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Interdisciplinary Seminar on the Environment
Course Organization
E275 - Autumn - 6 ECTS
Tuesdays 14h15 - 16h00
Voie Creuse 204
Professors:
Patrick Low
Patrick.Low@wto.org
Office hours:
Tuesdays 8h00-9h00 or by appointment
RW, 5th floor
Urs Luterbacher
urs.luterbacher@graduateinstitute.ch
+41 22 908 908 59 40
Office hours:
Tuesdays 16h15 – 18h00
Rigot 25
Assistant:
Stephanie Dornschneider
stephanie.dornschneider@graduateinstitute.ch
+41 22 908 5938
Office hours:
Tuesdays 12h30 – 14h00
Rigot 21
Course Description
This seminar addresses general questions about major contemporary environmental issues as well as specific environmental topics that impinge upon international relations. The seminar is explicitly interdisciplinary because it incorporates natural science, economic, sociological/anthropological, political, and legal perspectives. It focuses primarily on international aspects of the environment but also examines the nature of policy and abatement questions at the local and national levels.
Syllabus
Course Organization and Work Schedule
Most readings on the following list are required. The course is organized as a seminar which means that the professors take primary presentation of the topic, but students are expected to participate in discussions based on readings and a discussion leader may be designated. The professors’ presentations will not necessarily be a review or summary of the readings but may well present other aspects of the topic not addressed in the readings. The final examination will draw on material from both class sessions and readings. The final test will include both short answer and essay questions.
Auditing the course is strongly discouraged and must be approved by the instructors. Auditors will be expected to do the same work as those registered for the course. The only difference will be that auditors will not receive a grade or credit.
COURSE SCHEDULE AND READINGS
September 15: General Introduction to Course: Substance; Organization; Requirements
September 22: Introduction to Environment and Society Interactions: A Problem of Managing Risks and Uncertainties
- Luterbacher, Urs and Detlef Sprinz (2001). Introduction. In Urs Luterbacher and Detlef Sprinz, eds. International Relations and Global Climate Change, Cambridge, MA: MIT Press. Chapter 1, especially pages 2-15.
- Perman, Roger, Yue Ma, James McGilvray and Michael Common (1999). Natural Resource and Environmental Economics, New York: Longman. Chapter 1: 1-11.
- Clark, Colin W. (1990). Uncertainty in Economics, in Risk and Uncertainty in Tribal and Peasant Economies, E. Cashdan (ed.), Boulder: Westview Press. Chapter 3: 47-63.
- Stephens, D.W. (1990). Risk and Incomplete Information in Behavioral Ecology, in Risk and Uncertainty in Tribal and Peasant Economies, E. Cashdan (ed.), Boulder: Westview Press, Chapter 2: 19 - 46.
September 29: The Physical System; Guest Lecturer: Professor Martin Beniston, University of Geneva
October 6: Property Rights Theories and the Tragedy of the Commons Debate
- Hardin, Garrett (1968). The Tragedy of the Commons, Science, 162: 1243-8.
- Stevenson, Glenn (1991). Common Property Economics: A General Theory and Land Use Applications, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, Chapters 1, 2, and 3.
Tietenberg, Tom (1992). Property Rights, Externalities and Environmental Problems, in Environmental and Natural Resource Economics, New York: Harper Collins, Chapter 3.
October 13: Efficiency and the Environment
- Coase, R.H. (1960). The Problem of Social Cost, The Journal of Law and Economics, 3:1-44.
- Dasgupta, P., and G. Heal. (1979). Economic Theory and Exhaustible Resources, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Chapts. 2 and 3.
- Demsetz, Harold. (1967) Toward a Theory of Property Rights, American Economic Review, 57, 2: 347-359.
October 20: Exhaustible, Renewable and Sustainable Resources
- Lambelet, Jean-Christian (1995). A Note on the Issue of Exhaustible Resources. IUHEI note, 16 pp.
- Schelling, Thomas, (1994). Intergenerational Discounting. In Integrative Assessment of Mitigation, Impacts, and Adaptation, Nebojsa Nakicenovic, William Nordhaus, Richard Richels, and Ferenc Toth (eds.), Laxenburg, Austria: IASSA: 475-483.
- Solow, Robert, Sustainability: An Economist's Perspective, The 18th J. Seward Johnson Lecture. Woods Hole, MA: Marine Policy Center, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution.
October 27: Socio-Economic, Technical, and Environmental Efficiency
- Porter, Michael E and Claas Van der Linde (1995). Toward a New Conception of the Environment-Competitiveness Relationship, Journal of Economic Perspectives, 9 (4).
- Palmer, Karen; Oates, Wallace E and Paul R Portney (1995). Tightening Environmental Standards: The Benefit-Cost or the No-Cost Paradigm?, Journal of Economic Perspectives, 9 (4).
- Bauman, Yoram (2004). Paradigms and the Porter Hypothesis, Working Paper Program on the Environment University of Washington.
November 3: Population and Migration
- United Nations, Department of Economic and Social Affaires, Population Division (2001). Population, Environment and Development: The Concise Report, pp. 21-34.
- Wrigley, E.A. (1986). Malthus at the Bar of History, In David Coleman and Roger Schofield, eds. The State of Population Theory, Oxford: Basil Blackwell, pp. 46-64.
- Coleman, David (1986). Population Regulation: A Long-Range View, In David Coleman and Roger Schofield , eds. The State of Population Theory, Oxford: Basil Blackwell, pp. 14-41.
- Ahlburg, Dennis (1998). Julian Simon and the Population Growth Debate, Population and Development Review, 23 (2): 317-327.
- Harris, John and Michael Todaro (1970). Migration, Unemployment and Development: A Two-Sector Analysis, The American Economic Review: 3-27.
- Castles, Stephen (2002). Environmental Change and Forced Migration: Making Sense of the Debate, New Issues in Refugee Research, Working Paper no. 70, Evaluation and Policy Analysis Unit, UNHCR.
November 10: Trade, the Global Environment, and North-South Issues
- Anderson, Kym and Richard Blackhurst (1992). The Greening of World Trade Issues, New York, London: Harvester Wheatsheaf; 3-18, 73-89, 221-240.
- Chichilnisky, Graciela (1994). North-South Trade and the Global Environment. American Economic Review, 84 (4): 851-874.
November 17: Trade and Environment: Production and Processing Methods; Guest Lecturer: Prof. Joost Pauwelyn (HEI)
- Pauwelyn, Joost (2004). Recent Books on Trade and Environment: GATT Phantoms Still Haunt the WTO, European Journal of International Law, 15(3):575-592.
- Charnovitz, S. (2000). Solving the PPM Puzzle, PSIO Occasional Paper: WTO Series Number 05.
November 24: International Cooperation and Conflict
- Luterbacher, Urs (1994). International Cooperation: The Problem of the Commons and the Special Case of the Antarctic Region, Synthese, 100: 413-440.
- Homer-Dixon, Thomas (1994). Environmental Scarcities and Violent Conflict: Evidence from Cases, International Security, 19, 1: 5-40.
December 1: International Environmental Negotiations
- Bodansky, Daniel (2001). The History of the Global Climate Change Regime. In Urs Luterbacher and Detlef Sprinz, eds. International Relations and Global Climate Change, Cambridge, MA: MIT Press. Chapter 2.
- Grundig et al. (2001). Modeling Global Climate Negotiations. In Urs Luterbacher and Detlef Sprinz, eds. International Relations and Global Climate Change, Cambridge, MA: MIT Press. Chapter 8.
- Brown Weiss, Edith and Harold K. Jacobson, eds. (1998). Engaging Countries, Strengthening Compliance with International Environmental Accords, Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, Chapter 1.
December 8: The Kyoto Protocol
- Grubb, Michael (with Christian Vrolijk and Duncan Brack) (1999). The Kyoto Protoco: A Guide and Assessment, London: The Royal Institute of International Affairs, Chapters 4 and 7.
- Wiegandt, Ellen (2001). Climate Change, Equity, and International Negotiations. In Urs Luterbacher and Detlef Sprinz, eds. International Relations and Global Climate Change, Cambridge, MA: MIT Press. Chapter 7.
December 15: Exam
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