This is an introductory level course of economics for junior and senior year students in
Environmental Science. It provides students with basic principles of economics that underlie
consumption behavior and environmental problems, including pollution and resource
degradation. The course lays out topics that will help students to follow through, starting
from the introduction to economics, consumption behavior, nature of natural resources,
market failure, and property rights regimes to case studies of environmental problems,
including tragedy of the commons.
In each of the topics, students are expected to develop an understanding of economic
principles and concepts and science background required to understand environmental
problems and/or natural resource degradation. Finally, either as a natural resource
manager, environmental scientist or as a person who daily uses natural resources, individual
participation is one of the keys for effective environmental management and resource
conservation.