Teaching the Economics of the Environment

Abstract

This article addresses what is currently taught about the environment in the school curriculum and explains how an economics approach can change it. A recent study in the United States provides evidence supporting the suspicions of many economists that the environmental education in schools is often flawed. The Independent Commission on Environmental Education (1997) concluded that most curriculum materials it examined lacked an emphasis on basic economic concepts. Curriculum materials would be improved by recognising the importance of economic forces. For example, markets provide incentives that influence people's environmental actions and market approaches — as opposed to government command and rule systems — foster cooperation between groups and individuals. The primary contribution of economics to environmental education is recognition of the tragedy of the commons. The tragedy of the commons states that people take better care of things they own and tend to overuse things they do not own. This simple but powerful lesson holds important meaning for environmental education. In contrast non-market solutions leave us only with solutions involving force, expense, and guilt. The author concludes by describing a middle-level curriculum published by the National Council on Economic Education, which strives to use market forces to analyse environmental problems.