Discussion Questions

EC457/857

Perspectives on Environmental Issues and the Market

Readings: Paul Krugman, "Building a Green Economy" and Marshall Sahlins "The Original Affluent Society."

1. Paul Krugman argues that "externalities" are created when production or consumption creates carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases. What do economists typically recommend as solutions to negative externalities?

2. The issue of risk is central when discussion climate change policies. There is a risk that actions taken to curb greenhouse gasses will harm the economy and result in lower economic growth. There is also the risk of doing nothing. What does Krugman see as the potential costs of doing nothing and where does he come down on the issue of taking strong action versus not taking strong action?

3. What is meant by the title of Sahlins essay "The Original Affluent Society?" What is the "original" affluent society? What are the two roads to affluence that Sahlins describes? How does this relate to IPAT?

4. How have anthropologists often described hunter-gathering societies? What biases do their descriptions reveal?

5. Discuss the way in which "scarcity" is a fundamental paradigm not only for economic theory but also for modern capitalist societies? How is "scarcity "constructed in modern society? Does it come from the notion of limited resources alone?

6. When thinking about IPAT and environmental depletion of resources such as the buffalo or the White Pine, how does Sahlins framework help to explain the causes of resource depletion?