General Information, Textbook and Requirements

Office:	434 Crouse-Hinds
Office Hours:	Tuesday and Thursday, 1:30-3:00, or by appointment.
Email:	wilcoxen at maxwell.syr.edu
Web:	http://wilcoxen.maxwell.insightworks.com/pages/ecn410/

Optimal use of exhaustible and renewable resources including fuels, minerals, fisheries, forests and water; resource scarcity and economic growth; valuation of non-marketed environmental amenities; the economics of pollution control; pollution control instruments including taxes, permits, direct regulation, and negotiation; pollution control policy in practice.

Before enrolling in this course you should have taken Economics 301 or 311. There is no specific math prerequisite but please be aware that the course will use math extensively: all exercises and exam questions will involve algebra, spreadsheets, or both.

There is no required textbook but there will be several books on reserve in Bird that you can use for supplementary reading. 

Grades will be based on one midterm exam (Thursday, March 11th, in class), a final exam (at the official time and date, Wednesday, May 12, 8-10 am) and weekly exercises throughout the semester. Each of the exams will count for 40% of the semester grade and the weekly exercises will count for the remaining 20%. In addition, there will be a brief, ungraded (but collected) exercise each day in class.

The weekly exercises will generally be handed out each Thursday and collected at the beginning of class a week later. Late exercises will not be accepted (really!). Grading will be on a 5 point scale: 5 for excellent work, 4 for good, 3 for an honest attempt and 0 otherwise. You'll need to do the exercises in order to do well on the exams. You may work on the problem sets in groups of up to three students. When working in a group, please turn in a single set of answers for the group and be sure to list each member's name.  Exercises do not need to be typed but should be clearly organized and neatly written.

Finally, please be aware that I expect you to treat class attendance as a responsible professional would.  Basically that means you shouldn't blow off a lot of classes with no explanation.  If you know in advance that you will miss a class, please notify me.  If you miss a class unexpectedly, please explain why as soon as possible.  In both cases, notification should be in writing, preferably by email.  If you have more than 4 unexcused absences your semester grade will drop by one letter.

Working in groups is encouraged on weekly exercises but be sure to limit the group to no more than three students and list everyone on the answer you submit.

It should go without saying, however, that working in groups is absolutely prohibited on exams. Any form of cheating on an exam will result in a 0 for the exam, an F in the course, and the case being passed on to the College of Arts and Sciences for additional sanctions. 

To emphasize this point, here's the official SU statement on academic honesty: "Syracuse University students shall exhibit honesty in all academic endeavors. Cheating in any form is not tolerated, nor is assisting another person to cheat. The submission of any work by a student is taken as a guarantee that the thoughts and expressions in it are the student's own except when properly credited to another. Violations of this principle include: giving or receiving aid in an exam or where otherwise prohibited, fraud, plagiarism, the falsification or forgery of any record, or any other deceptive act in connection with academic work. Plagiarism is the representation of another's words, ideas, programs, formulae, opinions, or other products of work as one's own either overtly or by failing to attribute them to their true source." (Section 1.0, University Rules and Regulations.)

Accommodations can be made in exams and assignments for students with disabilities. If you believe you need accommodations, please contact the Office of Disability Services (ODS) as soon as possible. ODS will help you with the University procedure for arranging appropriate accommodations for all of your classes.