COURSE NUMBER: MBA 212.1
COURSE TITLE: Energy and
Environmental Markets (formerly Policies and Strategies in Energy
Markets)
UNITS OF CREDIT: 3
INSTRUCTOR: Severin Borenstein and James
Bushnell
E-MAIL ADDRESSES: borenste@haas.berkeley.edu , bushnell@haas.berkeley.edu
MEETING DAY/TIME: Tuesday and
Thursday, 11:00 AM -12:30 PM
PREREQUISITE(S): MBA201A or
equivalent microeconomics course
CLASS
FORMAT: Mix of lectures and case discussions, with one or more presentations by
leading energy executives and policy makers.
REQUIRED
BASIS FOR FINAL GRADE:
60% exams- 1 midterm and 1
final exam
30% energy strategy games --
One exercise in which teams acquire portfolios of generation units and compete
with them in a market that is representative of California (The Electricity Strategy Game);
One exercise in which teams act as country-level decision makers in the world
oil market (The OPEC Game). Grading is based on team performance in these games
and on explanations of strategies in written memos.
10% --
class participation.
ABSTRACT OF COURSE CONTENT
AND OBJECTIVES:
In the past 30 years, some of
the largest industries have made the transition from a regulated to market
based paradigm.
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 decade, industries that had previously been viewed as
staid and conservative have been rocked by deregulation initiatives, the
Enron
scandal, rising commodity prices, and now 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 the development and
effect of organized spot, futures, and derivative markets in energy; the
political economy of deregulation; climate change, environmental impacts and
policies related to energy production and use; privatisation
of publicly owned energy assets; market power and antitrust; the transportation
and storage of energy commodities; and the economics of alternative energy sources.
We examine the economic determinants of industry structure and
evolution of competition among firms in these industries;
investigate successful and unsuccessful strategies for entering new markets and
competing in existing markets; and analyze the rationale for and effects of
public policies in energy markets.
BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH: Severin Borenstein is E.T. Grether Professor of Business
Administration
and Public Policy, Director of the U.C. Energy Institute, and a former member
of the Governing Board of the California Power Exchange. He has published academic papers and consulted for
government and businesses on gasoline, oil, electricity, and airline markets.
James Bushnell is Research
Director at the U.C. Energy Institute, a former chair of the Market Monitoring
Committee of the California Power Exchange, and a current member of the Market
Surveillance Committee of the California Independent System Operator. He has written extensively about the
deregulation and organization of energy markets. He has consulted for
utilities, entrepreneurs, and government and regulatory agencies in the