Conference Agenda
Overview and details of the sessions of this conference. Please select a date or location to show only sessions at that day or location. Please select a single session for detailed view (with abstracts and downloads if available).
Please note that all times are shown in the time zone of the conference. The current conference time is: 24th Aug 2026, 01:45:10am WEST
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Daily Overview |
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Egg-Timer: Environmental Governance and Institutions Location: D-112 Session Chair: Sarah Jacobson, Williams College | |
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From Efficiency to Inclusion: The Present and Future of Undergraduate Teaching in Environmental and Natural Resource Economics 1: Williams College, United States of America; 2: Salisbury University; 3: Sam Houston State University; 4: Manhattan University; 5: University of British Columbia; 6: Arizona State University; 7: Soka University of America The field of environmental and natural resource economics (ENRE) has seen an increase in work on questions of equity and justice in recent years; has this same shift been reflected in our undergraduate classes? We study the focus of teaching in a sample of ENRE courses and suggest ways in which classes can be reoriented to better meet the current moment. We first use data from conference programs to document the increase in ENRE work on equity and justice. Next, we construct a data set from 92 syllabi from undergraduate classes at 46 US schools relating to environmental economics, natural resource economics, or climate economics from top liberal arts and research schools as well as large and less selective schools, nationwide. We find that over 80% of classes cover topics of markets and market failure, with most of them significantly emphasizing market-based solutions to environmental problems. The word ``efficiency'' appears an average of 2.4 times per syllabus. However, only a third of classes cover environmental justice, and the words ``justice'' and ``equity'' appear only 0.59 and 0.36 times per syllabus, respectively. The emphasis on efficiency over justice and equity is stronger at schools that are public as compared to those that are private, and at schools that are less selective as compared to those that are more selective. We also study the most commonly used textbooks in these courses, finding that the most common ideas communicated in chapter titles are ``costs,'' ``natural resources,'' ``benefits,'' and ``markets'' or ``efficiency.'' Equity and justice are far less featured in the textbooks, as in the syllabi. We then offer ways to center equity in such courses, pointing readers to a website (https://just-enviro-econ.github.io/) we have created with resources such as a sample syllabus, readings, activities, | |