2296.18 - Resource Economics


Course number
2296.18
Title
Resource Economics
ECTS
10
Prerequisites
Completed upper secondary education. Competency in intermediate microeconomics is a definite advantage.
Purpose
The objective of the course is to provide the students with insights into concepts, theories, and methods within the field of resource economics and give the students ability to use these in practice.
Content
The course considers the management and use of three archtypical “common pool” natural resources by society and firms: 1. Open sea fish resources, 2. Oil resources, and 3. Air and water as sinks for and purifiers of industrial waste. The course considers three fundamental subjects regarding the management and use of “common pool” natural resources by society and firms: 1. The legal framework supporting industrial use of “common pool” natural resources: Laws and regulations, and the implied rights and duties impinging on economic actors, with respect to use of “common pool” natural resources. 2. Maximizing behaviour by firms utilizing “common pool” resources within a given legal framework, and the market equilibria and welfare economic consequences (retention and distribution of resource rent) resulting from this behaviour. 3. The political process, either involving negotiations among immediate group members or lobbying activities that take place at higher levels of government, which determines the legal framework supporting industrial use of “common pool” natural resources.
Learning and teaching approaches
Lectures, group work, exercises and presentations. Students, who take the course as a Masters level course, work with an extended reading list with original research papers that analyze the course subjects on a deeper level than is possible with the Bachelor level reading list.
Learning outcomes
When the course is finished, the student should be able to: • Define the concept of “resource rent” and explain the concept’s central position in resource economics. • Define the concept of “common pool” natural resource and explain the challenges these resources present for societies that want to use the resources in a productive fashion that retains as much resource rent as possible. • Understand and explain what kinds of rights and duties are available with respect to framing the use of natural resources, and the role of the government as enforcer of these rights and duties. • Explain, with the use of formal economic models, how firms that use “common pool” natural resources as inputs in their production choose their production plan contingent upon the specific laws, rules, and regulations framing the use of these natural resources. • Characterize, with the use of formal economic models, market equilibria in an industry where firms use “common pool” natural resources as inputs in their production and how the welfare economic characteristics of these equilibria are contingent upon the specific laws, rules, and regulations framing the use of these natural resources. • Analyse the political process which defines rights and duties with respect to “common pool” natural resources, in particular the determinants of the degree to which the process produces laws and regulations which support the retention and desired distribution of resource rent. • Students, who take the course at the Masters level, should further be able to critically evaluate original research papers pertaining to the subjects touched upon in the course.
Assessment method
Written exam.
Examination
Internal
Marking scale
7-
Bibliography
TBA
Contact
Hermann Oskarsson