207-201 Resource Industry Economics

207-101 Economics of Resource Use or 316-102 Introductory Microeconomics.

At the end of the course students should be able 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 should 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.

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

• J Sinden. and D Thamapapillai, Introduction to Benefit Cost Analysis. 1995.
• J R Kahn, The Economic Approach to Environmental and Natural Resources. Dryden Press, 1998.