Application of economic analysis to the management of renewable resources. Special attention is given to criteria for the optimal use of depleting resources such as forests and water. Other topics include public policy with regard to environmental quality, conservation, and outdoor recreation.
Divergence in the world economy, poverty, consequences of initial inequality, institutions, the impact of history, recent developmental experience--some case studies, labour and credit markets, the trickle down process.
Industrialization of an agrarian economy; how the West grew rich; history of Japanese development; technical progress and growth; evolution of the patterns of income distribution; role of international trade in development; environment and development.
Economic analysis applied to problems of land use. Rent theory. Land valuation. Land conservation. Techniques for assessing economic efficiency of land use. Effects of institutions and public policies on land use.
Economic analysis applied to various environmental issues, including sustainable development, quality of life, and environmental impacts of specific industrial and consumption activities. The design and implementation of government policies. Global environmental effects of human economic activity.
Techniques and problems in benefit-cost analysis of public projects. Examination of alternative approaches to public decision-making such as cost-effectiveness analysis and multiple-objective frameworks. Case studies of projects in the areas of natural resources, the environment, human resources, public services, and transportation.
Traditional fertility and mortality patterns, demographic transition, catastrophes, well-being and nutrition, international and internal migration, epidemics and growth spurts.
Economic inequality in Canada and other countries; measurement and causes. Inequality in the distribution of wealth; redistribution of income and wealth; notions of distributive justice.