BECE 143 key facts: June 2026
- Course code: BECE-143
- Course title: Environmental Economics
- Programme: Bachelor of Arts (Honours) Economics (BAECH), discipline specific elective
- Credits: 6
- Blocks and units: 6 blocks, 14 units
- Maximum marks: 100 (term-end exam 70 per cent, assignments 30 per cent)
- Duration: 3 hours
- Questions in the June 2026 paper: 12 (Section A: 4, Section B: 7, Section C: 1 with four options); you attempt 8
- Expected length: about 600 words in Section A, 350 in Section B, 100 to 150 per short note
- Solved answers shown on this page: 2 (Q1 and Q6); all 12 answers in the paid file
BECE 143 Solved Question Paper June 2026 gives complete, exam-length answers to all 12 questions of the official IGNOU term-end paper for Environmental Economics, the 6-credit elective of BA (Honours) Economics. Two answers are printed in full below; the remaining 10 are in the complete file.
1. What the June 2026 Solved Paper Covers
BECE-143 Environmental Economics is a discipline specific elective in IGNOU's BA (Honours) Economics programme. It applies welfare economics to pollution, natural resources and policy, from Pareto efficiency and externalities to pollution taxes, valuation methods and the growth and environment debate.
The June 2026 paper tests that whole range. Section A asks four long questions on efficiency, regulation, transboundary pollution and valuation. Section B adds seven medium questions, and Section C closes with four short notes on entropy, acid rain, comparative advantage and ecological dumping.
We took that official paper and wrote a full answer for every question, at the length the paper itself asks for. If you are revising other courses too, each solved BAECH Question Paper in our collection follows this same format.
2. Two Answers Solved in Full, Ten Held Back
Q1 (20 marks, Section A) and Q6 (12 marks, Section B) are answered in full below. One long and one medium answer show you both writing formats the examiner marks.
Efficiency, its three dimensions and the consumption contract curve
Question 1: How is "efficiency" defined? Explain its three dimensions. What is a "consumption contract curve"? Why is it also called the "Pareto efficient frontier"? Explain. (20)
Meaning of efficiency
In welfare economics, efficiency means Pareto efficiency, named after the Italian economist Vilfredo Pareto. An allocation of goods and inputs is Pareto efficient when no one can be made better off without making at least one other person worse off.
If some reallocation can still raise one person's welfare without hurting anyone, the economy is inefficient, and that reallocation is called a Pareto improvement. Environmental economics uses this benchmark because externalities such as pollution push markets away from it.
The three dimensions of efficiency
Take a simple economy with two consumers (A and B), two goods (X and Y) and two inputs (labour L and capital K). Overall efficiency needs three conditions to hold together.
- Efficiency in consumption (exchange): the goods already produced are shared so that both consumers have the same marginal rate of substitution, MRSXYA = MRSXYB. If A values X more at the margin than B does, a swap of X for Y makes both better off, so the original sharing was inefficient.
- Efficiency in production: inputs are allocated so that the marginal rate of technical substitution is the same in both industries, MRTSLKX = MRTSLKY. Otherwise moving labour and capital between industries raises the output of one good without cutting the other. All such points form the production contract curve, which maps into the production possibility frontier.
- Efficiency in product mix: the economy produces the combination of goods that people actually want. The marginal rate of transformation (the slope of the production possibility frontier) must equal the common marginal rate of substitution, MRTXY = MRSXY.
| Dimension | Condition | If it fails |
|---|---|---|
| Consumption | MRSXY equal for A and B | A swap of goods can make both consumers better off |
| Production | MRTSLK equal in X and Y | Shifting L and K raises one output with no loss in the other |
| Product mix | MRTXY = MRSXY | Producing more of the good people value more at the margin raises welfare |
The consumption contract curve
The consumption contract curve is drawn in an Edgeworth box. The width of the box is the total quantity of X and its height the total quantity of Y. A's origin sits at the bottom left corner and B's at the top right, so every point in the box is one way of sharing the two goods.
A's indifference curves are convex to A's origin and B's to B's origin. Wherever an indifference curve of A just touches an indifference curve of B, their slopes are equal, so MRSA = MRSB. Joining all these tangency points from A's origin to B's origin gives the consumption contract curve.
Diagram to draw: an Edgeworth box with OA at the bottom left and OB at the top right, the width labelled total X and the height total Y. Draw two or three pairs of tangent indifference curves and join the tangency points in a curve from OA to OB, labelling it the contract curve. Mark one point off the curve where two indifference curves cross, and shade the lens between them.
Why it is called the Pareto efficient frontier
- Every point on it is efficient: at each point the two MRS values are equal, so no further trade can benefit one consumer without hurting the other.
- Every point off it is inefficient: where indifference curves cross, a lens-shaped area lies between them. A move into that lens makes at least one consumer better off and nobody worse off, so a Pareto improvement exists.
- Moving along it is a trade-off: going from OA towards OB raises A's utility only by lowering B's. That trade-off is exactly what a frontier shows.
- It maps into the utility possibility frontier: plotting A's and B's utility at each point of the contract curve gives the utility possibility frontier in UA and UB space, the outer boundary of attainable welfare.
Limitation and the environmental link
Pareto efficiency is silent on equity. The contract curve holds many efficient points, including very unequal ones, and choosing among them needs a social welfare function. Externalities also stop markets from reaching the curve at all, which is the starting point for environmental policy.
Conclusion. Efficiency means no one can gain without someone losing. It needs efficiency in consumption, production and product mix together, and the consumption contract curve, the locus of tangencies in the Edgeworth box, is the Pareto efficient frontier because every point on it is efficient and every point off it is not.
The Kaldor-Hicks criterion compared with Pareto improvement
Question 6: How is the Kaldor-Hicks criterion superior to Pareto's improvement criterion? Does the Kaldor-Hicks criterion have any limitations? Explain. (12)
The Pareto improvement criterion and its weakness
Under the Pareto criterion, a move from state A to state B improves welfare only if at least one person gains and nobody loses. Real environmental policies almost always create some losers. A stricter emission standard helps residents but costs factory owners, so the Pareto test stays silent and tends to protect the status quo.
The Kaldor-Hicks compensation criterion
Nicholas Kaldor and John Hicks, writing separately in 1939, proposed a wider test. A change is an improvement if the gainers could fully compensate the losers and still be better off. The compensation does not have to be paid; it only has to be possible. Such a change is called a potential Pareto improvement.
Why it is superior
- It can rank real policies: it judges changes that create both gainers and losers, which the Pareto test cannot.
- It gives a money rule: the test reduces to whether total gains exceed total losses, which is the basis of cost-benefit analysis. A project passes when its net benefits are positive.
- It fits environmental choices: closing a polluting unit can be judged by comparing residents' health gains with the owners' and workers' income losses.
Limitations
- Compensation is hypothetical: since it is rarely paid, losers can stay worse off while the policy still passes. Equity is left out.
- Scitovsky paradox: Tibor Scitovsky (1941) showed that, when relative prices change, a move from A to B can pass the test and the reverse move from B to A can pass it too, which is inconsistent.
- Bias towards the rich: gains and losses are measured by willingness to pay, which rises with income, so the preferences of richer groups weigh more.
- Valuation problems: clean air or biodiversity has no market price, so errors in valuing them can change the verdict.
Conclusion. Kaldor-Hicks is more useful than the Pareto test because it can rank policies with both winners and losers and underpins cost-benefit analysis. Its weakness is that compensation stays hypothetical, it ignores distribution and it can give contradictory results.
3. Questions Answered Only in the Full File
The 10 questions below are printed exactly as they appear in the June 2026 paper. Their answers are not shown on this page.
Section A (any two, 20 marks each)
Question 2: Why is there a need for government intervention to regulate environmental degradation? Discuss the underlying economic rationale for environmental regulation. What are the three functions performed by the government under the Command and Control (CAC) approach?
Question 3: What are the various forms of transboundary pollution? Describe the major issues behind transboundary pollution.
Question 4: Explain the various ways of valuing environmental services. Critically evaluate different valuation techniques.
Section B (any four, 12 marks each)
Question 5: What are the four components of the environment from the ecological perspective? Illustrate the interaction between economy and environment to bring out their interdependence.
Question 7: Define externality. Distinguish between positive and negative externality. Give examples of positive externality in consumption and production.
Question 8: What are the key market-based instruments for controlling pollution? What is the abatement condition in the case of multiple firms under a pollution tax?
Question 9: Explain the evolution of environmental policy in India.
Question 10: Discuss the impact of economic growth on environmental quality through three different channels.
Question 11: Define the term "resource depletion". What are the three perspectives on the cost of depletion and damage to natural resources?
Section C (any two, 6 marks each)
Question 12: Write short notes on any two of the following.
(a) Entropy
(b) Acid rain
(c) Comparative advantage
(d) Ecological dumping
Q9 is worth noting. India's environmental policy has appeared in every BECE-143 paper we checked from June 2023 onwards, so its full answer alone covers one Section B slot you can almost count on.
4. Block and Unit Map
BECE-143 is organised into 6 blocks and 14 units, starting with how the economy and environment interact and ending with growth, the Environmental Kuznets Curve and sustainability.
| Block | Unit | Unit title | Topics in this unit |
|---|---|---|---|
| Block 1: Introduction | Unit 1 | Economy and Environment | Materials balance model; laws of thermodynamics and entropy; four components of the environment |
| Block 1 | Unit 2 | Welfare Economics and Environment | Pareto efficiency in exchange, production and product mix; Kaldor-Hicks criterion; societal optimality |
| Block 2: Theory of Externalities | Unit 3 | Market Failure | Sources of market failure; public goods and non-excludability; positive and negative externalities |
| Block 2 | Unit 4 | Coasian Bargaining | Missing markets and property rights; the Coase theorem and its limits |
| Block 3: Environmental Policy | Unit 5 | Command and Control Policy Approach | Rationale for regulation; emission standards; equi-marginal principle |
| Block 3 | Unit 6 | Market Based Instruments | Pigouvian tax and pollution fees; tradable emission permits; liability rules |
| Block 3 | Unit 7 | Implementation of Environmental Policy | Evolution of policy in India; post-2000 Acts; Wildlife Protection Act 1972 |
| Block 4: International Environmental Problems | Unit 8 | Transboundary Environmental Problems | Global commons; forms of spillover; Kyoto Protocol and Paris Agreement |
| Block 4 | Unit 9 | Trade and Environment | Comparative advantage; pollution haven and displacement hypotheses; ecological dumping |
| Block 5: Valuation of Environment | Unit 10 | Economic Valuation of Environmental Services | Use and non-use value; option and existence value; ecosystem services |
| Block 5 | Unit 11 | Non-Market Valuation of Environmental Services | Contingent valuation; hedonic pricing; travel cost method; WTP against WTA |
| Block 5 | Unit 12 | Green Accounting | SNA methods of measuring GDP; green national accounts; SEEA |
| Block 6: Sustainable Development | Unit 13 | Concept of Sustainability | Weak and strong sustainability; Hartwick rule; Daly's operational principles |
| Block 6 | Unit 14 | Growth and Environment | EKC hypothesis; scale, composition and technique channels; Doughnut model |
Blocks 2 and 3 carry the heaviest load in recent papers, and Block 1 has come back strongly in 2025 and 2026. If you want the concepts before the answers, our unit summaries are grouped as BECE 143 Study Material, arranged in the same block order as the table.
5. Question Paper Pattern and Marks Split
The June 2026 paper is 100 marks in 3 hours: any 2 of 4 in Section A, any 4 of 7 in Section B and any 2 of 4 short notes in Section C.
| Section | Questions | Choice | Marks | Word guide |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Section A | Q1 to Q4 | Any 2 of 4 | 2 × 20 = 40 | About 600 words |
| Section B | Q5 to Q11 | Any 4 of 7 | 4 × 12 = 48 | About 350 words |
| Section C | Q12 (a) to (d) | Any 2 short notes | 2 × 6 = 12 | 100 to 150 words |
One detail most students miss: the June 2024 and December 2024 papers asked for about 500 and 250 words, while the 2023, 2025 and 2026 papers ask for about 600 and 350. Always follow the figure printed on your own paper.
Section B is where marks are won. It carries 48 marks, more than Section A, and four tight 350-word answers are easier to finish in three hours than two long essays that overrun.
6. Most Repeated Topics Across Seven Papers
Environmental policy in India appeared in all 7 official papers from June 2023 to June 2026, and five more topics appeared in 6 of 7. Counts are by topic, so one session counts once even if the topic appears in two questions.
| Topic | Unit | Sessions it appeared in | Count (of 7) | June 2026 question |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Environmental policy and Acts in India | Unit 7 | All seven papers | 7 | Q9 |
| Positive and negative externalities | Unit 3 | Jun 23, Dec 23, Jun 24, Dec 24, Jun 25, Jun 26 | 6 | Q7 |
| Rationale for regulation and the CAC approach | Unit 5 | Jun 23, Jun 24, Dec 24, Jun 25, Dec 25, Jun 26 | 6 | Q2 |
| Global commons and transboundary pollution | Unit 8 | Jun 23, Dec 23, Jun 24, Dec 24, Dec 25, Jun 26 | 6 | Q3, Q12(b) |
| Valuation methods and environmental values | Units 10 and 11 | Jun 23, Dec 23, Jun 24, Jun 25, Dec 25, Jun 26 | 6 | Q4 |
| Growth and environment, EKC and its channels | Unit 14 | Jun 23, Dec 23, Jun 24, Jun 25, Dec 25, Jun 26 | 6 | Q10 |
| Weak and strong sustainability, Daly, Hartwick, Doughnut | Unit 13 | Jun 23, Dec 23, Jun 24, Dec 24, Jun 25, Dec 25 | 6 | — |
| Economy and environment link, materials balance, entropy | Unit 1 | Jun 23, Dec 23, Dec 24, Dec 25, Jun 26 | 5 | Q5, Q12(a) |
| Trade, pollution havens and ecological dumping | Unit 9 | Jun 23, Dec 23, Dec 24, Jun 25, Jun 26 | 5 | Q12(c), Q12(d) |
| Efficiency, Pareto optimality and societal optimality | Unit 2 | Dec 23, Jun 24, Dec 24, Jun 25, Jun 26 | 5 | Q1 (Sample 1) |
| Pigouvian tax and pollution fees | Unit 6 | Dec 23, Jun 24, Dec 25, Jun 26 | 4 | Q8 |
| Public goods and their efficient provision | Unit 3 | Dec 23, Jun 24, Dec 24, Dec 25 | 4 | — |
| Coase theorem, missing markets and property rights | Unit 4 | Jun 23, Dec 23, Jun 24, Dec 25 | 4 | — |
| Kaldor-Hicks compensation criterion | Unit 2 | Jun 24, Dec 25, Jun 26 | 3 | Q6 (Sample 2) |
| Tradable permits and emissions trading | Unit 6 | Jun 23, Dec 24, Jun 25 | 3 | — |
Read the blank rows carefully. Sustainability, public goods and the Coase theorem were regulars until June 2026 skipped them, which makes them strong candidates for the December 2026 paper. All seven papers can be checked in our IGNOU Previous Year Question Paper archive.
7. How Our Answers Are Written and Checked
Each answer is written from the IGNOU BECE-143 units, cut to the word length printed on the paper, and checked by a second reviewer before it goes into the file.
Writing starts with the official June 2026 paper, not a guess. Each question is first mapped to its unit, so Q1 goes to Unit 2 and Q8 to Unit 6. The answer then follows the IGNOU book's own terms, such as MRS, MRTS and MRT, Pigouvian fee and potential Pareto improvement.
Every long answer opens with a definition, moves through numbered points and closes with a one-line conclusion. Where marks depend on a diagram, such as the Edgeworth box or the pollution tax abatement condition, the answer tells you exactly what to draw and label.
Before writing, we read the six earlier official papers listed in the repeat table. That is how we know which wordings the examiner reuses, for example "theoretical rationale for regulation" and "three channels" of growth. If you also want likely questions for December 2026, see our IGNOU Solved Guess Paper collection.
8. Solved File Index
BECE-143 is a theory-only course with no practical or record work, so this index lists every question in the solved file with its unit and where you can read the answer.
| Question | Topic | Unit | Marks | Where the answer is |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Q1 | Efficiency, three dimensions, consumption contract curve | Unit 2 | 20 | Sample 1 above |
| Q2 | Need for regulation, rationale, three CAC functions | Unit 5 | 20 | Full file |
| Q3 | Forms of transboundary pollution and major issues | Unit 8 | 20 | Full file |
| Q4 | Valuing environmental services and valuation techniques | Units 10 and 11 | 20 | Full file |
| Q5 | Four components of the environment; economy and environment link | Unit 1 | 12 | Full file |
| Q6 | Kaldor-Hicks against Pareto improvement, and limitations | Unit 2 | 12 | Sample 2 above |
| Q7 | Positive and negative externality with examples | Unit 3 | 12 | Full file |
| Q8 | Market-based instruments; abatement under a pollution tax | Unit 6 | 12 | Full file |
| Q9 | Evolution of environmental policy in India | Unit 7 | 12 | Full file |
| Q10 | Growth and environmental quality, three channels | Unit 14 | 12 | Full file |
| Q11 | Resource depletion and three perspectives on its cost | Unit 12 | 12 | Full file |
| Q12 | Short notes: entropy, acid rain, comparative advantage, ecological dumping | Units 1, 8 and 9 | 2 × 6 | Full file |
That is 12 questions in total: 2 answered on this page and 10 answered only in the full file. All four Section C notes are written, so you can choose the two you are most comfortable with.
9. Programmes That Study BECE 143
BECE-143 is offered as a 6-credit discipline specific elective in IGNOU's Bachelor of Arts (Honours) Economics programme, code BAECH.
Environmental Economics sits in the elective list alongside courses such as Economics of Health and Education, Applied Econometrics and Financial Economics.
If you are enrolled in the IGNOU Bachelor of Arts (Honours) Economics programme and picked this elective, the same June 2026 paper is the one your batch sat, and it is the best guide to the December 2026 attempt.
Back-paper students should note that the question style has stayed stable since 2023. The units, mark split and favourite topics carry over, so a file built on the June 2026 paper suits repeat attempts too.
10. How to Get the Full Solved Question Paper
Message the course code BECE-143 to WhatsApp 9899436384 to get the complete June 2026 solved file with all 12 answers, including the 10 not shown on this page.
Tell us the code and your exam session, and the PDF reaches you on the same chat, ready to read on your phone or print. If a diagram or term confuses you while revising, ask on the same number.
Still deciding? Read the Q1 answer above once more. The 10 answers in the full file follow the same structure, the same unit-based terms and the same word discipline.
11. BECE 143 Environmental Economics FAQs
Short answers to what students ask most about the June 2026 solved paper, its pattern and how to get it.
What is in the Solved Question Paper for June 2026?
It contains complete answers to all 12 questions of the official June 2026 BECE-143 Environmental Economics paper. That means four 20-mark Section A answers, seven 12-mark Section B answers and all four Section C short notes. Each answer is written to the word length printed on the paper and tagged to its course unit, so revision maps straight back to the IGNOU blocks.
How do I get the full solved paper on WhatsApp?
Send the code BECE-143 to WhatsApp 9899436384 and mention your exam session. We share the complete PDF on the same chat. It has all 12 answers: the 2 shown on this page (Q1 and Q6) plus the 10 questions answered only in the full file. You can read it on your phone or print it, and ask doubts on the same number.
Which answers can I read on this page before contacting you?
You can read two complete answers here. Q1 is a 20-mark Section A answer on efficiency, its three dimensions and the consumption contract curve. Q6 is a 12-mark Section B answer comparing the Kaldor-Hicks and Pareto criteria. Both are shown in full, without cuts, so you can judge the depth and structure before asking for the remaining 10 answers.
What is the exam pattern of the BECE 143 paper?
The paper is 100 marks in 3 hours. Section A asks any two of four questions at 20 marks each in about 600 words. Section B asks any four of seven at 12 marks each in about 350 words. Section C asks two short notes out of four at 6 marks each in 100 to 150 words. Older 2024 papers used 500 and 250 words.
Which BECE 143 topics repeat most often in IGNOU papers?
Environmental policy in India appeared in all seven official papers from June 2023 to June 2026. Externalities, regulation and the CAC approach, global commons, valuation methods, growth and the EKC, and sustainability each appeared in six. Sustainability was skipped in June 2026, along with public goods and the Coase theorem, so all three are worth preparing for December 2026.
Is the June 2026 solved paper useful for December 2026?
Yes. IGNOU keeps rewording the same BECE-143 themes, and every June 2026 question maps to a unit that has appeared before. Efficiency, Kaldor-Hicks, regulation, transboundary pollution and India's environmental policy all came up in earlier papers too. Practising these 12 answers carefully covers most of the ground the December 2026 examiner is likely to test.
Does BECE 143 have a practical file?
No. BECE-143 is a theory course with no practical, lab record or project. Your result comes from assignments, which carry 30 per cent weightage, and the term-end exam, which carries 70 per cent. That is exactly why this page carries a solved file index of all 12 exam questions instead of a practical file index.
Who writes and checks the BECE 143 answers?
The answers are written by Prateek Talwar and reviewed by Sheetal Kirola. Each answer is based on the IGNOU BECE-143 units, uses the course's own terms and is cut to the printed word limit. The team also read the six earlier official papers to see which wordings repeat.
12. Who Wrote and Checked the BECE 143 Answers
The BECE 143 answers were written by Prateek Talwar and reviewed by Sheetal Kirola.
Prateek Talwar, founder of Unnati Educations, leads the IGNOU solved-paper series and prepares answers from the course blocks and the official term-end paper. Sheetal Kirola, Academic Head (M.Ed.), checks every condition, diagram label and cited criterion against the course units before release.