Economics of Energy and the Environment

This course provides an overview of recent research in energy and environmental economics, with an emphasis on connecting policy questions of interest to available data and econometric methods. In the context of specific markets, we will first review the theoretical justifications for government intervention. We will then turn to the empirical evidence to see what recent economic scholarship has to say about a variety of energy policy questions, including: Should we ban fracking? Do oil pipelines reduce property values? What is the best way to promote renewable energy? Should we be more energy efficient? Students will be required to read and discuss academic articles each week, as well as write an empirical term paper.