University of California at Berkeley

David Zilberman

The optional paper should be around 10 pages long and should address environmental issues, providing an economic perspective.  Formal analysis may help, but it is not necessary.  What is appreciated is creativity, economic insight, as well as provision of useful and relevant information. We will accept papers up to 15 pages, but that's an absolute limit and 10 pages is what you should aim for (12 pt double-spaced).

You can use a project to analyze a policy, an institution, an economic problem.  You can really on materials on the web, in the library, and personal interviews. Always remember to quote your sources, though, and give references in a bibliography or in footnotes. It is important that the paper has a point: analyze a problem, suggest a policy, suggest an explanation, etc.  While it is called a paper, you can actually make a video, and that can be a group activity. Below is a list of previous years' papers as an indication of suitable topics. At the outline of the paper, clearly state the objective of the paper: the question you'd like to answer, or the problem and the method you'd like to apply to it.

The following dates apply for the term paper:
Clear topic with instructor by (TBA).
Hand in 3-page draft or outline in class (TBA).
Hand in completed term paper in class (TBA) (this is the last class of the semester and the end of instruction).

Topics from previous years::

• Potential Negative Impacts Associated with Overpopulation
  
• The National Pollution Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) Permits (This paper analyzes a policy that was part of the Clean Water Act.)
• Energy in China
• How much is Heather Farms Park worth to the people of Walnut Creek?  An investigation of willingness to pay
• The Economics of Oil Prices
• Radiation Contamination and U.S. Responses to Contain Its Growth
• Rhino Resources
• Sustainable Development: the Balance of Growth and the Environment
• Pesticide Contamination in Groundwater
• The Mekong River Development Project - Evil-ution of the River
• Animal Waste: How Much is Too Much?
  
• The Kyoto Protocol
• Toward Sustainable Fishery: The Regulations: In the Case of Pacific Halibut Fishery
  
• The Complex Web of Forestry Legislation
• The Decline of the Fish Population
  
• Climate Change: Bridging the Gap Between Industrialized and Developing Nations by Economic Means
  
• The Three Gorges Dam Project: Benefit for the Future of Uncalculated Risk?
• In Search of a Solution to California's Water Quality Crisis
• The Exxon Valdez Oil Spill of 1989
• Who Should We Believe When it Comes to Overpopulation and Natural Resource Depletion?
• Paper Recyclying: An Economic Analysis
  
• The Grazing Debate in New Mexico, The Economics of Land Use
• Soaring Gas Prices in California and Across the Nation
• No More Ocean Dumping
• Cost Benefit Analysis of Methyl Tert-Butyl Ether (MTBE)
• The Environmental Economics of the Whaling Industry
• Ecoturism and its Impacts
• Air Pollution in Tehran; with Emphasis on Automobile Regulations
• Pacific Bell Park: The Economics of Lead-Based Paint and Air Pollution
• Spring-Run Chinook Salmon
• Water on Tap: An Exploration of the Factors that Contribute to Safe Drinkable Water
• Smoking as an Externality
  
• Air Pollution: Nature's Power Over Man: When can we Safely Breathe?
• Issues on Carbon Dioxide Emissions
• The Economics of California's Coast
• Wildlife Habitat Management: Benefit-Cost Analysis of WHIP (Wildlife Benefit Incentive Program)
• The Economies of Transplants
• Economic Impact of Industrial Pollution in Korea
  
• The Facade: Water Projects in Inyo County
• The Federal Agricultural improvement and Reform Act of 1996: An Economic Analysis
  
• Mountaintop Mining in the Appalachain Mountains
• The Environmental Costs of Economic Reform
• Recognizing the Rewards of Agricultural Research, Extension, and Education
• The Decline of Salmon in the Northwest by Dams
• A Case Study: Economics of the Transboundary Movement of Toxic Waste
  
• The Effects of MtBE Pollution on Residential Water Pricing in South Lake Tahoe, California
• Externality Costs Caused by Wastes in Japan
• Out on a Limb: Saving the World's Forests
• Implications of Scale Economies in the Gold Mining Industry on Cyanide Pollution
  
• Ballot Measure and the Environment
• Dealing with the Externalities of Smoking
• Radiation Contamination and U.S. Responses to Contain Its Growth
  
• Effect of A Mining Model in Namibia
  
• The Effects of Water Subsidies on Irrigation Efficiency
  

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Sample Student Papers:

(1) California Electricity Crisis

(2) The Water Resource Development in China

(3) Non-Environmental Effects of the Bay Area Green Business Program

Sample Projects:

(1) All That Smog (web site)

(2) Plastic Bags (web site)