Environmental and Natural Resource Economics
Examination 2

These questions are from the test bank. An "A" answer requires at least three or four intelligent sentences. Some questions may require more sentences if they have multiple parts.

I will randomly choose 10 questions and you are required to answer 8 of them.

Lecture 6 - Nonrenewable Resources


1. What is Hotelling's Rule for depletable resources?

Does the rule work well for petroleum and minerals?

If not, what is the problem with Hotelling's Rule?

2. What is Hubbert's Life-Cycle Hypothesis (or Peak Oil)?

Does the rule work well for petroleum and minerals?

3. What is a monopoly?

Why are market barriers such a problem?

Why are monopolies relevant for studying mineral and petroleum extraction?

What does a monopoly compare to a purely competitive market when it comes to extraction of depletable resources?

4. What is backstop technology?

What important assumption is required for backstop technology to work?
(i.e. how much has to be supplied to the market)

Lecture 7 - Waste Disposal and Recycling


5.Please derive the supply function for firm that blends recycled products with virgin products:

Using a supply and demand analysis, explain why urban communities may recycle more than rural communities.

6.What are hazardous wastes?

Describe some technologies to get rid of hazardous wastes.

7.What is a brownfield?

What are some problems developing a brownfield?

Why does economic analysis suggest that brownfields receive low prices for land?

8.What is a superfund site?

Why does the EPA have problems cleaning up superfund sites?

Lecture 8 - Energy Economics


9. Explain why the petroleum market is a unique market compared to other markets.

Why do governments nationalize their petroleum industries?

10. What are some Malthusian ideas about petroleum?

11. What is the connection between petroleum prices and recessions for a country?

12. Why is the electricity market analyzed as a derived demand market?

Why do blackouts occur for the electricity market?

13. What are some of the environmental problems of using coal to create electricity?

 

Lecture 9 - Alternative Energy and Green Technologies


14. For green technologies for the transportation market, please pick your favorite green technology, and write about it?

Include in your discussion what it is and where does it come from.

What are the benefits and problems of the technology?

15. For green technologies for the electricity market, please pick your favorite green technology, and write about it?

Include in your discussion what it is and where does it come from.

What are the benefits and problems of the technology?

16. For carbon sequestration, please pick your favorite green technology, and write about it?

Include in your discussion what it is and where does it come from.

What are the benefits and problems of the technology?

Lecture 10 - Renewable Resources – Forests and Fisheries


17. Explain why a supply function for fish may be a backwards bending supply function?

If a market price is high enough, does it guarantee extinction of a species?

18. Using a graph of the fish population growth rate and harvest rate, show and explain what a maximum sustainable yield is?

If a random event causes the fish population to be slightly lower then the maximum sustainable yield, what happens to the fish population?

19. What are some methods to stop over fishing and the extinction of a species?

20. What are some problems of deforestation?

Lecture 11 - Water Scarcity and Water Pollution


21. List a point source for water pollution and explain what it is?

How does government correct or fix this pollution level?

22. List a nonpoint source for water pollution and explain what it is?

How does government correct or fix this pollution level?

Lecture 12 - Sustainability and the Future

22. Herman Daly gave four common sense principals to reduce the damage of environmental pollution and natural resource depletion. What are they?

23. Economics is driven by scarcity. However, scarcity is difficult to find. Please explain two measures of scarcity and the problems with this measure.