Environmental Economics Exam 1
questions well answered
positive economics - ANS ✔✔the study of what is
normative economics - ANS ✔✔the study of what ought to be
moral approach (in environmental economics) - ANS ✔✔environmental degradation is the
result of human behavior that is unethical or immoral
way to prevent pollution is to heighten level of environmental morality in society
practical difficulties of relying on moral reawakening - ANS ✔✔not all people have morals,
environment is too important to wait for people to have morals, assumption that people pollute
because they are somehow morally underdeveloped—it is the way the economic system has
been arranged (within which people make life decisions)
behavioral economics - ANS ✔✔the study of situations in which people make choices that do
not appear to be economically rational
environmental resource - ANS ✔✔resource provided by nature that is indivisible (ex: air quality,
water quality)
natural resource - ANS ✔✔resource provided by nature that is divisible into smaller units and
can be allocated at the margin (ex: oil, forests, biodiversity)
describe Q = f(N) - ANS ✔✔vertical axis - market goods
, horizontal axis - environmental quality
PPF - line showing different combinations of two goods and tradeoffs (maybe mention nothing
is free)
- "treehuggers" want all environmental quality no production, businessman wants the opposite
- can only operate on or inside PPF
why study environmental economics? - ANS ✔✔- prices reflect the relative scarcity of goods,
but many environmental goods do not have prices (air quality) or even markets
- environmental economics is often related to market failures
- time is an important aspect of natural resources.
- irreversibility—some changes to the environment are essentially irreversible
is it possible to improve economic output AND environmental quality? - ANS ✔✔PPF's are
dictated by technological capacities, in the future, PPF shifts out yielding greater levels
non-cumulative pollutant vs. cumulative pollutant
example? - ANS ✔✔cumulative pollution - pollution that tends to accumulate or may not
manifest until a period of time elapses (ex. radiation waste)
non-cumulative pollution - pollution existing only in a space of time, stopping the source stops
the damage (e.g. noise pollution)
point source pollution - ANS ✔✔pollutants discharged from a single identifiable location (e.g.,
pipes, ditches, channels, sewers, tunnels, containers of various types)
non-point source pollution - ANS ✔✔pollution that does not have a single identifiable point of
discharge
questions well answered
positive economics - ANS ✔✔the study of what is
normative economics - ANS ✔✔the study of what ought to be
moral approach (in environmental economics) - ANS ✔✔environmental degradation is the
result of human behavior that is unethical or immoral
way to prevent pollution is to heighten level of environmental morality in society
practical difficulties of relying on moral reawakening - ANS ✔✔not all people have morals,
environment is too important to wait for people to have morals, assumption that people pollute
because they are somehow morally underdeveloped—it is the way the economic system has
been arranged (within which people make life decisions)
behavioral economics - ANS ✔✔the study of situations in which people make choices that do
not appear to be economically rational
environmental resource - ANS ✔✔resource provided by nature that is indivisible (ex: air quality,
water quality)
natural resource - ANS ✔✔resource provided by nature that is divisible into smaller units and
can be allocated at the margin (ex: oil, forests, biodiversity)
describe Q = f(N) - ANS ✔✔vertical axis - market goods
, horizontal axis - environmental quality
PPF - line showing different combinations of two goods and tradeoffs (maybe mention nothing
is free)
- "treehuggers" want all environmental quality no production, businessman wants the opposite
- can only operate on or inside PPF
why study environmental economics? - ANS ✔✔- prices reflect the relative scarcity of goods,
but many environmental goods do not have prices (air quality) or even markets
- environmental economics is often related to market failures
- time is an important aspect of natural resources.
- irreversibility—some changes to the environment are essentially irreversible
is it possible to improve economic output AND environmental quality? - ANS ✔✔PPF's are
dictated by technological capacities, in the future, PPF shifts out yielding greater levels
non-cumulative pollutant vs. cumulative pollutant
example? - ANS ✔✔cumulative pollution - pollution that tends to accumulate or may not
manifest until a period of time elapses (ex. radiation waste)
non-cumulative pollution - pollution existing only in a space of time, stopping the source stops
the damage (e.g. noise pollution)
point source pollution - ANS ✔✔pollutants discharged from a single identifiable location (e.g.,
pipes, ditches, channels, sewers, tunnels, containers of various types)
non-point source pollution - ANS ✔✔pollution that does not have a single identifiable point of
discharge
