Course 705 : Readings

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Course 705 (Environment and Development)

 

Winter Semester 2014

 

Reading List

 

Module 1: Institutions and Management of Natural Resources

 Hardin: “The Tragedy of Commons”

Hardin, Garrett. 1968. “The Tragedy of Commons.” Science, 162(3859): 1243-1248.

 

Stevenson: “Common Property Economics” Chapters 1-3 (including appendices)

Stevenson, Glenn G. 1991. Common Property Economics: A general theory and land use applications. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.

 

Ostrom: “Collective action and Evolution of Social Norms”

Ostrom, Elinor. 2000. “Collective Action and the Evolution of Social Norms.” The Journal of Economic Perspectives, 14(3): 137-158.

 

Sethi and Somanathan: “The Evolution of Social Norms in Common Property Resource Use”

Sethi, Rajiv., and Somanathan, E.. 1996. “The Evolution of Social Norms in Common Property Resource Use.” The American Economic Review, 86(4): 766-788.

 

Somanathan: “Deforestation, Property Rights and Incentives in Central Himalaya”

Somanathan, E.. 1991. “Deforestation, Property Rights and Incentives in Central Himalaya.” Economic and Political Weekly, (January 26): 37-46.

 

 

Module 2: Economics of Climate Change

 

Gupta: “Climate Change Overview: Science, Politics, Economics & Policy” (PowerPoint slides)

 

2A: Modeling of Climate Change: Integrated Assessment Models (IAMs)

 

Slides and lecture notes on IAMs by Professor Surender Kumar

 

 Nordhaus: “A Question of Balance” Chapters 1-5, 9, 10, Appendix

Nordhaus, William D.. 2008. A question of Balance: Weighing the Options on Global Warming Policies. New Haven and London: Yale University Press.

 

Nordhaus: “Economic Aspects of Global Warming in a Post-Copenhagen Environment” (and Supporting Information)

Nordhaus, William D.. 2010. “Economic Aspects of Global Warming in a post Copenhagen Environment.” PNAS Early Edition: 1-6.

 

Ackerman et al.: “Limitations of Integrated Assessment Models of Climate Change”

Akerman, Frank, DeCanio, Stephen J., Howarth, Richard B., and Sheeran, Kristen. 2009. “Limitations of Integrated Assessment Models of Climate Change” Climatic Change, 95: 297-315.

 

Ackerman et al.: “The Need for a Fresh Approach to Climate Change Economics”

Ackerman, F., S. J. DeCanio, R. B. Howarth, and K. Sheeran. 2010. “The Need for a Fresh Approach to Climate Change Economics.” In Assessing the Benefits of Avoided Climate Change: CostBenefit Analysis and Beyond. Gulledge, J., L. J. Richardson, L. Adkins, and S. Seidel (eds.), Proceedings of Workshop on Assessing the Benefits of Avoided Climate Change, March 16–17, 2009. Pew Center on Global Climate Change: Arlington, VA. p. 159–181.

 

 

[There is considerable overlap between readings 4 and 5, but 4 has additional material in Section 4: Technology forecasts]

 

Nordhaus: “Integrated Economic and Climate Modeling”

Nordhaus, William D..2011. “Integrated Economic and Climate Modeling.” Cowles Foundation Discussion Paper No. 1839 (December 2011).

 

2B: Stern Review (The Economics of Climate Change) and its Critique

 

Slides on Stern Review

 

Stern Review: do only Introduction, Executive Summary, Summary of Conclusions, Chapters 1, 2, 2A, 6, 8, 9

Stern, Nicholas. 2007. The Economics of Climate Change: The Stern Review. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.

 

Stern: “The Economics of Climate Change”

Stern, Nicholas. 2008. “The Economics of Climate Change.” American Economic Review, 98(2): 1-37.

 

Nordhaus: “A Review of the Stern Review on the Economics of Climate Change”

Nordhaus, William D.. 2007. “A Review of the Stern Review on the Economics of Climate Change.” Journal of Economic Literature, XLV: 686-702.

 

 Weitzman: “A Review of the Stern Review on the Economics of Climate Change”

Weitzman, Martin L.. 2007. “A Review of the Stern Review on the Economics of Climate Change.” Journal of Economic Literature, XLV: 703-724.

 

 

2C: Tradable Permits/Quotas for Mitigating Greenhouse Gases (GHGs)

 

Bertram: “Tradable Emission Quotas, Technical Progress and Climate Change”

Bertram, I.G.. 1996. “Tradable Emission Quotas, Technical Progress and Climate Change.” Environment and Development Economics, 1(4): 465-487.

 

 

2D: “Fat Tails” and Climate Change (Weitzman’s ‘Dismal Theorem)

 

Bailey: “Wagging the “Fat Tail” of Climate Catastrophe”

Bailey, Ronald. 2009. “Wagging the Fat Tail of Catastrophe- How much should we pay to avoid the tiny...?” Reason Magazine, (February 10).

 

 Leiss: “Fat Tails and Climate Change: Catastrophic Failures in Risk Management”

Leiss, William. 2011. “Fat Tails and Climate Change: Catastrophic Failure in  Risk Management,5” Leiss website: http://leiss.ca/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/Fat-Tails-and-Climate-Change.pdf and (accessed 11.02.2014).

 

 [1 and 2 are not really readings but very short introductions to the issue]

 

REEP Symposium on “Fat Tails and the Economics of Climate Change”:

 

Nordhaus: “The Economics of Tail Events with an Application to Climate Change”

Nordhaus, William D.. 2011. “The Economics of Tail Events with an Application to Climate Change” Review of Environmental Economics and Policy, 5(2): 240-257.

 

 Pindyck: “Fat Tails, Thin Tails, and Climate Change Policy”

Pindyck, Robert S.. 2011. “Fat Tails, Thin Tails, and Climate Change Policy” Review of Environmental Economics and Policy, 5(2): 258-274.

 

 Weitzman: “Fat-Tailed Uncertainty in the Economics of Catastrophic Climate Change”

Weitzman, Martin L.. 2011. “Fat-Tailed Uncertainty in the Economics of Catastrophic Climate Change” Review of Environmental Economics and Policy, 5(2): 275-292.

 

 

2E: Sustainable Development and Global Warming

 

Llavador, Roemer, Silvestre: “Sustainability in the presence of global warming: theory & empirics”

Llavador, Humberto, Roemer, John E., Silvestre, Joaquim. 2011. “Sustainability in the presence of global warming: theory and empirics.” New York, NY: UNDP.

 

 Roemer: “The Ethics of Intertemporal Distribution in a Warming Planet”

Roemer, John E.. 2011. “The Ethics of Intertemporal Distribution in a Warming Planet.” Environmental Resource Economics, 48: 363-390.

 

2F. Impacts of Climate Change

Mendelsohn: "The distributional impacts of climate change on rich and poor countries"

Mendelsohn, Robert, Dinar, Ariel, Williams, Larry. 2006. "The distributional impacts of climate change on rich and poor countries." Environment and Development Economics, 11: 159-178.

Deschenes and Greenstone: “The Economics Impacts of Climate Change: Evidence from Agricultural Output and Random fluctuations in Weather”

Deschenes, O, Greenstone, M. 2007. “The Economics Impacts of Climate Change: Evidence from Agricultural Output and Random fluctuations in Weather”. The American Economic Review, 97(1): 354-385.

 

Guiteras: “The Impact of Climate Change on Indian Agriculture”

Guiteras, R. 2009. “The Impact of Climate Change on Indian Agriculture”. University of Maryland Working Paper.

 

Just and Bobea: “Modeling the structure of adaptation in climate change impact assessment”

Just, R. E., Bobea, A. O. 2012. “Modeling the structure of adaptation in climate change impact assessment”. American Journal of Agricultural Economics, 95(2): 244-251.