Policy Approaches to Mitigating Climate Change

This course analyzes current policy options for addressing long-term climate change from an economic perspective. The focus of the course is on understanding the two main alternatives for a comprehensive market based environmental policy: cap-and-trade and carbon taxation. These policies will be compared to each other and to regulatory approaches, and the various design details necessary to implement such a system will be discussed. The course will also analyze existing policies in the transportation, agricultural, and energy sectors. The course focuses on U.S. domestic policy, but there will be some attention to international issues.