Environmental Economics for Environmental Sciences

The course provides an introduction to environmental economics and is developed for students of non-economic study programmes. It is also suitable as an introduction to environmental economics for students of economic study programmes. The aim of the course is to show how environmental problems can be approached and analysed using economic theory. Furthermore, the course demonstrates how economics provides guidance to address serious environmental problems such as climate change, ozone depletion, air and water pollution at different scales (global, regional). In particular, the course will establish the foundations of environmental economics. The students will learn how markets function and under which conditions markets fail, giving rise to a misallocation of resources causing environmental problems. These insights will then be used to analyse how policy interventions can correct market failure and enhance social welfare. The course also introduces students to recent policy developments regarding environmental and sustainability issues.

• Explain basic economic principles relevant to environmental problems.

• Apply economic theory and methods to evaluate environmental policy options.

• Evaluate the effectiveness of alternative environmental policy instruments using economic theory and methods

• Analyse economic data, simple models, and diverse environmental data to draw evidence-based conclusions about environmental outcomes

• Compile and structure information critically about a topic in environmental economics for writing a scientific essay

• ? (60%)
• ? (20%)
• ? (20%) Paper.

Knowledge of basic mathematic calculus (e.g. MAT14803), statistics 1 and 2 (MAT15303 and MAT15403) and Introduction Geo-information Sciences (GRS10306) is expected. And, as a background, a course like Systems of Change: Environmental Policy, Economics, and Law (ENR23806) or some basic understanding of (micro-) economic theory is useful.

• Perman, R., Y. Ma, J. McGilvray, and M. Common (2011): 'Natural Resource and Environmental Economics', 4th ed., Pearson Education, Harlow. Additional material will be announced in the course guide.