Economic Development and the Environment

Tufts University - Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy
Medford, Massachusetts


Instructor: Harris, Jonathan
Subject area: Economics
Department: Economics
Course number: ECON240
Year taught: 1996
Level: Graduate

Instructor's Email Address: jharris@emerald.tufts.edu
Course Web Page: http://haystack.lclark.edu/~econ/260.htm
Please note that the copyright for this syllabus is retained by the instructor.


Course Description: This course deals examines linkages between economic development and the environment. Some familiarity with environmental economics is assumed. The textbook used (Pearce and Warford) covers most basic issues in environment and development, emphasizing applied theory rather than formal mathematical analysis. We will use the text as a starting point for discussion of issues in sustainable development. The supplementary texts (A Survey of Ecological Economics and Green Markets) provide interpretations of the concept of sustainable development from ecological and neoclassical perspectives. Extensive readings on specific issues are provided in the supplementary text Making Development Sustainable and other readings available at the bookstore or on reserve.

Requirements for the course include two take-home exams and a topic paper of moderate length. The topic should be selected early in the semester.


Suggested Texts:
Pearce, David W. and Jeremy J. Warford. World Without End: Economics, Environment, and Sustainable Development. Oxford University Press, 1993.

Holmberg, Johan, ed. Making Development Sustainable: Redefining Institutions, Policy, and Economics. Island Press, 1992.

Krishnan, Rajaram, Jonathan M. Harris, and Neva R. Goodwin, eds. A Survey of Ecological Economics. Island Press, 1995.

Panayotou, Theodore. Green Markets: The Economics of Sustainable Development. Institute for Contemporary Studies Press, 1993.

Supplementary:
Brown, Lester R. State of the World 1995. (Worldwatch Institute), W.W. Norton, 1995.

Goodland, Robert, Herman Daly et al., eds. Population, Technology, and Lifestyle: The Transition to Sustainability. Island Press, 1992.

Hanley, Nick and Clive L. Spash. Cost-Benefit Analysis and the Environment. Edward Elgar, 1993.

Mazur, Laurie Ann, ed. Beyond the Numbers: A Reader on Population, Consumption, and the Environment. Island Press, 1994.

World Bank. World Development Report 1992: Development and the Environment. Oxford University Press, 1992.

Zaelke, Durwood, Paul Orbuch, and Robert F. Housman eds. Trade and the Environment: Law, Economics, and Policy. Island Press, 1993.

* Supplementary Readings are denoted with an asterisk.

Course Outline:
TOPIC 1: Overview: Approaches to Environment and Development
Pearce and Warford, Chapters 1 and 2.
Holmberg, Chapter 1.
Panayotou, Chapter 1.
Krishnan et al., *Part I, Part II.
* State of the World 1995, Chapter 1: "Nature's Limits."
* Goodland ed., Chapters 1 and 2.
* World Development Report 1992, Overview, Chapter 1.
* Daly, Herman E. "Elements of Environmental Macroeconomics," Chapter 3 in Robert Costanza, ed., Ecological Economics. Columbia University Press, 1991
* Meadows, Donella H. Beyond the Limits. Chelsea Green, 1992, Chapters 1-3.

TOPIC 2: National Income and Environmental Accounting
Pearce and Warford, Chapter 4.
Krishnan et al, Part V.
* Goodland ed., Chapters 3, 4, 5 by Haavelmo & Hansen, Tinbergen & Hueting, El Serafy.
* Lutz, Ernst. Towards Improved Accounting for the Environment, Chapters 1 and 2. UNSTAT/World Bank 1993.
* Meyer, Carrie A. Environmental and Resource Accounting: Where to Begin? World Resources Institute, 1993
* Repetto, Robert R. Wasting Assets: Natural Resources in the National Income Accounts. World Resources Institute, 1989.
* Repetto, Robert R. and Wilfredo Cruz, The Environmental Effects of Stabilization and Structural Adjustment Programs: The Philippines Case. WRI, 1992.
* Sol Arzano et al., Accounts Overdue: Natural Resource Depreciation in Costa Rica. WRI, 1991.
* Costanza, Robert ed., Ecological Economics, Chapters 12, 13 and 14.
* World Resources Institute, World Resources 1990-91, Chapter 14.
* United Nations. Integrated Environmental and Economic Accounting.= U.N., 1993.
* United Nations Development Program. Human Development Report 1992, Chapter 1.
* El Serafy, Salah. Country Macroeconomic Work and Natural Resources. World Bank Environment Department Working Paper No. 58, March 1993.

TOPIC 3: Issues in Resource and Environmental Analysis
Pearce and Warford, Chapters 3, 5, 7, and 8.
Panayotou, Chapters 2, 3, 4.
Goodland ed., Chapters 6 and 8.
Krishnan et al, Part III.
* Hanley, Nick and Clive Spash, Cost-Benefit Analysis and the Environment, Chapter 1-9, 14.
* World Development Report 1992, Chapter 3: "Markets, Government and the Environment."
* Repetto, Robert et al. Green Fees: How a Tax Shift can Work for the Environment and the Economy. World Resources Institute, 1992.
* Norgaard, Richard B. and Richard B. Howarth, "Sustainability and Discounting the Future," in Costanza ed., Ecological Economics.
* Resources for the Future, "How Useful is Environmental Economics?", Resources, Spring 1993.
* Barbier, Edward B. Economics, Natural Resource Scarcity, and Development, Chapter 3, 4, 5. Earthscan Publications, 1989.
* Jacobs, Michael. The Green Economy. Pluto Press, 1991. Chapters 17 and 18.

TOPIC 4: Population and Environment Issues
Pearce and Warford, Chapters 6 and 11.
Baudot, Barbara. Population/Environment Equations: Implications for Future Security. International Consortium for the Study of Environmental Security, 1994. (handout)
* Mazur, Beyond the Numbers, Sections I and II.
* World Resources Institute, World Resources 1994-95, Chapter 2: "Population and the Environment".
* World Development Report 1992, Chapter 1.
* Lapp=82, Frances Moore and Rachel Schurman. Taking Population Seriously. Institute for Food and Development Policy, 1990.
* Repetto, Robert. Population, Resources, Environment: An Uncertain Future (Population Reference Bureau, 1991).
* Lutz, Wolfgang. The Future of World Population. Population Reference Bureau, 1994.
* Simon, Julian L. Theory of Population and Economic Growth. Blackwell, 1986
* Birdsall, Nancy, "Economic Analysis of Rapid Population Growth," World Bank Research Observer, January 4 1989, pp. 23-50.
* Kelly, Allen C. "Economic Consequences of Population Change in the Third World," Journal of Economic Literature 26 (December 1988), pp. 1685-1728.

TOPIC 5: Food and Agriculture
Holmberg, Chapter 4.
Harris, Jonathan M. "World Agricultural Future: Regional Sustainability and Ecological Limits." Ecological Economics Vol. 17 No. 2 (May 1996).
* Islam, Nurul. Population and Food in the Early Twenty-First Century: Meeting Food Demand of an Increasing Population.
International Food Policy Research Institute, 1995.
* Brown, Lester and Hal Kane Full House: Reassessing the Earth's Population Carrying Capacity. W.W. Norton, 1994.
* Brown, Lester. Who Will Feed China? W.W. Norton, 1995.
* World Resources Institute, World Resources 1994-95, Chapter 6: "Food and Agriculture".
* World Development Report 1992, Chapter 7: "Rural Environmental Policy".
* Alexandratos, Nikos. World Agriculture: Towards 2010. An FAO Study. Wiley, 1995.
* Cassman, K.G. and R.R. Harwood. "The Nature of Agricultural Systems: Food Security and Environmental Balance." Food Policy Vol 20 No. 5, pp; 439-454 (1995).
* Hanley and Spash, Cost-Benefit Analysis and the Environment, Chapters 10 and 11.
* Dapice, David. Thinking About the Future: The Complementary Roles of Economists and Environmentalists. G-DAE discussion paper, 1993.
* Leonard, H. Jeffrey et al., Environment and the Poor: Development Strategies for a Common Agenda, Chapters 1,2, and 4 by Yudelman, Stryker, and De Boer.
* Harris, Jonathan M. World Agriculture and the Environment. Garland Publishing, 1990.
* Conway, Gordon R. and Edward B. Barbier. After the Green Revolution: Sustainable Agriculture for Development. Earthscan Publications, 1990.
* Cleveland, Cutler J. "Reallocating Work Between Human and Natural Capital in Agriculture" in Jannson et al. eds., Investing in Natural Capital. Island Press, 1994.
* Gever et al. Beyond Oil: The Threat to Food and Fuel in the Coming Decades, Chapter 5: "Agriculture: The Exhaustible Cornucopia". University Press of Colorado, 1991.
* "The Decline of Diversity in European Agriculture," The Ecologist, Vol 2, No. 2, March/April 1993.

TOPIC 6: Energy and Industrial Development
Krishnan et al, Part IV.
Holmberg, Chapter 9.
* World Development Report 1992, Chapter 6: "Energy and Industry".
* State of the World 1995, Chapter 4: "Harnessing the Sun and the Wind"
* State of the World 1994, Chapter 4: "Reshaping the Power Industry".
* State of the World 1993, Chapter 6: "Energy in Developing Countries".
* World Resources Institute, World Resources 1994-95, Chapter 9: "Energy".
* Cleveland, Cutler. "Natural Resource Scarcity and Economic Growth Revisited: Economic and Biophysical Perspectives," Chapter 19 in Costanza ed., Ecological Economics.
* Gever et al. Beyond Oil: The Threat to Food and Fuel in the Coming Decades, Chs 1-3.
* Hubbard, Harold. "The Real Cost of Energy," Scientific American, April 1991.
* Davis, Ged. "Energy for Planet Earth," Scientific American, September 1990.

TOPIC 7: Global Warming and Ozone Depletion
Pearce and Warford, Chapter 14
* World Development Report 1992, Chapter 8
* Cline, William R. The Economics of Global Warming. Institute for International Economics, 1992.
* Nordhaus, William D. "To Slow or Not to Slow: Economics of the Greenhouse Effect," The Economic Journal 101:6 pp. 920-37 (1991).
* "Symposium on Climate Change": articles by William Nordhaus, James Poterba and others. Journal of Economic Perspectives, Fall 1993.
* Manne, Alan S. and Richard G. Richels. Buying Greenhouse Insurance: The Economic Costs of CO2 Emission Limits. MIT Press, 1992.
* Meadows, Donella H. Beyond the Limits, Chapter 5.
* Socolow, R. et al, Industrial Ecology and Global Change, Part 2. Cambridge University Press, 1994.
* Hanley and Spash, Cost-Benefit Analysis and the Environment, Chapter 13.

TOPIC 8: Natural Resource Management
Pearce and Warford, Chapter 10.
Holmberg, Chapters 3, 7 and 8.
* World Development Report 1992, Chapters 2 and 5.
* State of the World 1995, Chapters 2 and 3: "Fisheries", "Mountain Environments".
* State of the World 1994, Chapters 2 and 3: "Forest Economy", "Oceans".
* Hall, Charles A.S. "Sanctioning Resource Depletion: Economic Development and Neo-Classical Economics," The Ecologist Vol. 20 #3, May/June 1990.
* World Resources Institute, World Resources 1994-95, Chapters 7, 8, and 10.: "Forests and Rangeland", "Biodiversity", "Water".
* Hanley and Spash, Cost-Benefit Analysis and the Environment, Chapter 12.
* Goodland, Robert, et al. "Tropical Moist Forest Management; The Urgency of Transition to Sustainability," Chapter 32 in Costanza ed., Ecological Economics.
* Leonard, H. Jeffrey et al., Environment and the Poor: Development Strategies for a Common Agenda, Chapters 3, 4, & 6.
* Barbier, Edward B. Economics, Natural Resource Scarcity and Development, Chapters 6 and 7, "Deforestation in Amazonia", and "Upper Watershed Degradation in Java".
* Clark, William C. "Managing Planet Earth," Scientific American Vol 261 No. 3, Sept 1989.
* Kurien, John. "Ruining the Commons: Overfishing in South India," The Ecologist, Vol 23 No. 1, January/February 1993.
* Schramm, Gunter and Jeremy J. Warford, eds. Environmental Management and Economic Development, Chapters 7-11.

TOPIC 9: Trade, Financing, and Institutional Reform
Pearce and Warford, Chapters 9, 12, and 13.
Goodland ed., Chapters 7, 9 and 10.
Krishnan et al., Parts VI and VII.
Holmberg, Chapters 2, 10, and 11.
Panayotou, Chapters 5 and 6.
Costanza, Robert et al. "Sustainable Trade: A New Paradigm for World Welfare," Environment 37:5, June 1995.
Harris, Jonathan M. "Free Trade and Environmental Sustainability: An Ecologica Economics Perspective," Praxis Vol. X No. 2, Summer 1993.
* Zaelke, Orbuch, and Housman. Trade and the Environment: Law, Economics and Policy. Island Press, 1993. Chapters 1, 2, 4, 6, 12, 13, 14, 17, 20.
* World Development Report 1992, Chapters 4, 8 and 9.
* State of the World 1995, Chapter 10.
* State of the World 1994, Chapter 9.
* State of the World 1993, Chapter 9.
* Reid, Walter V. et al eds. Bankrolling Successes: A Portfolio of Sustainable Development Projects. (Environmental Policy Institute, 1988).
* Reed, David ed. Structural Adjustment and the Environment, Chapters 1 and 2.
* Rich, Bruce. Mortgaging the Earth: The World Bank, Environmental Impoverishment, and the Crisis of Development. Beacon Press, 1994.
* U.N. Development Program, Human Development Report 1992, Chapters 2-5.
* U.N. Development Program, Human Development Report 1993, 1994.
* Barbier, Economics, Natural-Resource Scarcity, and Development, Chapter 8.
* Harris, Jonathan M. "Global Institutions and Sustainable Development," in Dietz et al. eds., Sustainability and Environmental Policy. Berlin, Edition Sigma, 1992.

TOPIC 10: Consumption, Recycling, and Industrial Ecology
[Guest Lecturer Dr. Frank Ackerman, Senior Research Associate, G-DAE]
Krishnan et al. Part IV, readings by Hannon, Ayres, Duchin, Graedel, Holmberg, Chapters 5 and 6.
Ackerman, Frank, Why Do We Recycle? Selected chapters.
* Socolow, R. et al, Industrial Ecology and Global Change. Cambridge University Press, 1994. Parts 1 and 4.
* Carr, Marilyn. Sustainable Industrial Development: Seven Case Studies. Intermediate Technology Publications, 1988.