ENVP40100

Learning Outcomes:

On completion of this course, the successful student should, inter alia, be able to:

- Have an appreciation of the major themes in the academic literature on the economics of the environment.
- Understand the economic approach to analysing why environmental problems occur.
- Explain the economic instruments available to address local and global environmental challenges.
- Understand the interlinkages between the rapidly emerging carbon and climate sectors and traditional environmental economic theory and policy.
- Have an understanding of the economic policy tools available to assess the costs and benefits of action(s) or lack of action(s) to address environmental problems.
- Have an awareness of the importance of behavioural economics and behavioural science for environmental policy making.

Indicative Module Content:

- Introduction to Environmental Economics.
- Economic Analysis of Why Environmental Problems Occur.
- Justification for Intervention in a Market Economy.
- Environmental Policy Design.
- Economic Approaches to Policy and Project Evaluation.
- Behavioural Economics and Environmental Policy Design.

Student Effort Hours:

Approaches to Teaching and Learning:

- Lectures with research-informed teaching
- Participative learning in class
- Active Learning through class discussion
- Task-based, enquiry & problem-based learning through group work
- Student presentations.

Learning Recommendations:

Read an introductory environmental economics textbook and familiarise yourself with introductory microeconomics using a textbook and/or some online videos.

Incompatibles:
AERD30030 - Agri-Environmental Economics, AERD40190 - Agri-Environmental Economics

Equivalents:
Environmental Economics (PEP40830)


 

Assessment Strategy  

 

Please see Student Jargon Buster for more information about remediation types and timing. 

Feedback Strategy/Strategies

• Feedback individually to students, post-assessment
• Online automated feedback
• Peer review activities

How will my Feedback be Delivered?

The pre-assignment feedback includes group feedback on the presentations you'll give (for the assignment worth 50%) and peer feedback in smaller groups (for the assignment worth 25%). The post-assessment feedback for the 2 essay assignments will come in the form of feedback sheets and the post-assessment feedback for the Quiz is just the points you'll get in the Quiz.

Keohane, M. N. O., & Olmstead, S. M. (2016). Markets and the Environment. Island Press. Chapters 1-5 and 8-10.

Hanley, N., Shogren, J., & White, B. (2019). Introduction to environmental economics. Oxford University Press. Chapters 1-5.

For basic economics concepts, lectures and readings will be complemented by videos. For example, the videos by Tyler Cowen and Alex Tabarrok on https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL-uRhZ_p-BM4XnKSe3BJa23-XKJs_k4KY (At least 1-11).

Atkinson, G., Braathen, N. A., Mourato, S., & Groom, B. (2018). Cost Benefits Analysis and the Environment: Further Developments and Policy Use. OECD.

Gifford, R. (2011). The dragons of inaction: psychological barriers that limit climate change mitigation and adaptation. American psychologist, 66(4), 290.

Carlsson, F., Gravert, C., Johansson-Stenman, O., & Kurz, V. (2019). Nudging as an environmental policy instrument. Review of Environmental Economics and Policy, 2020.