Abstract

“Cap and trade” is one of the most innovative policy options developed by environmental economists. By placing a cap on a social bad and allowing firms to buy and sell the right to generate it, policymakers combine government intervention with market-based incentives to improve welfare and internalize the externality. Such programs represent a great opportunity for instructors to show students how economic theory is used in the real world. Students can learn several important tenets of economics by playing an in-class game based on musical chairs, which creates a market for pollution using a mobile app or paper-based interaction. This active learning method engages students and improves comprehension of price formation, gains from trade, voluntary response to incentives, and an important environmental policy.

摘要

“总量控制与贸易”是环境经济学家提出的最具创新性的政策选择之一。通过对社会弊端设置上限，并允许公司买卖产生这种弊端的权利，政策制定者将政府干预与基于市场的激励措施相结合，以改善福利并内部化外部性。这样的程序为教师们提供了一个向学生展示经济理论如何在现实世界中使用的绝佳机会。通过玩基于音乐椅的课堂游戏，学生可以学到一些重要的经济学原理，这可以通过移动应用程序或基于纸张的交互作用来创造污染市场。这种积极的学习方法可以吸引学生，并提高他们对价格形成，贸易收益，对激励措施的自愿响应以及重要的环境政策的理解。