Time Schedule:
Wolfram W. Latsch
SIS 490
Seattle Campus
Content varies from quarter to quarter.
Class description
This class will look at the relationships between economic growth, prosperity and the environment. Some people argue that economic growth and increased resource use will utlimately prove devastating in environmental terms; others have argued that the forces involved in economic growth and innovation will (or already do)result in the greater compatibility of environmental protection and the increases in living standards that are required to lift many billions of people out of poverty. We will look at arguments from both sides, and particularly from the perspective of economics and political economy. We will look at different ideas about economic growth, especially the role of ideas and innovation, and at the role of small and large institutions in creating and managing valuable resources - an area that has received a lot of attention with the award of the Nobel Prize in Economics to Elinor Ostrom in 2009. Specific readings include recent works on the nature of prosperity, on understanding common property resources that operate between markets and hierarchies, and on threats to the environment that emenate from poverty and political conflict. Through these readinsg we will explore the concepts of sustainability and sustainable development, an idea that has achieved a lot of currency in recent years and has become an important part of the debate on growth and the environment.
Student learning goals
Understand key ideas and principles of economic growth, and apply them
Understand the basic concepts and ideas of institutional analysis, and apply them
Understand the framework of common property resources and apply it
Understand the debate on links between poverty, prosperity, and environmental resources and values
Be able to define and discuss the idea of sustainability or sustainable development
General method of instruction
Lecture, with discussion in class
Recommended preparation
Students with a basic background in economics will find this course particularly useful
Class assignments and grading
Short assignment due in every class meeting, one or two longer written assignments applying conecpts and ideas to current issues and debates.
