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Advanced topics in environmental policy and economics
Last Updated: 2026-02-05 15:05:29
Abstract
The course discusses the sources of market failure that lead to excessive environmental degradation and pollution from an environmental economics perspective and reviews policy approaches for addressing these. It then delves deeper into selected topics such as political economy/distributional issues, new instruments, poverty-environment linkages, and sustainable development.
Objective
The students understand the underlying sources of market failure that lead to suboptimal human decisions about resource use and pollution. They can define economic criteria of decision making. The students know the main policy approaches that can be used to address market failure and move towards more socially optimal outcomes. They also have a deeper understanding of new instruments, of important poverty-environment linkages, and of concepts and policies for sustainable development. Finally, students have an improved understanding of the distributional impacts of alternative environmental policy approaches and the political economy underlying the making of environmental policy.
Content
Designing environmental policies to combat the excessive degradation of natural resources and pollution requires an understanding of the underlying sources of market failure that lead to suboptimal human decisions regarding resource use and environmental behaviour. Sources of market failure include, for example, the presence of externalities, improperly designed property rights systems (open access, public goods, lack of enforceability and transferability), divergence of private and social discount rates, and lack of information and knowledge. Understanding these sources of market failure helps to design policies for more sustainable outcomes. Policies include command-and-control, market-based instruments (for example, ecotaxes, tradeable permits, ecolabeling), and negotiation approaches (for example, voluntary agreements, payments for environmental services), and liability. The course combines the theoretical basis of environmental and resource economics with the applied discussion of recent trends in environmental policy making worldwide. It also delves deeper into selected topics such as political economy and distributional issues, new instruments (ecolabeling, payments for environmental services), poverty-environment linkages, and concepts and policies for sustainable development. Throughout the course, applications, particularly to issues in forest and landscape policy, are discussed.
Resources
Lecture Notes
A script is not yet available, but is planned for the next course in 2007/08.
Literature
Selected literature (preliminary) ·Tietenberg, T. (2006), ‘Environmental and Natural Resource Economics’, Addison-Wesley. ·Dente, B. (1995), ‘Environmental Policy in Search of New Instruments’, Kluwer. ·Baland , J.M., and Platteau, J.-P. 1996. Halting degradation of natural resources: is there a role for rural communities? Oxford: Claredon Press. ·Bulte, E., und S. Engel. “Conservation of Tropical Forests: Addressing Market Failure.” In Sustainable Development: New Options and Policies. López, R., Stiglitz, J., and M. Toman (Eds.). Oxford University Press, New York. http://www0.gsb.columbia.edu/ipd/pub/ConservationofTropicalForests11_29_04.pdf ·Dasgupta, P. 1997. Environmental and resource economics in the world of the poor. Resources for the Future ·López, R. “Where Development Can or Cannot Go. The Role of Poverty-Environment Linkages.” Paper prepared for the Annual World Bank Conference on Development Economics, Washington, DC. April 1997 ·Reardon, Thomas, and Stephen A. Vosti. “Links between rural poverty and the environment in developing countries: asset categories and investment poverty.” World Development 23(9), 1995, pp. 1495-1506. ·Dasgypta, P. and K.G. Mäler. “Poverty, institutions, and the environmental resource base.” World Bank Environmental Paper, No. 9. Washington, DC: The World Bank. ·Heal, Geoffrey. Valuing the future: Economic theory and sustainability. New York: Columbia University Press, 1998.
General Information
- Language
- English
- Levels
- DS , MSC
- Frequency
- Yearly recurring
Examination
- Type
- graded semester performance
Course Components
| Type | Title | Time & Place | Hours |
|---|---|---|---|
| lecture with exercise | Advanced topics in environmental policy and economics |
|
2 h weekly |
Offered In
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Anthroposphere (Weitere Lehrveranstaltungen nach freier Wahl in Absprache mit dem Fachberater)
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