791-232 Resource Economics

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Objectives:

To introduce students to:

• basic microeconomics and provide a framework for assessing implications of change in the economic environment;

• basic macroeconomics and provide an understanding of fiscal and monetary policies available to Government;

• public policy and efficiency issues which arise in the development of exhaustible, renewable and environmental resources;

• economic and policy issues which arise in relation to Australian production, consumption and trade in mineral and energy resources;

• economic issues with respect to environmental degradation, and the policy tools available to Government.

Content:

The economic problem and the concept of scarcity and marginal analysis; an analysis of the determinants of supply and demand; Government economic objectives, and policies related to inflation and unemployment; the theory of international trade with reference to trade in natural resources; supply-demand analysis of environmental problems; policy issues relating to environmental protection; resource prices and the pricing of renewable and exhaustible resources; policy tools for control of environmental degradation.

Assessment: