290009 Economic Theory of Environmental Policy

Details
Responsible DepartmentInstitute of Food and Resource Economics

Earliest Possible YearMSc. 1 year to MSc. 2 year
DurationOne block
 
Credits7.5 (ECTS)
 
Level of CourseMSc
 
ExaminationContinuous Assessment

written examination


Written Exam in Lecturehall

All aids allowed

Description of Examination: 4 timers skriftlig prøve

Weight: 4 timers skriftlig prøve 100%



7-point scale, internal examiner

Dates of Exam:
25 January 2012
 
Requirement for Attending ExamRettidig aflevering af besvarelser på alle afleveringsopgaver der stilles i løbet af kurset. Der stilles 2-3 afleveringsopgaver i alt i løbet af kurset.
 
Organisation of TeachingLectures and exercises
 
Block PlacementBlock 2
Week Structure: C
 
Language of InstructionEnglish
 
Mandatory Prerequisites290025 
290013 Environmental and Natural Resource Economics
290037 
 
RestrictionsNone
 
Course Content
The central themes of the course are causes of pollution and the design of incentive based policy instruments. The main components of the course are

1) Market failure as the explanation for pollution. Here several cases of market failure will be analyzed. Examples are externalities, common property goods and public goods.

2) The design of environmental policy instruments. Here the emphasis will be on instruments that set incentives to reduce emissions such as taxes, subsidies, tradable permit schemes and liability rules. Issues covered are the regulation of point and non-point pollution, emissions and ambient regulation, optimal regulation under uncertainty, uniformly and non-uniformly mixed pollutants and the political economy of instrument choice. Furthermore, in connection with taxes we will discuss the existence of a double dividend and under tradable permits the issue of market power will be analyzed.

3) International environmental problems. International environmental pollution causes some special problems compared with national pollution. the main problem here is that countries cannot be forced to reduce emissions when their pollution causes damage in other countries. In this part, we will discuss the origin of the problem and possible solutions such as side payments, issue linkage and coalition formation.


 
Teaching and learning Methods
Teaching is given in the form of lectures and practicals. The lectures will present the main themes of the course. The exercises deal with more technical issues and will give a platform to discuss problems.
 
Learning Outcome
It is the objective of this course to provide a comprehensive presentation of the theoretical and methodological aspects of the economic theory of environmental economics, especially of environmental policy in order to enable students to evaluate the economic efficiency of environmental policies.

Knowledge:
- Describe the meaning in Welfare Economics of Economic Efficiency and Market Imperfections
- Describe the use of Pigouvian Taxes and Quota Regulation
and Regulation.
- Define Damage Cost and Abatement Cost describe the terms in a Welfare Economics set-up.
- Describe Liabiliby
- Describe Political Economy
- Describe International Environmental Issues

Skills:
- Explain the effects of regulating a market
- Analyse environmental problems to identify suitable economic instruments
- Compare effectiveness and efficiency of environmental regulation

Competences:
- Apply economic regulation to environmental problems.
- Evaluate the welfare economic consequenses of applying economic regulation to environmental problems.
 
Course Literature
Hanley, N., Shogren, J.F. and White, B.: Environmental Economics in Theory and Practice, Macmillan Press, 2006.

Baumol, W.J., Oates, W.E.: The Theory of Environmental Policy, 2nd Edition, 1988.

Plus additional papers and articles
 
Course Coordinator
Lars Gårn Hansen, lgh@foi.dk, Institute of Food and Resource Economics/Unit of Environmental and Natural Resource Economi, Phone: 353-36833
 
Study Board
Study Committee NSN
 
Work Load
lectures36
theoretical exercises24
examination4
preparation142

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