NATURAL

RESOURCES
AND
SUSTAINABILIT
Y
BRANDER
Chapter 10
MAIN TYPES OF
NATURAL RESOURCES
1. Renewable
2. Nonrenewable
3. Land
MANAGING NATURAL How do we manage these

RESOURCES resources in sustainable ways?

 1. Round 1

2. Round 2

3. Round 3

ACTIVITY: THE FISH

GAME
DEBRIEF: THE
FISH GAME
Overall lessons?
Round 1 lessons?
Round 2 lessons?
Round 3 lessons?
DEBRIEF: ROUND #1
DEBRIEF: ROUND #2
DEBRIEF: ROUND #3
WHAT
HAPPENED
Scenario 1
Scenario 2
Scenario 3
Scenario 4
Overall lessons?
FISHERS AND FARMERS
 ACTIVITY:
FARMERS
AND FISHERS
 Goal is to
either:
• Make the farmers
better off without
hurting the
fishermen
• Make the fishermen
better off without
hurting the farmers
• Make both farmers
FARMERS AND and fishermen
better off
FISHERS
FARMERS AND FISHERS
Property Right Rules:

1. First-in Time, First-in Right

2. Beneficial Use Includes Irrigation, Conservation, Recreation
3. No salvage water rule
4. No use-it-or-lose-it rule
WORK ON
PROBLEM
• In preparing ask:
 Least you would sell your rights for
(farmers)?
 Most you would pay for rights (fishers)
• Try to come up with a voluntary solution
MILLER
Chapters 5, 9 & 26
 CHAPTER
9: “ARE WE
RUNNING
OUT OF
WATER?”
CHAPTER 9: “ARE WE
RUNNING OUT OF
WATER?”
1. How much water do people “need”? Is your answer the same if you have
to pay their water bills?

2. Evaluate the following: “Although taxpayers foot the bill for federal
water sold to farmers at subsidized prices, they also eat the crops grown
with that water. Because the crops are cheaper due to the subsidized
water, taxpayers get back exactly what they put in, and so there is no
waste from having subsidized water for farmers.” Would you give the
author of this quote an A or an F in economics? Explain.

3. During the droughts that periodically plague California, farmers in that

state are able to purchase subsidized water to irrigate their crops, while
at the same time many California homeowners have to pay large fines if
they water their lawns. Can you suggest an explanation for this
difference in the treatment of two different groups of citizens in the
state of California?
CHAPTER 9: “ARE WE
RUNNING OUT OF
WATER?”
4. If allocating water through nonprice measures generally harms society,
can you suggest why governments often do this?

5. Consider two otherwise identical communities; call them P and N.

Suppose that in P, all homes, apartments, and businesses have meters
that record the usage of water. In addition, the users of the water must
pay more when they use more water. Thus, water is priced like most
other goods. In community N, there are no meters and the local supplier
of water charges everyone in the community a fixed amount per person,
per month for their water service. Thus, using another gallon costs the
user nothing. In which community will per capita water usage be higher?
Explain, using the relevant principles of economics.

6. Referring back to the facts of the previous question: Suppose you knew
that in one community water is supplied by a privately owned company,
while in the other community water is supplied by the local government.
In which community do you predict that water is supplied by the
privately owned company? Explain.
 CHAPTER 5,
“THE
ECONOMICS OF
EXCLUSION”
 1. Is access to the house or apartment in which you live
open or closed? If it is currently a closed access
resource, how would it likely be treated differently if
it were converted to an open access resource—one
that anyone could use at any time in any way she
chose? Explain.

2. Explain the sense in which your classroom is an

example of a closed access resource. Discuss what
would happen to the quality of your education if
access to the room were open—in the sense that
anyone could come in during class time and, say, have
a rave.

3. Referring back to the last question, raves and

education are both goods. That is, people typically
prefer more of each to less. Do you think it is proper
that people may not hold raves in the room when your

CHAPTER 5, “THE class meets? Can you suggest a general principle that
could guide university administrators as to when
access to your room should be closed rather than
ECONOMICS OF open? Would the rule you suggest make some people
worse off? If so, who?

EXCLUSION”
 4. Some nominally closed resources are effectively open access.
For example, to gain entry to Yellowstone National Park by
automobile, one must pay a fee of $25. But during the popular
summer months, at this price, far more people want to drive into
the park than can be readily accommodated by its roads. The
result is terrible road congestion, added air pollution, and frayed
tempers. In fact, the park is then (very nearly) an open access
resource, heavily visited by many but not fully appreciated by
any, at least ­during the peak ­season. The National Park Service
could transform ­Yellowstone into a closed access resource
simply by raising the entry fee. Explain who would gain and
who would lose if this were done. Why do you think the Park
Service has thus far refused to raise the entry fee? Explain.

5. It is generally acknowledged that more people would like to

attend the Super Bowl each year than in fact attend.
(Presumably, many people stay away due to the high cost of the
tickets, which are priced at many hundreds of dollars apiece.)
Suppose a law were passed specifying that people who wished to
attend need not even have a ticket, much less pay for one? How
would attendance at the game change? What would determine

CHAPTER 5, “THE
who got into the stadium? Who would gain and who would lose
due to the law?

6. Almost all privately owned resources are closed access. Many (­

ECONOMICS OF perhaps most) government-owned or -controlled resources are

open access. Can you suggest any explanations for this
observation? Explain.

EXCLUSION”
CHAPTER 26: “SAVE
THAT SPECIES”
CHAPTER 26: “SAVE
THAT SPECIES”
1. Has there ever been a problem with the
extinction of dogs, cats, or cattle? Why not?
2. Some people argue that the best way to save
rare species is to set up private game reserves to
which wealthy hunters can travel. How could this
help save endangered species?
3. Is government ownership of animals needed to
protect species from extinction?
CHAPTER 26: “SAVE
THAT SPECIES”
4. In the United States, most fishing streams are public property, with access
available to all. In Britain, most fishing streams are privately owned, with
access restricted to those who are willing to pay for the right to fish. Anglers
agree that over the past thirty years, the quality of fishing in the United
States has declined, while the quality of fishing in Britain has risen. Can you
suggest why?

5. Aquaculture is the business of raising water-dwelling animals, including fish,

mollusks (such as oysters), and shellfish (such as shrimp) in enclosed areas.
For fish, this means raising them in large net pens. Do you suppose there is a
problem with “overfishing” with aquaculture? What is a key difference
between aquaculture animals and wild animals that plays a role in your
conclusion?

6. Although much credit is given to buffalo hunters for causing the near
extinction of bison, there was another factor at work. Cattle are easily
herded by men on horseback and readily contained by barbed-wire fences.
Bison simply break through ordinary barbed wire and kill (by goring) horses
used in any attempt to herd them. Explain how these characteristics of bison
helped seal their fate on the Great Plains.
VIDEO
THE END OF THE LINE