Return to Home Page

1. Return to Home Page Introduction to GEOG 370: Problems of Resource Management April 2, 2014

2. Key Economic Concepts& Prelude to Introduction to Ecosystems

3. (Private) Property Rights Right to use Right to earn a benefit stream Right of alienation (right to sell or transfer property rights) Right of exclusivity

4. Criteria of Economic Performance Broad Utility criterion Sharp Utility criterion Broad Productivity criterion Sharp Productivity criterion Measures of Equity

5. Optimal provision of a public good

6. Utility Possibility Frontier

7. Utility-Possibility Frontier with 4 social indifference curves

8. Production Possibility Frontier

9. Production possibility Frontier & Iso-Value Lines

10. Production Possibility Frontier with Indivisibilities

11. Equity example: Lorenz Curves

12. Positive & Normative Statements & Claims What are they & how are they related to justifications for action? Positive claims – statements about what we know. Normative claims – statements about what we value or “should” value Positive claim - essential concern is about how things are, not how they should be. In this regard, all scientific claims and questions are positive. Examining evidence is a powerful and often effective means for resolving disagreements over positive claims. Normative claim – essential concern is about how things should be; claims that something is good or bad, right or wrong, virtuous, wise or foolish, just or unjust, etc. Normative questions & claims always involve value judgments; hence, basis for believing that they have right or wrong answers is much weaker than for positive questions. Unstated assumptions behind an argument can be normative as well as positive. Mixing of normative and positive claims with powerful unstated assumptions, obfuscates & obstructs reasoned deliberations on public policy, creates confusion, exacerbates conflict, makes it difficult for citizens to understand an argument and arrive at an informed view.