Teaching Environmental Macroeconomics to Undergraduate Students.

Abstract

Since environmental economics is typically under the umbrella of microeconomics, there is less emphasis on macroeconomic issues in undergraduate-level environmental economics textbooks. This presents a significant content deficiency because it limits the discussion of global environmental policy and growth. In this paper, I propose a simplified version of Brock and Taylor (J Econ Growth 15(2):127-153, 2010)'s "green" Solow model that is accessible for undergraduates. I assume that the growth rate of emissions is equal to the growth rate of capital per effective worker in addition to several omissions. The result is a restatement of the model that requires no calculus or differential equations to understand. I also discuss how this stand-alone content can be taught to students of different skill levels and in various class formats as a complement to empirical applications.