EBF 200
Introduction to Energy and Earth Sciences Economics

 

Course Structure

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The learning environment

EBF 200 will be conducted entirely on the World Wide Web. There are no set class meeting times, but you will be required to complete weekly assignments. Registered students in this course will need to navigate between several environments in the World Wide Web. These include:

  • This site — The instructional materials in this site include 13 lessons, plus this course introduction and orientation. Each lesson contains interactive exercises, links, animations, movies, and/or novel explanations introducing the economic method of analysis to the environmental and resource questions facing society.
  • Canvas — Penn State's course management system. In Canvas, registered students consult course calendars, communicate with instructors and fellow students, submit assignments, receive feedback from the instructor, take online quizzes and surveys, and check assignment scores and course grades.

Topics of study

  • Lesson 1—Thinking about economics
    • What is economics and why study it?
    • Individual rationality and the economic way of thinking
    • Positive and normative questions; property rights
  • Lesson 2—Markets: Demand
    • Market structures; comparative advantage and trade
    • Supply and demand; origin of the demand curve
    • Elasticities and demand curve shapes
  • Lesson 3—Markets: Supply
    • Production functions
    • Cost structures
    • Investment and Economic Profits
  • Lesson 4—Market dynamics
    • Wealth created by markets
    • Demand curve movements: causes and effects
    • Supply curve movements: causes and effects
  • Lesson 5—Market power
    • Perfectly competitive market
    • Market power and monopoly
    • Other forms of market power
  • Lesson 6—Other market failures
    • Barriers to entry
    • Natural Monopoly
    • Information market failure
  • Lesson 7—Externalities and Environmental economics
    • Externalities
    • Dealing with Externalities
  • Lesson 8—Government failure
    • Public Goods and Common Pools
    • Bureaucracies and power
  • Lesson 9—Government intervention
    • Rent-seeking and regulatory capture
    • Price controls and their effects
    • Price Floors
  • Lesson 10—Topical issues: Climate change and carbon policy
    • The economics of climate change
    • Climate change controversies
    • Reducing carbon emissions
  • Lesson 11—Topical issues: Resource scarcity and energy security
    • Resource scarcity
    • Energy security and independence
    • Replacing oil
    • The Resource Curse
  • Lesson 12—Topical issues: Changes in the electricity business
    • Fundamentals of electricity markets
    • Environmental regulations and coal-fired generation
    • Renewable portfolio standards
    • The future of nuclear power
  • Lesson 13—The Resource Curse
    • What makes natural resources different?
    • Explanations of the Resource Curse
    • Peru and the Resource Curse