This page is mainly for prospective or current ANU students who wish to know what relevant degree courses in environmental, ecological and resource economics are available at the University.

Research degrees

There is no research degree at ANU specifically in environmental, ecological and resource economics. The two most relevant degrees are the PhD in Economics, and the PhD/MPhil in Environment (including Resource Management).

The PhD in Economics starts with Part A, comprising a substantial amount of compulsory coursework in economics, done in both the School of Economics and (for environmental, ecological and resource economics) the Crawford School of Economics and Government. You will have to choose between either:
(a) entering the Master of Environmental and Resource Economics (see below), and on completing that (and subject to a successful application), entering the PhD program and doing extra Part A coursework before starting your thesis research (Part B of the PhD); or
(b) entering the PhD directly, and taking relevant Part A options from the Master in Environmental and Resource Economics.
The right choice will depend on your academic background and sources of finance, which are generally different for Masters and PhD degrees. If you are in any doubt, you should consult the PhD Convenor, the Master's Convenor, or your potential main thesis supervisor. The supervisor is usually from one of ANU's four economics groups, in the School of Economics, the Research School of Pacific and Asian Studies, the Crawford School of Economics and Government, or the Research School of Social Sciences, but s/he could also be from the Fenner School of Environment and Society.

The PhD/MPhil in Environment (including Resource Management) does not involve compulsory coursework, and is better suited for candidates pursuing interdisciplinary or very policy-oriented research. The main thesis supervisor is typically from the Fenner School of Environment and Society or the Crawford School of Economics and Government. Initial enquiries are best addressed to prospective PhD supervisors, found on the people page of the EEN site.

Taught (coursework) degrees

Since February 2006, ANU has offered a Graduate Diploma in Environmental and Resource Economics and Master of Environmental and Resource Economics (equivalent to an M.S. in North America or M.Sc. in Europe). The latter was the first MSc in environmental economics in Australia, and it provides the ideal training before starting a PhD in environmental, ecological and resource economics. For economics undergraduates already interested in environmental economics, it is a more efficient route to an appropriate qualification than an Honours year, which at ANU currently can include only one lecture course in environmental or resource economics (ECON8040, below).

However, there is however no complete Bachelor's degree in environmental, ecological and resource economics currently at ANU. Taught degree programs at ANU which can include some study in (but do not focus on) environmental, ecological and resource economics are :
Bachelor of Economics and Honours in Economics or in Applied Economics
Graduate Diploma and Masters of Economics, of Applied Economics, and of Economic Policy
Graduate Diploma and Masters in International and Development Economics
Graduate Diploma and Masters in Environmental Management and Development
BSc (Forestry), BSc (Resource and Environmental Management), and associated joint degrees

Taught course units

The various lecture course units on environmental, ecological and resource economics available in these degrees, which can also be audited by any student in the University, are as follows (for further details, take the links to the courses' webpages):

Undergraduate and diploma level

1. ECON2128 RESOURCE AND ENVIRONMENTAL ECONOMICS (see also ECON8040 RESOURCE AND ENVIRONMENTAL ECONOMICS)
Taught as a combined course by the School of Economics, ECON2128 is the standard later year undergraduate course in a Bachelor of Economics degree, while ECON8040 is the graduate and fourth year honours version of the course. Normally taught in Semester 1.

2. FSTY3151 ECONOMICS OF FORESTRY AND THE ENVIRONMENT
The course offers the analytical foundation and empirical treatment of forest and environmental economics, and forest-environment inter-relations. Traditional forest economics topics, such as the demand for wood-fibre and forest products, economics of optimal rotation and pricing, exhaustibility of natural forests, joint production and multiple use are covered. The particular focus is on contemporary issues, including environmental values and valuation, trading in environmental services such as carbon sequestration and pollution permits, economics of biodiversity conservation, economics of bio-fuel renewable energy and environmental accounting. Other topics include private and public investment in forest-based industries and forest recreation; forest sector growth and impacts in the economy; tax regimes; and cost-benefit analysis of forest and environmental projects.

3. SRES2007 ECONOMICS FOR THE ENVIRONMENT
Sustainable development, it is now generally acknowledged, cannot be achieved without an explicit consideration of economic issues, together with ecological and social considerations. To achieve the triple bottom line - social, environmental and economic objectives - a combination of market and non-market policy options and instruments is essential, in addition to informal instruments such as moral suasion. In this context, the overall goal of this course is for the students to gain a solid, but critical, understanding of the key economic underpinnings of sustainable development related resource and environmental management issues and key theoretical concepts associated with economics of the environment. The students will also be introduced to some practical techniques of analysis. In this course students will gain a critical understanding of theoretical and operational strengths and weaknesses of, various theoretical paradigms in resource and environmental economics, analytical tools and market and non-market based management policies and strategies.

Masters level

4. IDEC8088 APPLIED ECONOMICS: COST/BENEFIT ANALYSIS
The course will commence with an explanation of the financial analysis of projects and move on to provide students with an understanding of the theoretical rationale for modern cost benefit analysis (CBA). Emphasis will be placed on case studies with particular stress on the handling of envirommental issues, and opportunities will be provided to give students a thorough working knowledge of its application in developing countries.

5. IDEC8053 ENVIRONMENTAL ECONOMICS
A core course of the Master of Environmental and Resource Economics. It is now realised that economic activity affects, and is affected by, the state of the natural environment. This is the point of departure for an interest on the part of governments and international agencies such as the UN and the World Bank in the idea of sustainable development, and the means to its realisation. With this background, the course will deal with, and critically appraise, the analysis of the interdependence of economic and environmental systems by economists. It will look at the determination of social goals in respect of environmental management, and at policy instruments for the attainment of those goals. The areas covered will include: pollution control; environmental amenity services; biodiversity; environmental valuation techniques; natural resource accounting; and climate change. The course will cover both theoretical issues and practical techniques of analysis.

6. IDEC8018 AGRICULTURAL ECONOMICS AND RESOURCE POLICY
The first part of the course is given to examining the different analytical frameworks by which agricultural and natural resource policy issues may be assessed. These will include issues relating to common property and property rights, resource rent and rent seeking behaviour, the new institutional economics, public choice issues and performance assessment. The policy issues to be covered will include the allocation of water, greenhouse emissions, rural restructuring, fisheries policy, land use and environment, and international trade. On the completion of the course students will be expected to have an understanding of the major considerations for a range of important agricultural and natural resource policy issues, and to be capable of using a number of different economic analytical frameworks to provide critical and constructive input to important agricultural and natural resource policy issues.

7. EMDV8002 METHODS FOR ENVIRONMENTAL DECISION-MAKING
Another core course of the Master of Environmental and Resource Economics starting in 2006. This course is designed to provide students with specialist skills used to gather, integrate and interpret information useful to the Environmental Decision Making process. It builds upon the knowledge of environmental management tools covered in the course Integrated Environmental Assessment and the skills obtained in the course Research Methods. The skills provided include: Bioeconomic Modelling, non-market evaluation, social surveying, safe minimum standards, multi-criteria analysis, forecasting, threshold value analysis, risk and uncertainty integration.

8. IDEC8004 SUSTAINABILITY AND ECOLOGICAL ECONOMICS
The course is designed to develop an understanding of the sustainability of entire national economies, and the global economy. Among the questions addressed are: What do we wish to sustain, and how can sustainability be defined? How might national accounts be used to measure if an economy is developing sustainably? If it is not, what policies might move it onto a sustainable path? This leads naturally to further questions covered by "ecological economics". Are there any limits to the substitution of human-made capital for environmental resource inputs in making marketed goods, or of marketed goods for environmental quality and social coherence in making people happy? How uncertain and sudden might such limits be? Can they be detected by measuring the economy in physical rather than monetary units?

9. ECON8050 ECONOMIC GROWTH
This Master's course explores theoretical developments in the analysis of economic growth and introduces current debates on evidence and policy relevant to the growth performance of both developed and developing economies, with no particular attention given to the role of environmental resources.