Rescuing the Aral Sea: use of Case Method
This material is replicated on a number of sites
as part of the
SERC Pedagogic Service Project
Initial Publication Date: November 13, 2009
Summary
Students use the Case Method to learn/apply the concepts of social marginal cost and the Coase Theorem. The example is the environmental devastation of the Aral Sea in the past 30 years. The students play roles in a negotiation designed to illustrate (1) the unintended consequences of ignoring the opportunity cost of a resource, (2) the role a market mechanism can play in reducing the devastation, and (3) the difficulties in negotiating a cooperative solution to this policy problem.
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Learning Goals
Students will learn and/or apply the concepts of opportunity cost, social marginal cost, market mechanism, and Coase Theorem.
Context for Use
Microeconomics or International Economics course content; at most 50 minutes of a class period.
Description and Teaching Materials
Aral Case outline (Acrobat (PDF) 13kB Mar31 09)
Aral Sea description circa 2005. (Acrobat (PDF) 57kB Mar31 09)
Teaching Notes and Tips
See case outline.
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Assessment
See case outline.