The course focuses on the relationship between the environment and the economic activity. The topics are: 1) Environment and market failures: externalities, environmental policy instruments, the role of green consumers. 2) Natural resources and sustainable development: environmental externalities in an international context; exhaustible and non-exhaustible natural resources; growth, development and environment.
For any topic, the professor will specify the reference chapters in one of the following books: Perman, McGilvray, Ma, Common (2003), Natural Resource and Environmental Economics, Addison Wesley. Musu (2004), Introduzione all'economia dell'ambiente, Il Mulino. Pearce and Turner (1991), Economia delle risorse naturali e dell'ambiente, Il Mulino. A: Mankiw N.G. (2001), Macroeconomia, Ed. Zanichelli. Further reference papers will be suggested in class
Learning Objectives
KNOWLEDGE: the connections between the environment and the economic activities. Basic concepts of microeconomic theory: externalities, allocation of property rights. The effectiveness of different
economic instruments for the environmental policy: standard, taxes, subsidies, tradable permits. The relevance on international externalities. The problem of the optimal management of natural resources. The potential conflicts between economic growth and environmental protection. SKILLS: to be able to understand and explain the connections between the economic activity and the environment by means of the basic tools of microeconomic theory as graphs, mathematical models, games theory. To be able to recognise the different assumptions which characterise alternative opinions expressed in the debate about the sustainability of current economic growth. ABILITIES AT THE END OF THE COURSE: to be able to take part in the current debates about environmental issues, to apply the main concepts and methodologies used in the course to solve simple exercises.
Prerequisites
Students must be familiar with the basic concepts of microeconomic theory. The knowledge of some macroeconomic models and mathematical instruments could be useful for a better learning.
Teaching Methods
Lectures, economic experiments, exercises.
Type of Assessment
The assessment of students' learning entails an oral examination. In such examination the teacher evaluates: 1) the knowledge of the main concepts and models included in the program; 2) the following skills: understanding, learning and ability to apply the main concepts and models in basic excercises; ability to make judgements, communication skills by means of a rigorous language.
Course program
The full program of the course will be available on the e-learning platform during the second semester.