The Economics of Climate Change and Environmental Policy

SOC-STD 98WQ Subject & Catalog Number

Climate change and environmental degradation have wide-ranging ecological and social consequences and raise difficult policy challenges. This course examines these challenges through the lens of market failures and empirical economic analysis. It introduces economic models of externalities and public goods and applies them to the analysis of environmental and climate policy. We examine how market failures arise, how policy can address them, and how economic and political constraints shape policy design and implementation. Topics include environmental regulation and market-based instruments such as carbon pricing and cap-and-trade, technological innovation, climate change adaptation, and the political economy of climate policy. A central goal of the tutorial is to develop students’ ability to engage critically with empirical research. Through guided close reading of research papers, students learn how economists move from theory to measurement, develop identification strategies, and evaluate policy impacts. The course provides a foundation in environmental economics and the analytical tools necessary to conduct original empirical research. This is a junior tutorial.