AEM 4500 / ECON 3860 introduces students to the economics of renewable and nonrenewable natural resources. Topics covered include the valuation and use of land; water economics, management, and conservation; the extraction and management of nonrenewable resources such as minerals, rare earth elements, and energy resources; renewable and nonrenewable sources of energy; forest management; fishery economics; groundwater; natural resource markets, demand, supply, and scarcity; and sustainability. Students will learn how to use dynamic models to analyze decision-making over time, and to solve dynamic optimization problems analytically and numerically. Students will also learn how to analyze and explain the intuition and logic behind the theory and concepts. Students will apply the methods, quantitative tools, and concepts to analyze natural resource issues at global and local levels; to introspectively reflect on their own lives and future aspirations; and to draw lessons and implications for leadership, management, and policy. A solid background in calculus is required.
Prerequisites: Both (i) Math 1110 (calculus) and (ii) either Econ 3030, AEM 2600, or AEM 5600 (intermediate microeconomics with calculus) must be completed before taking AEM 4500 / ECON 3860 (and cannot be taken concurrently). For students whose major, minor, or concentration requires AEM 2500, (iii) AEM 2500 should be taken before AEM 4500 / ECON 3860.
AEM 5500 introduces students to the economics of renewable and nonrenewable natural resources. Topics covered include the valuation and use of land; water economics, management, and conservation; the extraction and management of nonrenewable resources such as minerals, rare earth elements, and energy resources; renewable and nonrenewable sources of energy; forest management; fishery economics; groundwater; natural resource markets, demand, supply, and scarcity; and sustainability. Students will learn how to use dynamic models to analyze decision-making over time, and to solve dynamic optimization problems analytically and numerically. Students will also learn how to analyze and explain the intuition and logic behind the theory and concepts. Students will apply the methods, quantitative tools, and concepts to analyze natural resource issues at global and local levels; to introspectively reflect on their own lives and future aspirations; to draw lessons and implications for leadership, management, and policy; and to communicate, describe, and explain quantitative analyses through writing, speech, visual information, slides, and video. A solid background in calculus is required.
AEM 5500 co-meets with AEM 4500 / ECON 3860: Resource Economics. Graduate students in AEM 5500 have additional and more advanced learning outcomes and assignments.
Prerequisites: Both (i) Math 1110 (calculus) and (ii) either Econ 3030, AEM 2600, or AEM 5600 (intermediate microeconomics with calculus) must be completed before taking AEM 5500 (and cannot be taken concurrently). For students whose graduate program or concentration requires AEM 2500, (iii) AEM 2500 should be taken before AEM 5500.
AEM 7040 covers analytical concepts and techniques of dynamic analysis, with a focus on optimal control theory as applied to problems in applied macroeconomics. The course also covers macroeconomic applications of these methods that are relevant to the environment, energy, natural resources, agriculture, development, management, finance, marketing, accounting, industrial organization, innovation, entrepreneurship, organizations, technology, and business economics. Topics covered include optimal control theory, capital theory, the maximum principle, the stationary rate of return to capital, investment, dynamic competitive equilibrium, calculus of variations, q-theory, optimal economic growth, optimal savings, optimal growth with pollution, the environmental Kuznets curve, optimal multisector growth, limits to growth, national income accounting, sustainability, natural capital, discounting, structural uncertainty, catastrophes, the dismal theorem, climate change, innovation, endogenous technical change, and productivity.
Prerequisites: Multivariable calculus; differential equations; and graduate-level microeconomics.
AEM 7500 covers analytic methods for analyzing optimal control theory problems; analytic and numerical methods for solving dynamic programming problems; numerical methods for solving stochastic dynamic programming problems; structural econometric models of static games of incomplete information; structural econometric models of single-agent dynamic optimization problems; structural econometric models of multi-agent dynamic games; and advanced topics in dynamic structural econometric modeling including unobserved heterogeneity, identification, partial identification, and machine learning. The course also covers economic applications of these methods that are relevant to the environment, energy, natural resources, agriculture, development, management, finance, marketing, industrial organization, and business economics. These applications include firm investment, nonrenewable resource extraction, optimal economic growth, fisheries, subsistence agriculture, investment under uncertainty, optimal stopping, (S,s) policies, petroleum production, water management, environmental policy, engine replacement, nuclear energy, wind energy, land use, rural labor supply, incentive schemes, health, and education. The methods covered in the course enable one to analyze the strategic and dynamic decision-making behavior of individuals, households, organizations, firms, and countries; to analyze how different institutions and policies (and changes in these institutions and policies) affect this behavior and its outcome; and to design institutions and policies so that the decision-making behavior and outcome that are realized increase net benefits to society.
Prerequisites: Graduate-level microeconomics at least at the level of AEM 6080 and AEM 6700; and graduate-level econometrics at least at the level of AEM 6120.
ARE 147/M introduces students to the use of economics to understand and analyze environmental and natural resource problems and policy. Topics covered include economic efficiency, costs, benefits, benefit-cost analysis, equity, markets, market failures, externalities, public goods, open access resources, and government policy. Students will learn how to apply these concepts to a variety of environmental and natural resource issues, including air pollution, water pollution, open space, endangered species, water, fisheries, and forests. Prerequisite: Economics 1A. GE credit: SocSci.
ARE/ESP 175 introduces students to the economics of renewable and nonrenewable natural resources. Topics covered include the valuation and use of land and water; fishery economics, management and regulation; extraction and management of nonrenewable resources such as minerals and energy resources; renewable and nonrenewable sources of energy; forest use; sustainability; and natural resource scarcity. Students will learn how to use dynamic models to analyze decision making over time. A solid background in calculus is required. Prerequisite: ARE 100B, Economics 100, or permission of instructor. GE credit: SocSci.
The first half of ARE 254 covers analytical concepts and techniques of dynamic analysis, with a focus on optimal control theory as applied to economic problems. Topics covered include the maximum principle and the concepts of a stationary rate of return to capital and a stationary solution. Applications to nonrenewable resource extraction and optimal economic growth will be presented.
The second half of ARE 254 covers numerical methods for analyzing optimal control theory problems; analytic and numerical methods for solving dynamic programming problems; and numerical methods for solving stochastic dynamic programming problems, with a focus on such economic applications as firm investment, nonrenewable resource extraction, optimal economic growth, subsistence agriculture, investment under uncertainty, optimal stopping, (S,s) policies, and q theory.
This course prepares you for courses that focus on decision making over time, including ARE 277 and ARE 255.
ARE 255 covers structural econometric models of static games of incomplete information, single-agent dynamic optimization problems and multi-agent dynamic games, with a focus on applications to issues relevant to the environment, energy, natural resources, agriculture, and development. The methods covered in the course enable one to analyze the strategic and dynamic decision-making behavior of individuals and firms; to analyze how different institutions and policies (and changes in these institutions and policies) affect this behavior and its outcome; and to design institutions and policies so that the decision-making behavior and outcome that are realized increase social welfare. Prerequisites: Graduate-level microeconomics, graduate-level econometrics, and ARE 254.