Chalmers University of Technology
Course: Environmental Policy Instruments (2018-2020)
Course coordinators
Thomas Sterner and Marion Dupoux, Environmental Economics Unit, Department of Economics, University of Gothenburg, Thomas.Sterner@economics.gu.se, 031 786 13 77 and Marion.dupoux@economics.gu.se, 031 786 26 41. Course assistance Ahmet Mandev mandev@chalmers.se .
Objective
This course aims at providing students with a broad overview of the economic concepts underlying environmental policy-making, as well as with insights into the practicalities of these sorts of policies, both from the perspective of those implementing the policy, but also of those facing new regulations. The course also gives a brief introduction to a number of vital concepts in economics such as supply, demand, markets, consumer surplus, market failure, prices and taxes. At the end of the course we expect students to understand why there is pollution and to have some understanding of what society can do to solve environmental problems.
Contents
The course is divided into 5 main sections.
1) Introduction to economics: In this section we explain the most fundamental concepts in economics that are necessary to understand how the economy works – and in some cases does not work very well – as when we experience major environmental problems.
2) Need for environmental policy-making: In this section we review the conceptual economic and institutional framework underlying the need for environmental policy. We start by introducing the economic concepts of efficiency and markets and move on to explain the reasons why markets sometimes fail to achieve an optimal allocation of environmental resources.
3) Review of policy instruments: In this section we cover a variety of environmental policy instruments, from taxes to legal instruments, emphasizing their similarities and differences.
4) Selection of policy instruments: The course continues with the study of selection criteria and potential implications of the policy instruments discussed above.
5) Policy instruments in practice: We close the course with a series of applied examples of environmental policy-making, covering a wide variety of topics, ranging from road transportation and industrial pollution to land use and biodiversity conservation.
Access to my clips related to the course (click on each clip below to access to the You Tube video):