Guida degli insegnamenti

Syllabus

Partially translatedTradotto parzialmente
[66012] - ECONOMICS OF ENVIRONMENT AND NATURAL RESOURCESECONOMICS OF ENVIRONMENT AND NATURAL RESOURCES
Roberto ESPOSTI
Lingua di erogazione: INGLESELessons taught in: ENGLISH
Laurea Magistrale - [EM07] INTERNATIONAL ECONOMICS AND COMMERCE (Curriculum: INTERNATIONAL ECONOMICS AND BUSINESS) Master Degree (2 years) - [EM07] INTERNATIONAL ECONOMICS AND COMMERCE (Curriculum: INTERNATIONAL ECONOMICS AND BUSINESS)
Dipartimento: [040002] Dipartimento Scienze Economiche e SocialiDepartment: [040002] Dipartimento Scienze Economiche e Sociali
Anno di corsoDegree programme year : 2 - Primo Semestre
Anno offertaAcademic year: 2019-2020
Anno regolamentoAnno regolamento: 2017-2018
Opzionale
Crediti: 6
Ore di lezioneTeaching hours: 44
TipologiaType: C - Affine/Integrativa
Settore disciplinareAcademic discipline: AGR/01 - ECONOMIA ED ESTIMO RURALE

LINGUA INSEGNAMENTO LANGUAGE

INGLESE

English


PREREQUISITI PREREQUISITES

None

None


MODALITÀ DI SVOLGIMENTO DEL CORSO DEVELOPMENT OF THE COURSE

The course is organised in 22 frontal lessons of both theoretical and practical content.

The course is organised in 22 frontal lessons of both theoretical and practical content.


RISULTATI DI APPRENDIMENTO ATTESI LEARNING OUTCOMES
Knowledge and Understanding.

At the end of the course, the students will have an in-depth knowledge of the theoretical concepts for analysing, from the point of view of Economics, the major issues concerning the environment, the natural resources and the “sustainable development”, the issues implied by climate change included.


Capacity to apply Knowledge and Understanding.

At the end of the course, the students will be able to apply the major policy approaches to environmental problems are also dealt with in details as well as will be able to adopt applied methodologies concerning the economic and monetary evaluation of environmental goods and the assessment of the sustainability of economic processes.


Transversal Skills.

At the end of the course, the students will be able to elaborate on the complex relation occurring between economic growth and environmental degradation as well as to provide autonomous judgments and research ideas about the complexity occurring between economic growth and sustainability from an ecological point of view. Finally, students will be able to investigate the processes of international integration involved by the environmental issues and challenges and the specific country-level risks.


Knowledge and Understanding.

At the end of the course, the students will have an in-depth knowledge of the theoretical concepts for analysing, from the point of view of Economics, the major issues concerning the environment, the natural resources and the “sustainable development”, the issues implied by climate change included.


Capacity to apply Knowledge and Understanding.

At the end of the course, the students will be able to apply the major policy approaches to environmental problems are also dealt with in details as well as will be able to adopt applied methodologies concerning the economic and monetary evaluation of environmental goods and the assessment of the sustainability of economic processes.


Transversal Skills.

At the end of the course, the students will be able to elaborate on the complex relation occurring between economic growth and environmental degradation as well as to provide autonomous judgments and research ideas about the complexity occurring between economic growth and sustainability from an ecological point of view. Finally, students will be able to investigate the processes of international integration involved by the environmental issues and challenges and the specific country-level risks.



PROGRAMMA PROGRAM

Part I: Principles of Environmental Economics
• Introduction to welfare economics
• The problem of social cost
- Public goods and negative externalities
- The problem of social cost
- The Coasian solution and its issues
• The economic value of environmental goods and its components
- Preferences and Willingness to Pay (WtP)
- Methods for measuring the economic value of environmental goods
- A case-study: the Exxon Valdez oil spill
• Environmental policies
- The optimal pollution level
- Pigouvian taxes, incentives and rights in environmental policy
- The Polluter Pays Principle
• The problem of optimal provision
- Public goods and positive externalities
- First-best solution: Samuelson
- Public goods provision with or without government
- A case-study: the Exxon Valdez oil spill
Part II: Sustainability: concepts and instruments
• Introduction
• Natural resources management and intertemporal or intergenerational choices
- The case of non-renewable resources and the problem of the discount rate
- The case of renewable resources
- The tragedy of the commons
• Economic development and the environment
- The relation between environmental degradation and economic development
- The Environmental Kuznets Curve (EKC)
- Less-developed and developing countries and the environment
• Sustainable economic development
- Strong and weak sustainability
- Growth and sustainability
- Sustainable development: definition and concepts
• The economics of climate change
- The social cost of carbon
- The discount rate issue
- The optimal policy
• An ecological view on sustainability
- Ecological economics: basic concepts
- Ecological economics: instruments
- The ecological footprint

Part I: Principles of Environmental Economics
• Introduction to welfare economics
• The problem of social cost
- Public goods and negative externalities
- The problem of social cost
- The Coasian solution and its issues
• The economic value of environmental goods and its components
- Preferences and Willingness to Pay (WtP)
- Methods for measuring the economic value of environmental goods
- A case-study: the Exxon Valdez oil spill
• Environmental policies
- The optimal pollution level
- Pigouvian taxes, incentives and rights in environmental policy
- The Polluter Pays Principle
• The problem of optimal provision
- Public goods and positive externalities
- First-best solution: Samuelson
- Public goods provision with or without government
- A case-study: the Exxon Valdez oil spill
Part II: Sustainability: concepts and instruments
• Introduction
• Natural resources management and intertemporal or intergenerational choices
- The case of non-renewable resources and the problem of the discount rate
- The case of renewable resources
- The tragedy of the commons
• Economic development and the environment
- The relation between environmental degradation and economic development
- The Environmental Kuznets Curve (EKC)
- Less-developed and developing countries and the environment
• Sustainable economic development
- Strong and weak sustainability
- Growth and sustainability
- Sustainable development: definition and concepts
• The economics of climate change
- The social cost of carbon
- The discount rate issue
- The optimal policy
• An ecological view on sustainability
- Ecological economics: basic concepts
- Ecological economics: instruments
- The ecological footprint


MODALITÀ DI SVOLGIMENTO DELL'ESAME DEVELOPMENT OF THE EXAMINATION
Learning Evaluation Methods.

The exam is written and is divided in two parts.


Learning Evaluation Criteria.

The first part of the exam consists of three open-ended questions on the several parts of the program. The response to the questions is expected to demonstrate the student’s understanding of the key concepts but also their capacity of elaborating autonomous evaluations and judgments.
The second part consists of a closed-ended test (5-10 questions). Each question aims at assessing the student’s degree of knowledge on very specific parts of the course.


Learning Measurement Criteria.

In the first part of the exam, each of the three open-ended question will receive an evaluation ranging between 0 and 6. In the second part of the exam, any question of the test admits four possible answers. One of them is the correct answer and will receive an evaluation of 2 points. The remaining three answers are wrong and will receive an evaluation of 0 points.


Final Mark Allocation Criteria.

For the exam to be passed, the final grade must achieve at least 18/30. The final grade ranges between the minimum of 18/30 and the maximum of 30/30. The first part of the exam will be attributed a maximum of 18 points. The second part will be attributed a maximum of 12 points. For exams of very high quality the “cum laude” will be added to the 30/30 evaluation.


Learning Evaluation Methods.

The exam is written and is divided in two parts.


Learning Evaluation Criteria.

The first part of the exam consists of three open-ended questions on the several parts of the program. The response to the questions is expected to demonstrate the student’s understanding of the key concepts but also their capacity of elaborating autonomous evaluations and judgments.
The second part consists of a closed-ended test (5-10 questions). Each question aims at assessing the student’s degree of knowledge on very specific parts of the course.


Learning Measurement Criteria.

In the first part of the exam, each of the three open-ended question will receive an evaluation ranging between 0 and 6. In the second part of the exam, any question of the test admits four possible answers. One of them is the correct answer and will receive an evaluation of 2 points. The remaining three answers are wrong and will receive an evaluation of 0 points.


Final Mark Allocation Criteria.

For the exam to be passed, the final grade must achieve at least 18/30. The final grade ranges between the minimum of 18/30 and the maximum of 30/30. The first part of the exam will be attributed a maximum of 18 points. The second part will be attributed a maximum of 12 points. For exams of very high quality the “cum laude” will be added to the 30/30 evaluation.



TESTI CONSIGLIATI RECOMMENDED READING

Recommended material:
Course slides. Available on-line at: https://lms.econ.univpm.it/course/view.php?id=220

Suggested textbooks:
Pearce, D., Turner, R.K. 1990: Economics of natural resources and the environment. Johns Hopkins University Press.
Goodstein, E.S. 2010: Economics and the environment. John Wiley & Sons.
Specific for Ecological Economics:
Costanza, R., Cumberland, J., Daly, H., Goodland, R., Noordgaard, R. 1997. An introduction to Ecological Economics. St. Lucie Press, Boca Raton, Florida.

Further readings (respective pdf files can be found in the course website indicated above):
PART I:
Carson et al., 2003: Contingent Valuation and lost passive use: damage from the Exxon Valdez oil spill, Environmental and Resource Economics, 25, 257-286.
Chay, K.Y., Greenstone, M. 2005: Does Air Quality Matter? Evidence from the Housing Market. Journal of Political Economy, 113(2), 376-424.
Coase, R. 1960: The problem of social cost, The Journal of Law & Economics, III, 1-44
Fleming, C.M., Cook, A., 2008: The recreational value of Lake McKenzie, Fraser Island: An application of the travel cost method, Tourism Management, 29, 1197–1205.
King, C.L., Phaneuf, D.J., Zhao, J., 2012: From Exxon to BP: Has Some Number Become Better than No Number? Journal of Economic Perspectives, 26(4), 3-276.
Le Goffe, P., 2000: Hedonic Pricing of Agriculture and Forestry Externalities, Environmental and Resource Economics, 15, 397–401.

PART II:
European Commission 2014: The Circular Economy. Connecting, Creating and Conserving Value. EU Commission: Bruxelles.
Grossman, G.M., Krueger, A.B. 1995: Economic growth and the environment. Quarterly Journal of Economics, 110, 353-377.
Hardin, G. 1968: The Tragedy of the Commons, Science, Vol. 162, 1243-1248
Meadows, D.H., Meadows, G., Randers, J., Behrens III, W.W. 1972: The Limits to Growth. New York: Universe Books.
Nordhaus, W.D. (1991). To Slow or Not to Slow: The Economics of The Greenhouse Effect. The Economic Journal, Vol. 101(407), 920-937.
OECD. 2008: Sustainable Development. Linking economy, society, environment. OECD: Parigi.
Ostrom, E. 2002: Common-pool resources and institutions: toward a revised theory. In: Gardner, B., Rausser, G. (eds.), Handbook of Agricultural Economics. Volume 2. Amsterdam: Elsevier Science, Chapter 24 (pp. 1315-1339).
Stavins, R.N. 2011: The Problem of the Commons: Still Unsettled after 100 Years. American Economic Review, 101, 81-108.
WWF 2016: Living Planet Report 2016. Risk and resilience in a new era. Downloadable at: http://awsassets.panda.org/downloads/lpr_living_planet_report_2016.pdf.

Recommended material:
Course slides. Available on-line at: https://lms.econ.univpm.it/course/view.php?id=220

Suggested textbooks:
Pearce, D., Turner, R.K. 1990: Economics of natural resources and the environment. Johns Hopkins University Press.
Goodstein, E.S. 2010: Economics and the environment. John Wiley & Sons.
Specific for Ecological Economics:
Costanza, R., Cumberland, J., Daly, H., Goodland, R., Noordgaard, R. 1997. An introduction to Ecological Economics. St. Lucie Press, Boca Raton, Florida.

Further readings (respective pdf files can be found in the course website indicated above):
PART I:
Carson et al., 2003: Contingent Valuation and lost passive use: damage from the Exxon Valdez oil spill, Environmental and Resource Economics, 25, 257-286.
Chay, K.Y., Greenstone, M. 2005: Does Air Quality Matter? Evidence from the Housing Market. Journal of Political Economy, 113(2), 376-424.
Coase, R. 1960: The problem of social cost, The Journal of Law & Economics, III, 1-44
Fleming, C.M., Cook, A., 2008: The recreational value of Lake McKenzie, Fraser Island: An application of the travel cost method, Tourism Management, 29, 1197–1205.
King, C.L., Phaneuf, D.J., Zhao, J., 2012: From Exxon to BP: Has Some Number Become Better than No Number? Journal of Economic Perspectives, 26(4), 3-276.
Le Goffe, P., 2000: Hedonic Pricing of Agriculture and Forestry Externalities, Environmental and Resource Economics, 15, 397–401.

PART II:
European Commission 2014: The Circular Economy. Connecting, Creating and Conserving Value. EU Commission: Bruxelles.
Grossman, G.M., Krueger, A.B. 1995: Economic growth and the environment. Quarterly Journal of Economics, 110, 353-377.
Hardin, G. 1968: The Tragedy of the Commons, Science, Vol. 162, 1243-1248
Meadows, D.H., Meadows, G., Randers, J., Behrens III, W.W. 1972: The Limits to Growth. New York: Universe Books.
Nordhaus, W.D. (1991). To Slow or Not to Slow: The Economics of The Greenhouse Effect. The Economic Journal, Vol. 101(407), 920-937.
OECD. 2008: Sustainable Development. Linking economy, society, environment. OECD: Parigi.
Ostrom, E. 2002: Common-pool resources and institutions: toward a revised theory. In: Gardner, B., Rausser, G. (eds.), Handbook of Agricultural Economics. Volume 2. Amsterdam: Elsevier Science, Chapter 24 (pp. 1315-1339).
Stavins, R.N. 2011: The Problem of the Commons: Still Unsettled after 100 Years. American Economic Review, 101, 81-108.
WWF 2016: Living Planet Report 2016. Risk and resilience in a new era. Downloadable at: http://awsassets.panda.org/downloads/lpr_living_planet_report_2016.pdf.


E-LEARNING E-LEARNING


Yes


Scheda insegnamento erogato nell’A.A. 2019-2020
Le informazioni contenute nella presente scheda assumono carattere definitivo solo a partire dall'A.A. di effettiva erogazione dell'insegnamento.
Academic year 2019-2020

 


Università Politecnica delle Marche
P.zza Roma 22, 60121 Ancona
Tel (+39) 071.220.1, Fax (+39) 071.220.2324
P.I. 00382520427