/1-s2.0-S0964569116302150-main.pdf?_tid=112d842c-082e-11e8-aadd-00000aab0f6c&acdnat=1517585638_360ec915717ed14d266008c97ef24d32

On Tuesday, we will develop several models for analyzing the link between Economic Growth and the Environment - (no reading assignment). Then we will move to "Valuing the Environment" -  http://jollygreengeneral.typepad.com/files/chapter-4-p.-92---128.pdf Thursday, let's back up and discuss the Solow Paper -  http://cda.mrs.umn.edu/~kildegac/Courses/Enviro/3008/Readings/Solow.pdf after we finish learning about non-market valuation.

We have three papers to discuss next week.  I do not think we will get to all three of them as we still have some ground to cover that we did not get to yesterday.  In addition to finishing our conversation concerning the material in chapter 3, I think we will get to the Tragedy of the Commons on Tuesday. So, let's focus our comments in preparation for Thursday on Krutilla's Conservation reconsidered. http://www.rff.org/files/sharepoint/News/Features/Documents/071003%20Krutilla-ConservationReconsidered.pdf

http://jollygreengeneral.typepad.com/files/chapter-3-p.-45---91.pdf I want you to focus on the  Pigou vs. Coase debate in the chapter.  In case you are interested in the originals....... https://econ.ucsb.edu/~tedb/Courses/UCSBpf/readings/coase.pdf https://books.google.com/books?hl=en&lr=&id=26kAAwAAQBAJ&oi=fnd&pg=PT10&dq=pigou+1938+welfare+economics&ots=z8o6kHWInb&sig=lWhrZc_eRcxPGpGYdwqLcOBy7Og#v=onepage&q=pigou%201938%20welfare%20economics&f=false

http://www.rff.org/files/sharepoint/WorkImages/Download/RFF-DP-98-29.pdf

Here is the syllabus for Winter 2018. Economics 255: Environmental and Natural Resource Economics   Winter 2018 Instructor: Jim Casey  _ Contact Info: 119  Holekamp  Hall, Ext. 8102, Email:  Caseyj   _ Prerequisite: Economics 101 Office Hours: and by appointment For it may be observed, that in all Polytheistic religions, among savages, as well as in the early ages of Heathen antiquity, it is the irregular events of nature only that are ascribed to the agency and power of their gods. Fire burns, and water refreshes; heavy bodies descend, and lighter sub- stances fly upwards, by the necessity of their own  nature;;  nor was  the invisible hand  of Jupiter ever apprehended to be employed in those matters. The Theory of Economics does not furnish a body of settled conclusions immediately applicable to policy. It is a method rather than a doctrine, an apparatus of the mind, a technique of thinking which helps its posses...