Environmental issues are, by their nature, interdisciplinary.
Analyzing them requires understanding the science underlying their causes, and correcting them requires influencing human behavior, through incentive schemes that are studied extensively in the social sciences. This combination of degrees leads to high-quality economic analysis based not on abstract assumptions, but on science, public policy, and behavioral methods. The dual Master's degree program combines background in environmental and resource science and policy with economic tools. Because all requirements for both programs will be fulfilled, a student will have two full master's degrees in 1-2 semesters less than if the two programs were taken individually. A student would choose the two-course sequence in Environmental and Resource Economics as one of two required major fields in Economics.