PUBPOL 5970

Economics and Environmental Policy

Course Description

Course information provided by the 2025-2026 Catalog.

This class will focus on the use of economics as a tool in forming and evaluating environmental policy, with a focus on how economists measure the health and economic effects of pollution and environmental regulation in the United States. Topics include: externalities in an environmental context; regulation methods such as command and control, Pigouvian taxation, and cap and trade; overview of current environmental legislation; environmental quality and health; regulation and environmental justice.

Prerequisites REF-FA25/Corequisites REF-FA25 coursework in introductory microeconomics. Recommended prerequisite: coursework in introductory statistics. Corequisites: None.

Forbidden Overlaps REF-FA25 AEM 4510, ECON 3850, ECON 3865, PUBPOL 3670, PUBPOL 5970

Enrollment Priority REF-FA25 Enrollment limited to: graduate students.

Exploratory Studies (CU-SBY)

Last 4 terms offered (None)

Outcomes REF-FA25

• Students will be able to explain the reasons for market failure in the presence of externalities in an environmental context.
• Students will identify common methods of government intervention in environmental regulation, and explain relative strengths and weaknesses in the context of both social efficient and equity.
• Students will discuss and evaluate methods used to measure the health and economic effects of environmental quality and various environmental policies.
• Students will address the common tradeoffs between equity and efficiency in environmental policy, including environmental justice.

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