Economics of the Environment and Climate Change (p)

After completing the course, the student is expected to be able to:

Knowledge:

• Explain how economic activity depends upon and affects the environment.
• Describe the evolution of the main ideas in the history of environmental economics.
• Account for the concepts of optimality and sustainable development used in the theory of environmental economics.
• Describe the main challenges relating to global warming.
• Account for the relevance of the theory of public goods and externalities for environmental and climate economics.
• Describe the main alternative instruments of pollution control and climate policy and the criteria for the choice among them.
• Identify/ List the factors that should guide the choice of pollution control instruments when policy makers have imperfect information.
• Account for how basic concepts from game theory can help to analyze international environmental problems such as global warming.
• Identify and account for the main features of a climate-economy model.
• Reflect on/ Describe the arguments and evidence in the debate on the effects of international trade on the environment.
• Explain the alternative methods used to value non-marketed environmental goods and services.

Skills:

• Explain and present central economic theories and models of the economy-environment nexus in a clear language.
• Apply the standard mathematical method to analyze environmental policy problems such as the determination of the optimal level of pollution abatement and the optimal environmental tax rates.
• Apply the tools of economic analysis to illustrate typical trade-offs in environmental and climate policy.
• Master programming scripts (e.g., in MATLAB) for climate-economy models.
• Debate and present the problems related to the economics of the environment and climate change.

Competencies:

• Plan, perform and implement an economic analyze environmental policy problems.
• Carry out a critical evaluation of the strengths and weaknesses of the theories and models.
• Present and evaluate key parts of the theory of environmental regulation and discuss the role of the state and the market in the implementation of environmental policy goals.
• Apply the theoretical and empirical insights from the course in a critical analysis and discussion of important real-world problems and complex issues of environmental and climate policy.