Natural Resource Economics and Management

The course deals with natural resource economics, in particular how scarce natural resources would be allocated over time. That is, we focus on the dynamic aspects of resource use and introduce tools for dynamic optimization. The course covers non-renewable resources (minerals, fossil fuels), recycling of materials, renewable resources (forest, fish), and conservation of biodiversity. We also pay attention to policy instruments for resource management. We will discuss the green paradox, resource extraction taxes, individual transferable quota in fisheries and carbon subsidies in forest management.

After successful completion of this course students are expected to be able to:

• Apply dynamic optimization techniques to management of non-renewable resources (such as fossil fuels and phosphate) and renewable resources (such as forestry, fisheries, and ecosystems)
• Analyse economic problems of natural resource use in an intertemporal perspective
• Evaluate economic problems of natural resource use, taking into account concerns of intergenerational equity, sustainability, and discounting
• Understand how institutional dynamics and resource dynamics mutually influence each other in a social-ecological system
• Translate real-world problems into mathematical models

Assumed Knowledge:

UEC21806 Microeconomics or ENR21306 Environmental Economics for Environmental Sciences or ENR20306 Environmental Economics and Environmental Policy or similar courses.
Calculus on high school level (NL: Wiskunde B) or MAT14803 is assumed.