21201502 - ENVIRONMENTAL ECONOMICS

The course covers topical issues such as sustainable development, climate change, and efficiency in the use of environmental resources. To this end, economic theories are used to analyse and understand environmental phenomena in their intersection with human activities. The main economic foundations used by environmental economics are explained and contextualised with respect to concrete dynamics of the functioning of markets and consumer choices. The course then deals with the issues of environmental externalities and the management of public goods, through the analysis of the main instruments of environmental policy such as taxation, the imposition of standards and controls, and the mechanisms for trading permits to pollute. In addition, empirical evaluation techniques of environmental policies are analysed.
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Mutuazione: 21201502 ECONOMIA DELL'AMBIENTE in Economia L-33 N0 SPINESI LUCA

Programme

1. Introduction to environmental economics
1.1 The origins of the problem
1.2 Interdependency economy-environment
1.3 GDP growth and welfare measure
1.4 Sustainability
1.5 Pollution extension and types
1.6 Natural resources

2. Ethics and economics
2.1 Natural philosophy
2.2 Libertarian philosophy
2.3 Utilitarianism
2.4 Critique to utilitarianism

3. Social welfare and environmental sustainability
3.1 Pareto efficiency
3.2 Social welfare function
3.3 Kaldor- Hicks-Scitovsky compensation tests
3.4 Market failures
3.5 Second-best theorem

4. Environmental policy
4.1 Public goods
4.2 Externalities
4.3 Environmental pollution models
4.4 Flow and stock of polluting emissions
4.5 Emission efficiency in static models
4.6 Emission efficiency in dynamic models

5 Environmental policy: instruments
5.1 Tax and subsidy
5.2 Command-and-control
5.3 Permits

6 Monetary valuation
6.1 Contingent valuation method
6.2 Hedonic price method
6.3 Cost-Benefit analysis

Core Documentation

Lecture notes available on Moodle.

In substitution to lecture notes:
Title: Natural Resources and Environmental Economics. 4th Edition, 2011
Authors: Perman Roger, Ma Yue, Common Micheal, Maddison David, McGilvray James.
Editor: Pearson


Type of delivery of the course

Written, oral examination

Attendance

Lectures in class

Type of evaluation

Written with exercises and open questions