Example of Student Work on Ecological Economics
Economic Subsidies: Who Benefits? Who Pays?
Freshman at Ann Arbor's Pioneer High School evaluated economic policies to determine environmental impacts.
Students began by examining the externalities of driving, the 'hidden' costs not reflected in the market price. Using research from the from the organization Redefining Progress [link to www.rprogress.org], students identified the following costs:
- Accidents: $77.5 billion
- Loss of Farm Land: $80.5 billion
- Depletion of non-renewable resources: $793.5 billion
- Ozone: $213.8 billion
- Air pollution: $34.6 billion
Students noted that because these costs are pushed onto the society, driving is a highly-subsidized activity. Students then made the argument that more of the true costs should be incorporated into the price of gas, vehicles, and tolls.
"We should be subsidizing actions and businesses that promote sustainability and taxing the ones that don't," wrote the student.
Some of the Concepts, Standards, and Skills Addressed by this Activity:
- evaluating the costs and benefits of economic policies
- analyzing and interpreting real-world data
- developing criteria for fair tax policies
- differentiating between price and cost
- understanding the impacts of tax breaks, subsidies, and other types of policies
- taking and defending a position on a matter of public policy
These lessons are from our curriculum chapter "Incentives, Policies, and Economic Choices."
A complete unit about cars and economics is available from the Center for a Sustainable Future at http://csf.concord.org/esf Follow the links to curriculum, and look for the unit on sustainable Economics for grades 9-12: "Economic, Resources, and the Future: Focus on the Car and Ecological Economic"
Back to list of examples of student work.
|
