ECON20160

Learning Outcomes:

On completing this module students should be able to
(a) Understand the economics mechanisms and basic science behind key environmental issues,
(b) Apply the principles and concepts of economic theory to resolving environmental issues and designing environmental policies,
(c) Appraise and question policies and programmes for environmental management,
(d) Explain and analyse examples of current applications of policy instruments to the environment using an economic framework.

Indicative Module Content:

The main topics covered in this module are the following (indicative list; exact content and order may change):

INTRODUCTION TO ENVIRONMENTAL ECONOMICS
Relationship between the economy and environment
Planetary boundaries and environmental challenges
Introduction to markets: demand and supply, consumer surplus, producer surplus
Efficiency

MARKET FAILURE: CAUSES AND SOME SOLUTIONS
Market failures
Property rights
Externalities
Public good theory and the tragedy of the commons
Coase theorem

BENEFIT-COST ANALYSIS AND OTHER DECISION-MAKING TOOLS
Normative criteria and the principles of benefit-cost analysis
Benefit-cost analysis over time (dynamic efficiency)
How to implement BCA
Issues with BCA
Discount rates
Cost-effectiveness analysis

VALUATION OF THE ENVIRONMENT
Why do we value the environment
Methods to value the environment
Challenges and criticisms to valuing the environment

DESIGNING AND ASSESSING ENVIRONMENTAL POLICIES
Definitions and Taxonomy of pollution
Market allocation and policy response
Efficient and cost-effective policy measures
Other policy dimensions

STATIONARY SOURCES OF LOCAL AND REGIONAL AIR POLLUTION
Main pollutants and their health and environmental impacts
Command and control policies
Market-based approaches
Design and assessment of policy instruments in practice

AIR POLLUTION AND OTHER EXTERNALITIES FROM THE TRANSPORTATION SECTOR (MOBILE SOURCES)
Externalities linked to different means of transport
Challenges and differences of designing policy for mobile sources compared to stationary sources
Transport policy in practice:
fuel economy standards
fuel standards
taxes
congestion charging
labelling

CLIMATE CHANGE: GLOBAL POLLUTANTS
The science of climate change and global pollutants
International agreements and negotiations
Carbon pricing: price-based (carbon tax) vs quantity-based (emission trading) instruments

WATER POLLUTION & WATER MANAGEMENT
The key science of water pollution and water scarcity problems
Theory and practice of water pollution and water management policy
Efficiency and cost-effectiveness
Policy experiences from around the world

Student Effort Hours:

Approaches to Teaching and Learning:

Learning is achieved in lectures, smaller group tutorials, and autonomous learning. In tutorials, students are encouraged to discuss the material and practice math-based problem sets that use economic models and economic tools to analyze specific environmental problems and design solutions.
Autonomous learning is based on (i) reading assigned material (mostly textbook chapter); (ii) reflect of prompts and discussion questions based on the course material; (iii) practice math-based problem sets and short essay-style questions, through ungraded homework and assessed quizzes; (iv) work on the group project (in small groups, students are assigned a topic on which they write a report and present or record a presentation later in the semester). The group project is a key component of the module and provides an opportunity for students to apply the theoretical concepts in a real scenario, deepen their knowledge of specific economic and policy instruments, practice writing and presentation skills, develop group team and time management skills.

Use of AI in assessed quizzes and exam:
The use of AI is not permitted in the assessed quizzes and final exam; use of AI to generate answers in these cases will be considered academic misconduct.

Use of AI in group project:
AI may be used in this module's group project in the following ways:
To generate ideas and organise the structure of the report.
To start a literature review and find relevant papers.
To understand main concepts/theories and find definitions.
To correct grammar and improve the writing style of your own work.
To assist with reference formatting.
Students remain responsible for fact-checking the resulting text and correcting it. In any case, you are required to explicitly state whether AI was used in the assignment and in what ways, provide a reference for the software used, and what prompts (if any) where used. Please use the template below:
"ChatGPT (or equivalent) was used in this assignment for the following purposes:
To generate ideas YES/NO
To find references YES/NO
To generate text YES/NO
To edit & proofread text YES/NO
To create code YES/NO
Other YES/NO How _____________________
“Text generated by ChatGPT, March 31, 2023, OpenAI, https://chat.openai.com.”
“The following prompts were used “XYZ”.
Plagiarism risk is high when using AI, and it is not acceptable to submit AI-generated content as it is. If you copy and paste entire AI-generated answers, it will be considered plagiarism. Even AI co-created work is considered collusion if you present it all as your own. Note, AI-generated lists of publications and other sources are predictions only; they may not truly exist, therefore you should check all sources of information provided for accuracy

Please note that if academic misconduct is suspected, you may be asked to discuss or explain components of your assignment to determine the authenticity of the work, without prior warning.

Requirements, Exclusions and Recommendations

Learning Recommendations:

It is recommended that students take "Introduction to Economics" or "Economics and Sustainability" or "Principles of Microeconomics" or a similar introductory module in economics (microeconomics) before taking this module.

Module Requisites and Incompatibles

Incompatibles:
ECON30370 - Environmental Economics


 

Assessment Strategy

 

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

Feedback Strategy/Strategies

• Group/class feedback, post-assessment
• Online automated feedback
• Peer review activities
• Self-assessment activities

How will my Feedback be Delivered?

Students are given feedback on their quizzes and the group project during the semester. They peer review each other's group projects.

Tietenberg, T. and L. Lewis (2018) Environmental and Natural Resource Economics, 11th edition, Routledge.
Readings as provided on Brightspace

Timetabling information is displayed only for guidance purposes, relates to the current Academic Year only and is subject to change.