Economics of Natural Resources
University of Ottawa
ECO6143 - Fall 2023
Monday 8:30-11:20 LMX 258
Professor: Louis Hotte

Course Outline

Important dates:

News articles: 

A collection of news articles illustrative of the material covered in class

Topics covered and readings:

Session 1 (Sept 11 - 3 hrs) - Intro to natural resource economics

  1. Read pp 161-163 in Hotte, L (2013) Environmental conflict and natural resources.
  2. Case in point: Dredging for Oysters
  3. Read for next Session: locational rents - dynamic rents - two-period non-renewable resource
  4. Review: Game theory. For those who feel unfamiliar with the concept of a Nash equilibrium, read chapter 15 of Varian (1992), sections 1 to 4.
  5. Problem: Differential land rents and irrigation projects (due Monday Sept 18)

Session 2 (Sept 18 - 3 hrs) - Locational rents - Two-period non-renewable resource - Time discounting

  1.  Locational rents - dynamic rents - two-period non-renewable resource
  2. Basic concepts in capital theory - time discounting
  3. Problems: McBain + Stonefeller + three capital theory exercizes (due Monday Sept 25)

Session 3 (Sept 25 - 3 hrs) - The open-access fishery - The two-herder problem of free-access - The n-herder problem

  1. The open-access fishery
  2. The two herder problem of free access 
  3. Free access with n users
  4. Discussion McBain and Stonefeller (time permitting)
  5. Problems: sardines + sequential herders (solutions provided - not to be submitted)

Session 4 (Oct 2 - 3 hrs) - Mid-term exam (8h30 - 10h30) - The anti-commons 

  1. Excessive exclusion: The anti-commons

Session 5 (Oct 16 - 3 hrs) -  Bio-economic model of a fishery

  1. Mid-term 1 feedback
  2. A bio-economic model of a fishery
  3. The backward-bending supply curve in a fishery
  4. Problems: commons and anti-commons + natural growth of a fish population + passenger pigeons and critical depensation

Reading Week (Oct 23)

Session 6 (Oct 30 - 3 hrs) -  On the redistributive effects of property rights  

  1. A general equilibrium analysis of resource privatization
  2. Problems: Enclosures in medieval England + Resource privatization in Pescado village

Session 7 (Nov 6 - 3 hrs) -  On some welfare consequences of trade in natural resources

  1. Trade, resources, and property rights
  2. Discussion about problems
  3. Problems: North-South trade and the apparent comparative advantage

Session 8 (Nov 13 - 3 hrs) -  Mid-term exam (8h30 - 10h30) - Trade and the control for resources 

  1. Mid-term exam
  2. Trade with endogenous property regimes

Session 9 (Nov 20 - 3 hrs) -  Trade, natural resources, and conflict: Theory and evidence

  1. Trade with endogenous property regimes (completed)
  2. Empirical paper I: Commodity price shocks and civil conflict: Evidence from Colombia
  3. Problems: Technological progress in a bio-economic model of a fishery + A bio-economic model of a fishery with linear harvest function + North-South trade and apparent comparative advantage with decreasing returns in the manufacturing sector

Session 10 (Nov 27 - 3 hrs) -  Conflict over property rights and resource use

  1. Empirical paper I continued
  2. Conflict, natural resource use, and state presence
  3. Problem: Conflict and natural resource use: The simultaneous case

Session 11 (Dec 4 - 3 hrs) -  Resource use with imperfect enforcement of property rights

  1. Trespassing and resource use
  2. Problem: Policing costs in the trespassing model

Session 12 (Dec 6 - 3 hrs) -  

  1. Review Q&A