I wanted to invite folks to join an on-line discussion of teaching environmental and natural resource economics. Wiley is releasing the 6th edition of my textbook, Economics and the Environment this fall, and have asked me to do a webinar on the challenges we are facing as teachers in a world that is, to reference Tom Friedman, rapidly getting hotter, flatter and more crowded.
A preview: Neomalthusian arguments haunt our profession, and we, in response, argue that if we can get the prices right, then human ingenuity will invent its way around resource shortages. But in a world getting hotter and more crowded at rapid rates, technology policy (exploiting the flatter part) is on the table as a major complement to price policy. As economists, what can we say to our students about promoting the rapid development and diffusion of clean technology?
At the same time, the 1970’s US perspective on political economy, that relied on a relatively efficient regulatory State, has faded in the face of fierce partisanship and policy gridlock. As economists, can our sometimes naïve policy prescriptions still influence modern politics?
Please join me for an interesting hour of on-line discussion: Teaching Environmental and Natural Resource Economics. September 30th, 3 PM eastern, and October 21st at 11 am eastern. Click here to register.