363-0537-00L Resource and Environmental Economics
| Semester | Autumn Semester 2018 |
| Lecturers | L. Bretschger |
| Periodicity | yearly recurring course |
| Language of instruction | English |
| Abstract | Relationship between economy and environment, market failure, external effects and public goods, contingent valuation, internalisation of externalities; economics of non-renewable resources, economics of renewable resources, cost-benefit analysis, sustainability, and international aspects of resource and environmental economics. |
| Learning objective | Understanding of the basic issues and methods in resource and environmental economics; ability to solve typical problems in the field using the appropriate tools, which are concise verbal explanations, diagrams or mathematical expressions. Topics are: Introduction to resource and environmental economics Importance of resource and environmental economics Main issues of resource and environmental economics Normative basis Utilitarianism Fairness according to Rawls Economic growth and environment Externalities in the environmental sphere Governmental internalisation of externalities Private internalisation of externalities: the Coase theorem Free rider problem and public goods Types of public policy Efficient level of pollution Tax vs. permits Command and Control Instruments Empirical data on non-renewable natural resources Optimal price development: the Hotelling-rule Effects of exploration and Backstop-technology Effects of different types of markets. Biological growth function Optimal depletion of renewable resources Social inefficiency as result of over-use of open-access resources Cost-benefit analysis and the environment Measuring environmental benefit Measuring costs Concept of sustainability Technological feasibility Conflicts sustainability / optimality Indicators of sustainability Problem of climate change Cost and benefit of climate change Climate change as international ecological externality International climate policy: Kyoto protocol Implementation of the Kyoto protocol in Switzerland |
| Content | Economy and natural environment, welfare concepts and market failure, external effects and public goods, measuring externalities and contingent valuation, internalising external effects and environmental policy, economics of non-renewable resources, renewable resources, cost-benefit-analysis, sustainability issues, international aspects of resource and environmental problems, selected examples and case studies. |
| Literature | Perman, R., Ma, Y., McGilvray, J, Common, M.: "Natural Resource & Environmental Economics", 3d edition, Longman, Essex 2003. |