Environmental Economics, An Introduction, 2024 Release | Instructor Solutions Manual

Environmental Economics, An Introduction, 2024 Release | Instructor Solutions Manual Chapter 1 includes updates on climate change data, specifically for exhibits on carbon taxes and CO2 emissions. The emphasis on ince ...

Environmental Economics, An Introduction, 2024 Release | Instructor Solutions Manual Chapter 1 includes updates on climate change data, specifically for exhibits on carbon taxes and CO2 emissions. The emphasis on incentives as a key concept remains consistent with previous editions. Objectives The purpose of this chapter is to whet students’ appetites, by presenting them with some examples of the types of problems environmental economists work on and some of the approaches they take. Most of the examples are illustrated with short exhibits to increase their immediacy. They are meant to be sketches that are easily understandable by students, without the need of devoting a lot of class time to their deeper interpretation. Main Points At this juncture, there are just two leading ideas to emphasize: (a) the critical role of incentives in producing environmental degradation and in designing environmental policies and (b) the importance of studying the short- and long-run benefits and costs of environmental improvements. Teaching Ideas It is especially important to set a positive tone early. Most students will come to the class as environmental advocates. With its attention to costs, trade-offs, and notions of efficiency, environmental economics can seem for many to lead toward a weakening of the forces of environmental advocacy and to lower aspiration levels for environmental improvements. That is why many environmental advocacy groups look at environmental economics with a jaundiced eye. It’s important to begin getting the message across that this is incorrect, that, instead, the subject will prove to be very useful in such things as designing environmental policies with more teeth than some of those we have had in the past, getting more environmental improvement from the resources we devote to these programs, and learning more about the real levels of environmental damages and the values people put on improving the natural environment. Many students will also come to the class with the simplistic notion that environmental deterioration is primarily a result of ―capitalism,‖ where decisions ar