ECO 3231 MARKETS AND ENVIRONMENTAL JUSTICE
This is an applied microeconomics course that introduces undergraduate students to a contested
area of environmental economics: environmental justice. It is designed to broaden the
views and undergraduate research interests of all students. Students will consider important
case studies and evidence that shows unequal pollution exposure for marginalized communities.
Students will also critique existing explanations for environmental injustice, especially
when those explanations intersect with the work by economists. Environmental justice is an
interdisciplinary field; to get a more complete picture, students will also develop a plan to
consider Elon courses that address the topic from other disciplinary perspectives.
Course Types
Society; Advanced Studies
Offered
Fall
Notes
- 1. Develop an appreciation of the history of the environmental justice movement and understand economic concepts that traditionally explain the need for environmental policy action.
- 2. Compare alternative economic explanations for why marginalized communities live in areas with poor environmental quality.
- 3. Link the cost-benefit principle with specific moral or ethical ideas that are examined in other disciplines like political science and philosophy.
- 4. Examine housing markets and the consequences of residential mobility in light of racial zoning and racially restrictive covenants.
- 5. Judge the promises associated with use of markets, property rights, and tort law as environmental justice policy tools.