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Home | Courses | Regional and Environmental Economics
Course

Regional and Environmental Economics

  • Teacher(s)
    Henri de Groot, Menusch Khadjavi
  • Research field
    Spatial Economics
  • Dates
    Period 1 - Aug 29, 2022 to Oct 21, 2022
  • Course type
    Field
  • Program year
    Second
  • Credits
    3

Course description

After providing a general introduction to the course, the first lecture will focus on cities and the environment. To what extent do cities make us greener, how can we value, for example, air quality, noise from airports, open space, etc. The second lecture will introduce the DICE model as a nice example of an integrated assessment model. Integrated assessment models are typically used to study the interaction between climate change and the economy. The third lecture will focus on capita select a (where you have an input on topics to be discussed). Options are energy productivity, the transition towards the circular economy, carbon leakage, the impact of environmental policy on competitiveness, etc. Lectures four and five will focus on natural resources and their relationship with economic and social outcomes in resource-rich economies. Mainstream explanations of a possible ‘resource curse’ such as Dutch disease will be presented. But how strong is the evidence for a ‘curse’ and what are other competing explanations for unfavorable economic development? The final lecture will examine the pollution haven hypothesis and discuss whether trade is good or bad for the environment, touching upon environmental policy making.

Course literature

Primary reading (with reference to lecture in which literature is used in [] and * indicating compulsory readings for the exam)
• [5,*] Allcott, H. and D. Keniston (2018). Dutch Disease or Agglomeration? The Local Economic Effects of Natural Resource Booms in Modern America, Review of Economic Studies, 85, pp. 695-731 (https://doi.org/10.1093/restud/rdx042).
• [5,*] Aragón, F.M. and J.P. Rud (2013). Natural Resources and Local Communities: Evidence from a Peruvian Gold Mine, American Economic Journal: Economic Policy, 5, pp. 1-25 (https://www.aeaweb.org/articles?id=10.1257/pol.5.2.1).
• [6] Carson, R.T. (2010). The Environmental Kuznets Curve: Seeking Empirical Regularity and Theoretical Structure, Review of Environmental Economics and Policy, 4, pp. 3-23 (https://doi.org/10.1093/reep/rep021).
• [6] Copeland, B.R. and M.S. Taylor (2004). Trade, Growth, and the Environment, Journal of Economic Literature, 42, pp. 7-71 (https://www.aeaweb.org/articles?id=10.1257/002205104773558047).
• [5] Dube, O. and J.F. Vargas (2013). Commodity price shocks and civil conflict: evidence from Colombia, Review of Economic Studies, 80, pp. 1384-1421 (https://academic.oup.com/restud/article-abstract/80/4/1384/1579342).
• [1] Glaeser, E. and M. Kahn (2010). The Greeness of Cities: Carbon Dioxide Emissions and Urban Development, Journal of Urban Economics, 67, 404-418 (https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jue.2009.11.006).
• [4,*] Gneezy, U. A. Leibbrandt and J.A. List (2016). Ode to the sea: Workplace Organizations and Norms of Cooperation. Economic Journal, 126, pp. 1856-1883 (https://doi.org/10.1111/ecoj.12209).
• [5] Mehlum, H., K. Moene and R. Torvik (2006). Institutions and the Resource Curse, Economic Journal, 116, pp. 1-20 (https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/j.1468-0297.2006.01045.x).
• [1,3,*] Mulder, P. and H.L.F. de Groot (2012). Structural change and convergence of energy intensity across OECD countries, 1970–2005. Energy Economics, 34, pp. 1910-1921 (https://doi.org/10.1016/j.eneco.2012.07.023).
• [2,*] Nordhaus, W. (1991). To Slow or Not to Slow: The Economics of the Greenhouse Effect, Economic Journal, 101, 920-937 (https://www.jstor.org/stable/2233864).
• [2,*] Nordhaus, W. (1993). Rolling the 'DICE': An Optimal Transition Path for Controlling Greenhouse Gases, Resource and Energy Economics, 15, 27-50 (https://doi.org/10.1016/0928-7655(93)90017-O).
• [4,*] Rustagi, D., S. Engel and M. Kosfeld (2010). Conditional cooperation and costly monitoring explain success in forest commons management. Science, 330, pp. 961-965 (https://science.sciencemag.org/content/330/6006/961).
• [5] Van der Ploeg, F. (2011). Natural Resources: Curse or Blessing? Journal of Economic Literature, 49, pp. 366-420 (http://dx.doi.org/10.1257/jel.49.2.366).
• [5] Vicente, P.C. (2010). Does oil corrupt? Evidence from a natural experiment in West Africa, Journal of Development Economics, 92, pp. 28-38 (http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jdeveco.2009.01.005).
Additional papers may be announced through Canvas. A Detailed list of papers to be studied for the exam will be made available two weeks in advance of the exam.
Further Reading
• Barbier, E.B. (2005). Natural Resources and Economic Development, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
• Collier, P. (2008). The Bottom Billion: Why the Poorest Countries are Failing and What Can Be Done About It, London: Penguin Press.
• Collier, P. (2010). The Plundered Planet: How to Reconcile Prosperity With Nature, London: Allen Lane.
• [3] Collier, P. (2019): The Future of Capitalism, London: Allen Lane.
• Copeland, B.R. and M.S. Taylor (2003). Trade and the Environment, Princeton: Princeton University Press.
• Corden, W.M. and J.P. Neary (1982). Booming Sector and De-Industrialisation in a Small Open Economy, Economic Journal, 92, pp. 825-848 (http://www.jstor.org/stable/2232670).
• [3] De Groot, H.L.F., G. Marlet, C.N. Teulings and W. Vermeulen (2015). Cities and the Urban Land Premium, Cheltenham: Edward Elgar.
• [4] Khadjavi, M., K. Sipangule and R. Thiele (2019). Social Capital and Large Scale Agricultural Investments: An Experimental Investigation, Economic Journal, forthcoming (https://www.dropbox.com/s/p4qjpuf6hs8qvx6/KhadjaviSipanguleThiele2019_Economic%20Journal_accepted.pdf?dl=0).
• [5] Sachs, J.D and A.M. Warner (2001). Natural Resources and Economic Development: The curse of natural resources, European Economic Review, 45, pp. 827-838.
• Van der Ploeg, F. (2013). Untapped Fossil Fuel and the Green Paradox: A Classroom Calibration of the Optimal Carbon Tax, Environmental Economics and Policy Studies, 17, pp. 185-201 (https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10018-014-0097-7).
• Van der Ploeg, F. and C. Withagen (2013). Global Warming and the Green Paradox, Review of Environmental Economics and Policy, 9, pp. 285-303 (https://academic.oup.com/reep/article-abstract/9/2/285/1626249).