BUSINESS AND THE ENVIRONMENT
TERM/HOURS
Spring 2016 / M &W 2-3:15
LOCATION
TBD
PROFESSOR
Jennifer Jacquet, jacquet@nyu.edu
OFFICE HOURS
TBD and by appointment
OFFICE LOCATION 285 Mercer Street, tenth floor
Course objectives:
Why are there higher rates of seafood fraud in the U.S. than in Europe? Why has Bank America
cut ties to financing mountaintop removal coal mining operations? Why does Patagonia
encourage people not to buy their products? Are almond farmers to blame for California’s
drought? This course is a broad overview of pressing questions regarding the relationship
between business and the environment. It aims to give students a look at the major drivers of
environmental change, as well as some areas where there may be business opportunities. The
first half of the course focuses more on theory and makes students familiar with some of the
foundational literature in game theoretical, sociological, and psychological research (e.g.,
research on trust, fairness, research, etc.) while the second half focuses more on specific
environmental problems. Every week includes at least one case study into a business and its
relationship to that lecture’s theme. The course also features several guest speakers.
Required texts and media:
See the peer-reviewed studies listed on the weekly calendar.
Grade:
5 quizzes each worth 5% (25% of total grade)
3 in-class ‘briefs’ each worth 10% (30% of total grade)
Mid-term exam* (20% of total grade)
Final exam* (25% of total grade)
*Exams will be a combination of multiple choice questions and written essays.
Plagiarism: results in failure in the class and referral to an academic dean. Plagiarism includes:
copying sentences or fragments from any source without quotes or references; not citing every
source used in your papers; citing internet information without proper citation; presenting
someone else’s work as your own; or copying verbatim from any source. You are subject to
CAS’s guidelines on plagiarism: http://cas.nyu.edu/page/ug.academicintegrity
1
SCHEDULE
Date
Jan. 25
(Mon.)
Jan. 27
(Wed.)
Topic
(key concepts)
Class introduction, goals
Readings/media (prepare before coming to
class)
What is business?
Henrich et al. 2010. Markets, religion,
community size, and the evolution of fairness
and punishment. Science 327:1480-84.
Sandel, M. 2012. What isn’t for sale? The
Atlantic, April 2012.
Rockstrom et al. 2009. A safe operating space
for humanity. Nature 461: 472-75.
White 1967. The historical roots of our
ecological crisis. Science 155:1203-07.
Hardin 1968. The tragedy of the commons.
Science 162: 1243-1248.
Franzen. 2010. Emptying the Skies. The New
Yorker, July 26, 2010, pp. 48-61.
Clark 1973. The economics of overexploitation.
Science 181, 630-634.
Scherer and Palazzo 2011. The new political
role of business in a globalized world: A review
of a new perspective on CSR and implications
for the firm, governance, and democracy.
Journal of Management Studies 48:899-931.
Strom, 2012. Has ‘Organic’ Been Oversized?
NYTimes July 7, 2012
Feb. 1
(Mon.)
What is the environment?
What are the major
drivers of change?
Feb. 3
(Wed.)
Tragedy of the commons,
discount rates,
externalities, market
failure
Feb. 8
(Mon.)
What is regulation? What
are the major U.S.
environmental
legislations?
Feb. 10
(Wed.)
Feb. 15
Feb. 17
(Wed.)
BRIEF #1
Feb. 22
(Mon.)
Culture (cont.)
Feb. 24
(Wed.)
How are regulations
enforced? Reward,
punishment, partner
choice, formal sanctions,
boycotts
Informal sanctions,
gossip, shame, honor,
trust, role of NGOs
Feb. 29
(Mon.)
Mar. 2
(Wed.)
Mar. 7
NO CLASS
What is culture? What is
business culture?
GUEST TENSIE
WHELAN
BRIEF #2
President’s Day holiday
Aaker, J.L. 1997. Dimensions of brand
personality. Journal of Marketing Research
34(3): 347-356.
Chouinard and Gallagher 2004. Don’t Buy this
Shirt Unless You Need It. Patagonia Magazine.
Reinhardt, Forest L., Ramon CasadesusMasanell, and Hyun Jin Kim. Patagonia.
Harvard Business School Case 711-020,
August 2010. (Revised October 2010.)
Watch the film The Yes Men (2003)
Max 2014. “Green is Good” The New Yorker
May 12. 2014
Weil et al. 2006. The effectiveness of
regulatory disclosure policies. Journal of Policy
Analysis and Management 225, 155-181.
Bartley and Child. 2014. 'Shaming the
corporation: The social production of targets
and the anti-sweatshop
movement', American Sociological
Review. doi: 10.1177/0003122414540653.
Watch the film Blackfish (2013)
TBA
Businesses/
brands
Patagonia
SeaWorld,
Barnum &
Baileys
2
(Mon.)
Mar. 9
(Wed.)
Mar.
14/16
Mar. 21
(Mon.)
MID-TERM EXAM
NO CLASS
Spring Break
Climate change
Dietz et al. 2009. Household actions can
provide a behavioral wedge to rapidly reduce
U.S. carbon emissions PNAS 106:1845218456.
Frumhoff et al. 2015. The climate
responsibilities of industrial carbon producers
Climatic Change.
The Guardian, May 29, 2015. “The biggest
story in the world” podcast, episode 10, Shell.
Reinhardt, Forest L., and Mikell Hyman. Global
Climate Change and BP. Harvard Business
School Case 708-026, October 2007. (Revised
October 2009.)
TBA
ExxonMobil
Coady et al. 2015. How large are global energy
subsidies? International Monetary Fund
working paper May 18, 2015.
Alvarez, Jose B., and Matthew G. Preble.
Disrupting the meat industry: tissue culture
beef. Harvard Business School Case 515-001,
November 2014. (Revised March 2015.)
Jacquet et al. 2010. Conserving wild fish in a
sea of market based efforts. Oryx 44:45-56.
Pauly, D. Aquacalypse Now. The New
Republic September 28, 2009.
TBA
Tesla, solar
Pembient,
eBay
Mar. 23
(Wed.)
What is divestment? In
what context did it arise?
Mar. 28
(Mon.)
Mar. 30
(Wed.)
GUEST KERT DAVIES
Apr. 4
(Mon.)
Animal agriculture,
factory farming
Apr. 6
(Wed.)
Overfishing
Apr. 11
(Mon.)
Apr. 13
(Wed.)
Aquaculture
Overexploitation/biodivers
ity crisis,
Butchart et al. 2010. Global biodiversity:
indicators of recent declines. Science 328:
1164-1168.
Apr. 18
(Mon.)
Rareness, value, tourism
Apr. 20
(Wed.)
Apr. 25
(Mon.)
Apr. 27
(Wed.)
GUEST JOSH KATCHER
Angulo et al. 2009. Fatal attraction: rare
species in the spotlight. Proceedings of Royal
Society B 276:1331-1337.
Cisneros-Montemayor et al. 2013. Global
economic value of shark ecotourism:
implications for conservation. Oryx 47:381-388
TBA
May 2
(Mon.)
May 4
(Wed.)
May 9
(Mon.)
GUEST DONG PING
WONG
Wrap up, final exam
review
FINAL EXAM
What is the current state
of renewable energies?
Shell
BRIEF #3
POLLUTION
Hart 1995. A natural-resource based view of
the firm. The Academy of Management 20:9861014.
TBAT
Dow Chemical
+POOL
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