Economics

[zdeathbringer]

I need help in answering this economics essay, can someone please provide a structure for an answer. It is about the environment and concern for the Australian government.

Discuss the economic concerns that the Australian Government takes into account when formulating policies to manage the environment and policies to address environmental issues.

Please help.

Thanks

[birdwing341]

Hello zdeathbringer, welcome to the forum

First of all, I don't claim to be an expert on the environment or on economics, so please don't take this structure as law, I've just whipped it up in like 5 minutes. Secondly, in an exam I would instantly pick the opposite question even if it was international organisations (which I dislike almost as much as environment), because I think environment is a bit of a silly topic.

That said - here goes!

My immediate thought is to break it down according to the syllabus, so perhaps have 4 paragraphs (I usually like to have between 4 and 6, if you can split a paragraph into two, definitely split it into two). Also you will have to do some research on mentioning specific trends and policies, as I kind of ignored this dot point, hoping it wasn't going to be tested

1. General description of environment
- here I'd talk about what ecological sustainable development is, chuck in a Production Possibility Frontier (get some free brownie points)
- Then describe the trade off between the environment and growth (or other economic concerns)

2. Preservation of natural environments
- Talk ST reduction in growth, opposition from groups who might use the land for other purposes e.g. farming
- Industry faces higher costs from rigorous standards - disadvantages international competitiveness
- Cost of repairing environment born by tax-bearers, governments may wish to remain popular to maintain power

3. Pollution/Climate change
- You're probably better here than me haha
- Pollution is a negative externality, so draw a graph on that and explain what that means (again directly implementing economic theory which wins marks)
- Talk about the lack of cooperation on an international scale, which is what is required, because individual nations taking action places them at a disadvantage in short term growth

4. Depletion of natural resources
- Here the most obvious economic concern here is the mining industry, so I would mention the difficulty in fighting the mining companies, who receive large sums of overseas investments
- Talk about renewable energy here - Clean Energy Fund

So after all that, there is my answer to the question, again I really suggest you look at your notes and textbooks to make sure what I say is right. And hopefully you can improve on this structure and definitely content, but I'm sure there are a few pointers here that would be helpful for you

Good luck!

[Klexos]

Would be pointless if I retyped what Bird has typed, but also include Market Failure as well!

1. Briefly look at the environmental issues in the introduction

• Preservation of natural environments
• pollution/climate change
• Depletion of renewable and non-renewable resources

THEN link to ESD (and its principles) and the government acknowledged targets

2.  Explain how these environmental issues are sources of market failure due to it being a negative externality

3. With government policies (from my memory):
a) Legislation, Regulation & Standards
b) Subsidies and Financial Assistance
c) Economic instruments
d) Tradeable Permits/Emissions Trading Schemes
Briefly go through their context and then provide specific examples implemented by the Australian government (I believe Tim Riley goes through all the environmental management policies)