AREC 375
Economics of Land and Water
in the American West

Syllabus

Class time:T, Th 12:30-1:45 pm
Class room: 316 Chavez (formerly Economics)
Class website: http://ag.arizona.edu/classes/arec375/
Instructor: Dr. Steven Stewart
Email: sstewart@hwr.arizona.edu
Office: 403E Chavez Building (formerly Economics)
Phone: 626-3892
Office Hours: Tuesday 2-3pm, Friday 9-10am, and by appointment

Pre-requisites:
Only those students who have passed a microeconomics principles course such as Econ 200, 201A or AREC 217 will be retained in the course. If you took a microeconomics course somewhere other than UA, please provide me with proof of a passing grade.

Text:
Assigned readings available on the course website and Wilkinson, Charles, Crossing the Next Meridian: Land, Water and the Future of the American West, Island Press, 1992.

Purpose:
We will analyze environmental and natural resource issues from an economics perspective, with special emphasis on those relevant to the American West. Topics covered will include renewable and non-renewable natural resources, water, pollution, environmental protection, regulation, environmental justice, and valuation of environmental amenities.

Grading: (400 total points possible)
Exams (3 exams @ 100 points each): Two mid-term exams (dates to be announced) and a comprehensive final exam (Tuesday December 16th 11am-1pm) will be given. I don’t give make-up exams. Exams will strongly emphasize ideas from the lectures, but will also include material from the text, outside readings and guest presentations.

Participation/Projects/Discussion: (80 points)
Attendance and participation is expected. A portion of your grade will be based on your contribution to discussion, in-class exercises, quizzes, attendance, class project and experiments. If you do not participate, you will not get a grade above a C.

Journal: (20 points)
Keep a journal in which you make several weekly entries related to man’s interaction with the environment. Your entries might deal with your behavior/insights/motivations, economic institutions, religion, ethics, utility, etc – but must have connections, however tenuous they might be, with the environment and/or economics. You may want to expand on or critique some of the environmental and resource economics methods we discuss in class. I will check this a few times during the semester. Your grade is based on the amount of thought and effort you put into your journal.

Tentative exam dates:
Exam 1 Tuesday September 30th
Exam 2 Thursday October 30th
Final Exam Tuesday December 16th

Grading scale
360-400 A
320-359 B
280-319 C
240-279 D
<240 F

Last updated August 22, 2003
Document located at http://ag.arizona.edu/classes/arec375syllabus.html
website contact: arecweb@ag.arizona.edu

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