EE 511: Ecological Economics
Course Information
| Instructor: |
Brynhildur Davidsdottir Office: STO 141; Office Hours: Monday, Wednesday 10:00 - 11:00 AM and 2-3 PM. email: bdavids@bu.edu |
| Meeting Time: |
Lecture: Monday, Wednesday, Friday 1:00 - 2:00 PM |
| Classroom Locations: |
Lecture: CAS 325 |
| Readings |
Reading packet: available at STO 141 - occasional additional readings will be available as well in the CEES office. |
| Course Description and Course Objectives |
The increase in human numbers and economic activity have put Homo Sapiens in a position to greatly influence the flow of energy and matter on Earth. Explaining the extent and impacts of this influence is well beyond the theory and analytical tools of individual disciplines, such as economics, ecology or the physical sciences. A new interdisciplinary approach is needed, one that unites the relevant aspects of different disciplines. The theory and tools necessary to understand the relation among human populations, natural resources, the environment, and economic growth are brought together in the discipline of Ecological Economics. In this course you will be introduced to the history and methods of Ecological Economics. Methods such as green national accounting, valuation of ecosystem services, measuring resource scarcity, accounting for natural capital and the methods of industrial ecology are discussed in detail. After taking this class you will be able to think critically about economic theory, apply the concepts taught in the class as well as, hopefully feel inspired to contribute to the development of this new exciting field of research. |
| Grading: |
Your grade is based on 2 (two) exams - a midterm and a final as well as on a research paper and a review paper. The final is a cumulative take-home exam and will be given out on Friday April 23. Research Paper: 30% - due on Friday April 25, proposal due February 6th. Book Review or Literature Review (on a topic unrelated to your research paper). 10% due date TBA Midterm (in class): 20% (short answers) Final exam (take-home): 30% (essays) Class participation, occasional short assignments: 10% Note that this course is heavily discussion-based and therefore requires that you read the assigned material before coming to class. |
| Incomplete Grades: |
ÒIÓ grades are given only when specific work has not been completed AND when the student and instructor have conferred and the instructor has assigned a date within the next 12 months for the work to be completed. The I grade automatically becomes a permanent F if the work is not completed with 12 months from when the incomplete was given. This is CAS policy. |
| Academic Honesty and Copyright |
Plagiarism and other forms of academic misconduct are serious offenses. I take them very seriously and I expect my students to do likewise. You should read the CAS Academic Conduct Code for further information about specific definitions, procedures, sanctions, etc. Copies of the Code are available in CAS 105. I am required to refer cases of suspected academic misconduct to the CAS Dean's Office. The syllabus, course descriptions, and handouts created by Professor Davidsdottir, and all class lectures, are copyrighted by Boston University and/or Professor Davidsdottir. Except with respect to enrolled students as set forth below, the materials and lectures may not be reproduced in any form or otherwise copied, displayed or distributed, nor should works derived from them be reproduced, copied, displayed or distributed without the written permission of Professor Davidsdottir. Infringement of the copyright in these materials, including any sale or commercial use of notes, summaries, outlines or other reproductions of lectures, constitutes a violation of the copyright laws and is prohibited. Students enrolled in the course are allowed to share with other enrolled students course materials, notes, and other writings based on the course materials and lectures, but may not do so on a commercial basis or otherwise for payment of any kind. Please note in particular that selling or buying class notes, lecture notes or summaries, or similar materials both violates copyright and interferes with the academic mission of the College, and is therefore prohibited in this class and will be considered a violation of the student code of responsibility that is subject to academic sanctions. |
| DATE |
TOPIC |
READING |
|||
| M |
Jan. |
12 |
Introduction to the course |
Daily 2004 |
|
The Beginning - Basic Organizing Laws and Principles |
|||||
| W |
Jan. |
14 |
Motivation and Historical Roots of Ecological Economics |
Cleveland 1987, Boulding 1966, Daly 1968, Martinez-Alier 1987, Costanza 1998 |
|
| F |
Jan. |
16 |
Motivation and Historical Roots of Ecological Economics |
Cleveland 1987, Boulding 1966, Daly 1968, Martinez-Alier 1987, Costanza 1998 |
|
| W |
Jan. |
21 |
Basic organizing law and principles: Thermodynamics |
Georgescu-Rogen 1971, Ayres 1978, Ruth 1994 | |
| F |
Jan. |
23 |
Basic organizing law and principles: Concepts and tools of ecology |
Folke 1999, Ruth 1993 | |
| M |
Jan. |
26 |
Basic organizing law and principles: Concepts and tools of ecology |
Folke 1999, Ruth 1993 | |
| W |
Jan. |
28 |
Basic organizing law and principles: Concepts and tools of economics | Christensen 1989, Daily 1992, Ruth 1993, Victor 1991 | |
| F |
Jan. |
30 |
The link between ecosystems, thermodynamics and the economy - coevolution and evolutionary economics |
Norgaard 1985, Norgaard 1988 Ruth 1996, Allen 1994, Daily 2004 | |
Value Theory - valuing nature |
|||||
| M |
Feb. |
2 |
Comparative Value Theories Classical, neoclassical, Marxism, biophysical, ecological economics |
Hall et al. 1986 | |
| W |
Feb. |
4 |
Valuing Ecosystem Services Contingent evaluation, travel cost, hedonic pricing, energy theory of value. | Farber et al. 2002, Groot et al 2002, Goulder and Kennedy 2000, Kristrom 1999, Boxall et al 1999, Johansson, 1999, Costanza et al 1989 | |
| F |
Feb. |
6 |
Avoided cost, replacement values - Case studies PROPOSALS DUE FOR RESEARCH PAPER |
Holmlund and Hammer 1999
Goulder and Kennedy 2000 |
|
| M |
Feb. |
9 |
Valuation and Ethics - discussion |
Gorke 2004, Blamley and Common 1999 |
|
| Sustainability indicators - How well are we doing? Scarcity Indicators and Green Accounting |
|||||
| W |
Feb. |
11 |
Natural Resource Scarcity Malthus, Ricardo, Barnet and Morse - Neoclassical approach |
Norgaard 1990, Hall and Hall 1984, Krautkraemer 2002 | |
| F |
Feb. |
13 |
Natural Resource Scarcity con't - Best first, resource quality, economic and environmental energy cost |
Cleveland 1991 |
|
| T |
Feb. |
17 |
Resource Scarcity - Biophysical approach - case studies |
Cleveland 1991 |
|
| W |
Feb. |
18 |
Standard National Accounts |
Cherry 1980 |
|
| F |
Feb. |
20 |
Accounting for Natural Capital | Costanza and Daily 1992, Daily and Cobb 1990. | |
| M |
Feb. |
23 |
Incorporation of Natural and Human Capital into National Accounts Overview |
Costanza et al 1997, Van Dieren1995, p. 167-257 |
|
| W |
Feb. |
25 |
Incorporation of Natural and Human Capital into National Accounts Weak Sustainability |
Bartelmus 1999, Neumayer 2003 | |
| F |
Feb. |
27 |
Incorporation of Natural and Human Capital into National Accounts Strong Sustainability |
Hueting 1991 and WWF 1992, Cobb and Halstead 1994 |
|
| M |
March |
1 |
Welfare Indicators, HDI |
Costanza et al 1997, Van Dieren1995, England 2001 |
|
| W |
March |
3 |
Review for Midterm |
|
|
| F |
March |
5 |
Midterm Exam |
|
|
| M-F |
March |
8 -12 |
Spring Recess |
||
Incorporating thermodynamics to micro/macro economics - Why and how? |
|||||
| M |
March |
15 |
Production Functions Substitution and technological change |
Nicholson, chapter 10 | |
| W |
March |
17 |
Substitution, inclusion of energy and materials, engineering production functions |
Stern 1996, Ayres and Nair 1984, Spreng 1993, Ruth and Bullard 1993, deVries and Berry 1979 |
|
| F |
March |
19 |
Material and energy efficiency, energy quality |
Patterson 1996, Cleveland et al. 2000 | |
| M |
March |
22 |
Technological change and thermodynamic limits - role of energy in technological change |
Grubler et al. 1999, Technical change - ch.6, Loschel 2002 | |
| W |
March |
24 |
Learning curves |
Loschel 2002 | |
Lessons learned - Practical Solutions to Planning a More Sustainable Future, Policy and Industrial Ecology |
|||||
| F |
March |
26 |
Are there limits to growth? Comparative analysis of different paradigms |
Meadows et al 1972, Mikesell 1995, Solow, R. 1992, Ecological Economics sept.1997, pages 261-275, Victor 1991, Kaufmann 1995, Costanza and Patten 1995 | |
| M |
March |
29 |
Environmental policy design - insight from ecological economics | Underwood and King 1989 |
|
| W |
March |
31 |
Environmental policy design - insight from ecological economics |
Costanza et al. 1997. 192 - 217 |
|
| F |
April |
2 |
Industrial ecology Industrial ecology flow cycle The triple bottom line |
Graedel and Allenby 1995 |
|
| M |
April |
5 |
Dematerialization |
Cleveland and Ruth 1999 |
|
| W |
April |
7 |
Tools of Industrial Ecology LCA - life cycle analysis Design for the environment |
Graedel and Allenby 1995Bourman et al. 2000 |
|
| F |
April |
9 |
No Class - Good Friday |
||
| M |
April |
12 |
LCA - life cycle analysis Design for the environment Net Energy Analysis |
Graedel and Allenby 1995Bourman et al. 2000 |
|
| W |
April |
14 |
Environmental Cost Accounting |
TBA |
|
| F |
April |
16 |
Environmental Cost Accounting Case study |
Handout |
|
| M |
April |
19 |
No class - Holiday |
||
| W |
April |
21 |
Energy Cost Accounting Case study from Aquaculture |
Folke (1988) Folke and Nautsky (1989) |
|
| F |
April |
23 |
Forestry - multi-criteria management |
Creedy and Wurzbacher 2001 |
|
| M |
April |
26 |
Water resources - multi criteria management |
TBA |
|
| W |
April |
28 |
The Future of the Discipline - discussion - Review for exam |
||
Reading list
Allen, P.M. 1994.Coherence, Chaos and Evolution in the Social Context, Futures, Vol. 26, pp. 583 - 597.
Ayres R.U, 1978, Applications of Physical Principles to Economics, in Resources, Environment and Economica.
Ayres, R.U. and I. Nair. 1984. Thermodynamics and Economics. Physics Today. pp. 62-71.
Barthelmus P., 1999, Greening the National Accounts: Approach and Policy Use, DESA Discussion paper No.3.
Blamey, R.K. and M.S. Common. 1999. Valuation and Ethics in Environmental Economics, in J.C.J.M. van der
Bergh (ed.) Handbook of Environmental and Resource Economics, Edward Elgar Publishing, Cheltenham, pp. 809 -
823.
Boulding K.E., 1966, The economics of the coming spaceship earth, Excerpt from ÒQuality in a growing economyÓ.
Bourman et al., 2000,Material flows and Economics models an analytical comparison of SFA, LCA and partial equilibrium models, Ecological Economics 32:195-216.
Boxall, P.C., W.L. Abramowic, J. Swait, M. Williams, and J. Louviere. 1996. A Comparison of Stated Preference
Methods for Environmental Valuation, Ecological Economics, Vol. 18, pp. 243 - 253.
Cherry, R.D., 1980. Chapter 4 - Production, Income, and Spending, in Marcoeconomics, Addison-Wesley Pub. Co.,
Reading, MA. pp 61-91.
Christensen, P.P., 1989. Historical Roots for Ecological Economics: Biophysical versus Allocative Approaches
Ecological Economics, Vol. 1, pp. 17 - 36.
Cleveland C., 1987, Biophysical Economics: historical perspective and current research trends, Ecological Modeling 38:47-73.
Cleveland C., 1991, Natural Resource Scarcity and Economic Growth Revisited: Economic and Biophysical Perspectives, in: Costanza R. Ecological Economics: The Science and Management of Sustainability.
Cleveland C. Stern D., and Costanza R., 2001, The Economics of Nature and the Nature of economics, Edward Elgar Publishing
Costanza, et al., 1997, An Introduction to Ecological Economics, pages 192 - 217.
Costanza, R. and B.C. Patten. 1995. Defining and Predicting Sustainability, Ecological Economics,
Vol. 15, pp. 193 - 196.
Costanza, Robert and Herman E. Daly. 1992. Natural Capital and Sustainable Development. Conservation Biology, Vol. 6(1). pp 37-46.
Costanza, Robert, Stephen C. Farber, and Judith Maxwell. 1989. Valuation and Management of Wetland Ecosystems. Ecological Economics, Vol. 1. pp 335-361.
Costanza, Robert, 1998. Beyond the Argument Culture, Ecological Economics, Vol. 27, pp. 113 - 114.
Creedy, J., and Wurzbacher, A.D. 2001, The economic value of forested catchment with timber, water and carbon sequestration benefits, Ecological Economics 38:71-83.
Daily H.E., and Cobb J.B., 1990, Misplaced Correctness: Measuring Economic Success, in: For the Common Good: Redirecting the Economy Towards Community.
Daly, H., 1968, On economics as a life science.
Daly, H.E. 1992. Steady-State Economics: Concepts, Questions, Policies, GAIA, Vol. 1, pp. 333 - 338.
Daily et al. 2004, Ecological Economics, Island Press.
de Vries, Bert and R. Stephen Berry. 1979. Physical Information in Economic Analysis in R.A. Fazzolare and C.B. Smith (eds.) Changing Energy Use Futures, Pergamon Press, Frankfurt, pp. 156 - 164
Ecological Economics, 1997, pages 261 - 274.
El Serafy, S, 1991, The Environment as Capital in Robert Costanza (ed.) Ecological Economics: The science and management of sustainability.
Folke, C. 1999. Ecological Principles and Environmental Economic Analysis, in J.C.J.M. van den Bergh (ed.) Handbook of Environmental and Resource Economics, Edward Elgar Publishing, Cheltenham, pp. 895 - 911.
Folke, Carl and Nils Kautsky. 1989. The Role of Ecosystems for a Sustainable Development of Aquaculture. Ambio, Vol. 18(4). pp 234-243.
Folke, Carl. 1988. Energy Economy of Salmon Aquaculture in the Baltic Sea. Environmental Management, Vol. 12(4). pp 525-537.
Georgescu-Rogen N., 1971, The entropy law and the economic problem.
Gorke Martin, 2003, The death of our planet species, Island Press.
Goulder and Kennedy, 2000, Valuing Ecosystem Services, Philosophical Bases and Empirical Methods, in Nature's Services.
Graedel and Allenby, 1995, Industrial Ecology, Prentice Hall.
Groot et al., 2002, A typology for the classification, description and valuation of ecosystem functions, goods and services, Ecological Economics, 41:393-408.
Grubler et al. 1999, Modeling Technological Change: implications for global environment, Annu. Rev. Energy Environ 24:545-569.
Hall, C.A.S., C.J. Cleveland and R. Kaufmann. 1986. Chapter 3-Value in Classical Economics in Energy and Resource Quality, Wiley-Interscience, New York. Pp. 69-76.
Hall, D.C. and J.V. Hall. 1984. Concepts and Measures of Natural Resource Scarcity with a Summary of Recent Trends, Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Vol. 11, pp. 363 - 379.
Holmlund, C.M. and M. Hammer. 1999. Ecosystem Services Generated by Fish Populations, Ecological Economics, Vol. 29, pp. 253 - 268.
Hueting, R. 1991. Correcting National Income For Environmental Losses: A Practical Solution For a Theoretical Dilemma in R. Costanza (ed.) Ecological Economics, Columbia University Press. Pp 194-213.
Johansson, P-O. 1999. Theory of Economic Valuation of Environmental Goods and Services, in J.C.J.M. van den
Bergh (ed.) Handbook of Environmental and Resource Economics, Edward Elgar Publishing, Cheltenham, pp. 747 -
754.
Juan Martinez-Alier, 1987, Introduction, in Ecological Economics: Energy, Environment and Society, Chapter 1.
Kaufmann, R.K., 1995, The Economic Multiplier of Environmental Life-Support: Can Capital Substitute for a Degraded Environment? Ecological Economics 12(1):667-79.
Krautkraemer, 2002, The Economics of Scarcity: State of the debate. Manuscript
Kristršm, B. Contingent Valuation, in J.C.J.M. van den Bergh (ed.) Handbook of Environmental and Resource Economics, Edward Elgar Publishing, Cheltenham, pp. 777 - 795.
Loschel, 2002,Technological change in economic models of environmental policy: a survey, Ecological Economics 43:105-26.
Meadows, D.H., D.L. Meadows, J. Randers, and W.W. Belnews. 1972. Chapter 11-The Limits to Exponential Growth, in The Limits to Growth. Universe Books, New York.
Mikesell, R.F. 1995. The Limits to Growth: A Reappraisal, Resources Policy, Vol. 21, pp. 127 - 131.
Neumayer, E, 2003, Weak versus Strong Sustainability - chapters 5and 6.
Norgaard, Richard B. 1985. Environmental Economics: An Evolutionary Critique and a Plea for Pluralism. Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Vol. 12. pp. 382-394.
Norgaard, Richard B. 1990. Economic Indicators of Resource Scarcity: A Critical Essay. Journal of Environmental and Economics and Management, Vol. 19. pp 19-25.
Patterson M.G., 1996, What is Energy Efficiency? Energy Policy, 24:377-390.
Ruth, M., 1996, Evolutionary Economics at the Crossroads of Biology and Physics, Journal of Social and Evolutionary Systems 19(2):125-144.
Solow, R., 1992, An almost practical step towards sustainability, Resources for the Future.
Spreng, D. 1993. Possibilities for Substitution Between Energy, Time and Information, Energy Policy, January 1993, pp. 13 - 23.
Stern D., 1996, Limits to substitution and irreversibility in production and consumption: a neoclassical interpretation of ecological economics.
Technical Change and Thermodynamic Limits - chapter 6.
Underwood, D.A. and P.G. King. 1989. On the Ecological Foundations of Environmental Policy, Ecological Economics, Vol. 1, pp. 315 - 334.
Victor, Peter A. 1991. Indicators of Sustainable Development: Some Lessons from Capital Theory. Ecological Economics, 4. pp 191-213.