Selective Lecture & Discussion Topics

1. Prof. Kenneth Boulding's Economics


2. Waste and Externalities


3. The Outdated Coase Theorem


4. Capital Depreciation and Regeneration


5. Endogenous Growth Theory and Sustainable Growth


6. Circular Goods and Services


7. Sustainable Finance


8. Circular Business Models


9. GDP and Circular GDP


10. The Circular Economy National Income Accounting


11. The UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)


12. Sustainability Policy

TBA

Grades will be determined on the basis of the student's performance in relation to a) class attendance and participation, b) two individual assignments, c) one group presentation on reviewing a corporate social responsibility (CSR) or sustainability report released by a Berkshire Hathaway company (such as Lubrizol, Dairy Queen, BNSF Railway, or GEICO) , and d) one individual report on a field study.

0. One-year subscription to the Journal of Economic Issues (US$20)

a. Class attendance and participation (10%)

b. Individual assignments (20%)

c. Group presentation (30%)

d. Field study report (40%)

Suggested Reading and Texts

1. Boulding Kenneth E. Towards a New Economics: Critical Essays on Ecology Distribution and Other Themes. Aldershot Hants. England: Edward Elgar, 1992.

2. Burger, Philippe. Sustainable Fiscal Policy and Economic Stability: Theory and Practice. Northampton, Mass.: Edward Elgar, 2003.

3. Clinch, J. Peter; Schlegelmilch, Kai; Sprenger, Rolf-Ulrich and Triebswetter, Ursula. (eds.) Greening the Budget: Budgetary Policies for Environmental Improvement. Northampton, Mass.: Edward Elgar, 2002.

4. Coase, Ronald H. (1991 Nobel Laureate in Economics) “The Problem of Social Cost.” Journal of Law & Economics, October 1960, 3, pp. 1-44.

5. Ferroni, Marco and Mody, Ashoka. (eds.) International Public Goods: Incentives, Measurement, and Financing. Norwell, Mass.: Kluwer Academic Publishers, 2002.

6. Lin, Brian Chi-ang and Zheng, Siqi. (eds.) Environmental Economics and Sustainability. Oxford, UK: Wiley Blackwell, 2017.

7. Myrdal, Gunnar. (1974 Nobel Laureate in Economics) The Political Element in the Development of Economic Theory (with a New Introduction by Richard Swedberg). New Brunswick, N.J.: Transaction Publishers, 1990.

8. Vickrey, William. (1914-1996, 1996 Nobel Laureate in Economics) Public Economics: Selected Papers by William Vickrey. Edited by R. Arnott, K. Arrow (1972 Nobel Laureate in Economics), A. Atkinson, and J. Drèze. New York: Cambridge University Press, 1994.

9. Wissenburg, Marcel. Green Liberalism: The Free and the Green Society. London: UCL Press, 1998.