209-201 Resource Industry Economics I

Availability

Credit Points

HECS Band

Coordinator

Prerequisites

209-101 Economics of Resource Use or 316-102 Introductory Microeconomics.

Semester

Contact

Subject Description

At the end of the course students would be expected to:

• understand basic economic concepts applied to problems of resource use and conservation;

• understand the issues associated with public versus private ownership of resources;

• and apply economic tools (eg benefit-cost analysis) to the analysis of decisions about resource use and conservation.

The material will be applied in the context of resource issues of concern across agriculture, forestry and horticulture such as:

• alternate land uses;

• harvesting timber;

• water allocation pricing and policy;

• soil and flora conservation;

• and pollution and environmental degradation;

Students will learn to apply the following concepts and methods to issues of resource use:

• introductory benefit / cost analysis;

• social welfare - consumer surplus, producer surplus, social welfare;

• willingness to Pay - measuring in actual situations;

• market failure - definition, dynamic, renewable and non-renewable resources;

• externalities - measurement of the magnitude and inclusion in empirical analysis;

• and implications of Property Rights / Public goods for decision making.

Stream specific tutorial work is to be used.

Assessment

A three-hour exam (60%), a written assignment of 3000 words (20%) and two class tests (10% each).

Prescribed Texts

• Sinden, J. and Thamapapillai, D., Introduction to Benefit Cost Analysis. 1995.
• Longman Godden, D., Agricultural and Resource Policy. 1997, Oxford University Press Melbourne.
• Kahn. J.R., The Economic Approach to Environmental and Natural Resources. 1998, Dryden Press.
• Tietenberg. T, Environmental and Natural Resource Economics. 1996, Harper Collins, Fourth Edition.