EC5210 - The Economics of Environmental Management

[Offered in odd-numbered years]

Credit points:	03
Year:	2007
Student Contribution Band:	Band 2
Administered by:	Discipline of Economics

This subject uses ideas from environmental and resource economics to discuss environmental management policies. Topics include: issues and concepts relevant to environmental economics (eg. externalities, public goods and ill-defined property rights); methods of generating and presenting information about environmental problems to policy makers (e.g. methods of 'valuing' environmental 'goods' and cost-benefit analysis); policy options for dealing with environmental problems (regulation, pigovian taxes and subsidies, emission fees and marketable permits, voluntary agreements, liability and the provision of information); and the importance of 'real world complications'(such as risk, uncertainty and imperfect information, the dispersion of pollution/environmental problems across time and space, and the problem of dealing with biophysical issues that cross national/administrative borders).

Learning Outcomes

• Students completing this subject will have an increased understanding of: important issues and concepts relevant to environmental and resource economists; methods of generating and presenting information about environmental problems to policy makers; policy options for dealing with environmental problems; and the importance of real world complications when dealing with environmental problems.

Graduate Qualities

• The ability to adapt knowledge to new situations;
• The ability to define and to solve problems in at least one discipline area;
• The ability to think critically, to analyse and evaluate claims, evidence and arguments, and to reason and deploy evidence clearly and logically;
• The ability to find and access information using appropriate media and technologies;
• The ability to evaluate that information;
• The acquisition of coherent and disciplined sets of skills, knowledge, values and professional ethics from at least one discipline area;
• The ability to reflect on and evaluate learning, and to learn independently in a self directed manner;
• The ability to speak and write clearly, coherently and creatively;
• The ability to generate, calculate, interpret and communicate numerical information in ways appropriate to a given discipline or discourse;
• The ability to communicate effectively with a range of audiences;
• The ability to lead, manage and contribute effectively to teams;
• The ability to select and use appropriate tools and technologies;
• The ability to use online technologies effectively and ethically.

Prerequisites:	An introductory economics subject (equivalent to EC1005, LB5003 or EC5103)
Inadmissible Subject Combinations:	EC3416

Availabilities
Townsville, Block, Study Period 6
Census Date 29-Jun-2007
Face to face teaching 22-Jun-2007 to 27-Jul-2007
Coord/Lect:	Assoc. Professor Natalie Stoeckl.
Contact hours:	26 hours lectures 12 hours tutorials 3 hours workshops/Seminars
Assessment:	end of semester exam (30%); quizzes or tests (20%); presentations (10%); assignments (40%).

Note: Minor variations might occur due to the continuous Subject quality improvement process, and in case of minor variation(s) in assessment details, the Subject Outline represents the latest official information.