Tuesday, February 21, 2017

ESS first take-home exam

Environmental Scenarios and Solutions
First Midterm (Take Home) Exam
Professor Womersley
(Worth 20% of final grade)
Due Friday March 3rd by email or hard copy. Do not submit via Canvas. I will not grade examinations submitted via Canvas.

Instructions
Answer both questions. If you don’t know an answer, put down what you do know.
You may research answers. Give diagrams if needed. Cite important research other than material given in class or in the texts for the class. You must work alone.

Microeconomic applications
You are a policy staffer working for New Vermaineshire state government in the Fish and Wildlife Division. You are asked to prepare an analysis of a proposal in the legislature to regulate moose permits using an online bidding system (similar to eBay) instead of the existing lottery. The same number of permits will be issued, only via open bidding. The only requirement to bid is that the bidder be a US resident and have taken a certified hunter safety course. The proposal is conceptually comparable to others advocating the privatization of natural resources and use of competitive bidding.

Specify in plain English, using diagrams if necessary, the effects on state revenue, on the price of permits, and which sections of the public will be either winners or losers as a result. State whether or not, in your own opinion as an experienced staffer, this policy is likely to be successful, reasoning from the available evidence and what you know of the local culture.

Macroeconomic applications
If the legislature of the state of New Vermaineshire chooses to implement the above policy, what would be the general macroeconomic effects to the state’s economy? List and detail these. Use diagrams if necessary.

Sustainability
Which is more sustainable, the lottery or the open bidding system? Explain why.

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