Robert F. Mulligan, Ph.D. Department of Business Computer Information Systems and Economics Western Carolina University College of Business
ECON 310 NATURAL RESOURCE ECONOMICS EXAM REVIEW TOPICS
Exam 1 Review Topics 1. Natural and environmental resources 2. Static and dynamic economic decisions 3. Marginal v. total costs/benefits 4. Marginal extraction cost and marginal abatement cost 5. Kinds of market failure 6. Characteristics of public goods 7. Coase's theorem and Kahn's critique of it 8. Governmental approaches to pollution reduction 9. The law of mass balance 10. Hedonic pricing/wage approaches to valuing environmental amenities 11. Sources of economic valuation: e.g. existence, use, option, altruistic value, etc. 12. Open ended v. closed questions 13. Contingent and conjoint valuation surveys 14. Pareto criterion of welfare 15. Hicks-Kaldor criterion, aka potential Pareto improvement 16. GDP as a measure of societal welfare, especially its shortcomings for that purpose 17. Sustainability 18. The Lorenz curve and Gini coefficient as measures of income inequality 19. Cost-benefit analyses 20. Choice of discount rates in cost-benefit analyses 21. The Environmental Kuznets curve (EKC) 22. Transfrontier pollution 23. Environmental issues with globalization, particularly with GATT, WTO, and NAFTA Exam 2 Review Topics 1. Natural and environmental resources 2. Static and dynamic economic decisions 3. Marginal v. total costs/benefits 4. Marginal extraction cost and marginal abatement cost 5. Kinds of market failure 6. Characteristics of public goods 7. Coase's theorem and Kahn's critique of it 8. Governmental approaches to pollution reduction 9. The law of mass balance 10. Hedonic pricing/wage approaches to valuing environmental amenities 11. Sources of economic valuation: e.g. existence, use, option, altruistic value, etc. 12. Open ended v. closed questions 13. Contingent and conjoint valuation surveys 14. Pareto criterion of welfare 15. Hicks-Kaldor criterion, aka potential Pareto improvement 16. GDP as a measure of societal welfare, especially its shortcomings for that purpose 17. Sustainability 18. The Lorenz curve and Gini coefficient as measures of income inequality 19. Cost-benefit analyses 20. Choice of discount rates in cost-benefit analyses 21. The Environmental Kuznets curve (EKC) 22. Transfrontier pollution 23. Environmental issues with globalization, particularly with GATT, WTO, and NAFTA 24. Pollution generating output levels without environmental regulation, considering only private costs and benefits 25. Impact on output levels of a pollution tax 26. Evidence for, impact of, and anthropogenic causes of, global climate change 27. The Kyoto protocol 28. OPEC as an oligopoly responding to a higher-cost competitive fringe 29. Marketable pollution permits compared with command-and-control regulation 30. Hotelling's theory of natural resource costs 31. Environmental impact/benefits of hydropower, biomass, etc. 32. Acid deposition and precursor pollutants 33. The Clean Air Act (1963) & Title IV CAAA (1990) 34. Pollution offset permitting as in Southern California 35. Efficiency benefits of emissions taxes Exam 3/Final Exam Review Topics 1. Natural and environmental resources 2. Static and dynamic economic decisions 3. Marginal v. total costs/benefits 4. Marginal extraction cost and marginal abatement cost 5. Kinds of market failure 6. Characteristics of public goods 7. Coase's theorem and Kahn's critique of it 8. Governmental approaches to pollution reduction 9. The law of mass balance 10. Marginal damage and marginal abatement costs 11. Hedonic pricing/wage approaches to valuing environmental amenities 12. Sources of economic valuation: e.g. existence, use, option, altruistic value, etc. 13. Open ended v. closed questions 14. Contingent and conjoint valuation surveys 15. Pareto criterion of welfare 16. Hicks-Kaldor criterion, aka potential Pareto improvement 17. GDP as a measure of societal welfare, especially its shortcomings for that purpose 18. Sustainability 19. The Lorenz curve and Gini coefficient as measures of income inequality 20. Cost-benefit analyses 21. Choice of discount rates in cost-benefit analyses 22. The Environmental Kuznets curve (EKC) 23. Transfrontier pollution 24. Environmental issues with globalization, particularly with GATT, WTO, and NAFTA 25. Reasons for regulatory success in combating ozone depletion 26. The global warming potential index (GWPI) 27. Pollution generating output levels without environmental regulation, considering only private costs and benefits 28. Impact on output levels of a pollution tax 29. Evidence for, impact of, and anthropogenic causes of, global climate change 30. The Kyoto protocol 31. OPEC as an oligopoly responding to a higher-cost competitive fringe 32. Marketable pollution permits compared with command-and-control regulation 33. Hotelling's theory of natural resource costs 34. Environmental impact/benefits of hydropower, biomass, etc. 35. Preconditions for competitive energy alternatives 36. Acid deposition and precursor pollutants, and their impacts 37. Willingness to pay for visibility improvements 38. The Clean Air Act (1963) & Title IV CAAA (1990) 39. Pollution offset permitting as in Southern California 40. Liability systems v. performance bonding 41. Efficiency benefits of emissions taxes 42. The Carbon Cycle 43. The Multiple-Use Sustained Yield Act (1960) 44. Old-growth forests as climax ecosystems 45. Species diversity in the rain forest 46. Benefits of private property rights in preserving sustainable ecosystems 47. Legal v. scientific definitions of wetlands 48. Anoxic and Anaerobic decay 49. Impact of excess nutrients on water systems 50. Riparian property rights 51. Rationale for federal subsidies for wastewater treatment