Syracuse University’s Economics Club hopes to educate students on what Sam Giber, club president and senior economics major, calls “one of the most, if not the most, important political issues of our time.”

The Economics Club will host “The Microeconomics of Energy Policy: Designing Sustainable Incentives to Support Cleaner and Greener Technology,” a lecture by professor Peter Wilcoxen. Wilcoxen is an associate professor of economics and public administration at SU and the director of the Center for Environmental Policy and Administration.

The lecture will be held Friday at 12:30 p.m. in the Hall of Languages, room 102, and is open to all students, faculty and staff, Giber said.

Giber said Wilcoxen’s lecture is one of several that the Economics Club hosts throughout the year in an effort to make the issue connect with students in majors unrelated to economics. The club hopes to make students aware of the importance of economics in varying fields of study, he said.

“We’ve reached out to just about every major from biology to ESF, engineering and of course Maxwell students,” Giber said.

The Economics Club hopes to have 40 to 60 attendees at the lecture, he said.

The lecture topic focuses on a relevant policy issue in environmental economics, as this is considered one of the more popular economics topics among students, Giber said. The club also wanted to cover topics in its lecture series that were applicable to the upcoming election, he said.

“Although, sadly, we haven’t heard too much about environmental economic issues in the recent debates, exposing students to environmental issues from an economic perspective is important,” Giber said.

In the lecture, Wilcoxen will discuss market incentives for carbon taxing. He will focus on the expenses and mechanics of taxing carbon output, Giber said. Most importantly, Wilcoxen will discuss the plausibility and the political feasibility of carbon taxing, he said.

Giber said students should be concerned with this issue because environmental legislation that affects people has experienced some roadblocks.

“This topic is important because we were able to pass the Endangered Species Act in 1973, which doesn’t help people, and now we can’t seem to get legislation for environmental legislation that helps people,” Giber said. “In his lecture on Friday, professor Wilcoxen will discuss whether or not this type of legislation is possible.”

 

Published on October 25, 2012 at 1:06 am

Contact Alexandra: adhitzle@syr.edu | @LexieHitzler