COURSE NUMBER: MBA212.1
This
course is cross-listed with the EWMBA Program.
COURSE TITLE: Energy and Environmental
Markets
UNITS OF CREDIT: 3 units
INSTRUCTOR: Severin Borenstein
E-MAIL ADDRESS: borenste@haas.berkeley.edu
MEETING DAY(S)/TIME: Wednesday,
6:00-9:30PM
PREREQUISITE(S): Microeconomics
(MBA201A) or its equivalent.
CLASS FORMAT: Classes will be a mixture
of lectures, case discussions, and group work on market analysis
REQUIRED READINGS: The course will use
a packet of readings and case materials.
BASIS FOR FINAL GRADE:
50% exams- in class quizzes and final
exam
40% energy strategy games and writing
assignments
10% class participation
NO ELECTRONICS POLICY: This course will
follow the "no electronics" policy that is used in the MBA core. Use
of laptop computers, cellphones, ipads, or other
electronic devices during class will not be permitted. If you have a certified
medical need to use a laptop in class, please come and talk to me about it.
ABSTRACT OF COURSE'S CONTENT AND
OBJECTIVES:
In the past 40 years, some of the
largest industries have transitioned from regulated to market-based paradigms.
Managers in many transportation, information technology, and energy companies
have had to devise strategies to cope with changes in economic and
environmental regulations and the evolution of new markets and trading
platforms. The energy industries feature a complex mix of regulation and
market-driven incentives. Over the last two decades, energy markets that had
previously been viewed as staid and conservative have been rocked by
deregulation initiatives, the California electricity crises, the Enron scandal,
volatile oil and natural gas prices, innovations in renewable energy and the
challenge to reduce greenhouse gases.
Drawing on the tools of economics and
finance, we study the business and public policy issues that these changes have
raised in energy markets. Topics include traditional and alternative models of
utilities in electricity and natural gas markets; the political economy of
deregulation; climate change, environmental policy and markets for green
energy; competitive and market power in energy markets; transportation and
storage constraints in energy commodities; and the development of organized
spot, futures, and derivative markets in energy, We examine the impact of
regulation in these industries, study firms' successful and unsuccessful
competitive strategies, and explore the rationale for and effects of public
policies in energy and environmental markets.
BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH:
Severin Borenstein is the E.T. Grether Professor of Business Administration and Public
Policy at the Haas School of Business and Co-Director of the Energy Institute
at Haas. He received his A.B. from U.C. Berkeley and Ph.D. in Economics from
M.I.T. His research focuses on business competition, strategy, and regulation.
He has published extensively on airline competition, the oil and gasoline
industries, and electricity markets. His current research projects include the
economics of renewable energy, energy efficiency evaluation, cap and trade
markets for GHG reductions, and the impacts of retail electricity pricing
structures. Borenstein is also a research associate of the National Bureau of
Economic Research in Cambridge, MA. He served on the Board of Governors of the
California Power Exchange from 1997 to 2003. During 1999-2000, he served on the
California Attorney General's Gasoline Price Task Force. In 2010-11, he served
on the Department of Transportation's Future of Aviation Advisory Committee and
on the Supply and Infrastructure taskforce of the Department of Energy's
National Petroleum Council Study of the Future of Transportation Fuels. He is
currently a member of the Emissions Market Assessment Committee for
California’s GHG cap and trade market.