Econ 57a, Environmental Economics, Fall 2019
We live in a world full of environmental and resource problems: climate changing, water polluted, species extinct, aquifer overexploited, etc. And this is the chance for you to sit down and take a serious stab of your most interested problem.
Think of your paper as an attempt to address an environmental or natural resource issue as an economist: describe the issue; analyze the issue using an analytical or quantitative framework; and offer your conclusion or suggestion. It is not expected that your paper be the last word on the topic or be entirely comprehensive. The point of the paper is for you to learn in greater detail about a particular topic and relate that to what has been learned throughout the course.
You are expected to work on the group project in a group of 3-4 students. You can choose your topic at your discretion, as long as it is related to an environmental or natural resource problem. The paper is expected to be academic, i.e. not a collection of opinions from blogs and websites. You are expected to use data and information from credible sources, for example refereed journal articles, research reports, and governmental agencies such as the EPA, DOE, and CBO, etc. Make sure you include those references at the end of your paper. Plagiarism will not be tolerated.
It is recommend that the paper be structured into the following sections, although your creativity is very much encouraged:
Your paper must include at least one table and one graph/model. For the graph/model you need to apply one of the models discussed in class to your specific issue. You need to describe in detail how the model works in the context of your chosen topic, not generically. The graph/model and table must be well-labeled and accessible to the reader-do not merely print out Excel output with cryptic variable names.
The project accounts for 20% of your final grade. The grade for this project will be based on a total of 150 points. Your grades will be determined by three aspects: a proposal, the written paper, and the oral presentation. Detailed rubric is as follows:
To help you keep on track, please submit a half-page to one-page project proposal by 11/1 so that I can give you feedbacks to move forward. Briefly describe your research question, proposed analytical framework, and potential sources of data/information in your proposal. The proposal will be graded on a good-faith basis: you will get full points as long as you have shown efforts.
Each team will submit a written paper of around 8 pages, not including references but everything else. The written paper will be graded based on the following criteria:
Each team will have about 10 minutes to present their policy analysis project in a format of their choice. No specific form of presentation is required. Your group may present your spoken material with the help of PowerPoint slides, a staged debate, a group discussion, a play, etc. Creative presentation formats are encouraged. Each group must allow 2 minutes for questions from the instructor and the audience.
The grading for the presentation will be based on the following:
Group signup sheets will be available on 9/17. Please sign up for groups based on your intellectual interests. Groups will be finalized on 9/24. Use the following link to sign up:
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1zdtVK9KjciG8HsFy58WCeqJQM8OcdBrzDO7IbBQi0CU/edit?usp=sharing
We will have one to two group project mini-workshops in class.
The proposal is due on 11/1. The group presentations will be held on the last several classes of the semester. The final paper is due electronically on 12/10.