Suchergebnis: Katalogdaten im Frühjahrssemester 2016

Nummer	Titel	Typ	ECTS	Umfang	Dozierende
Umweltnaturwissenschaften Master
Vertiefung in Mensch-Umwelt-Systeme Die Vertiefung Mensch-Umwelt Systeme ist für neu eintretenden MSc-Studierende (FS 16 und später) nicht mehr wählbar. Bereits eingeschriebene Studierende in dieser Vertiefung können diese noch beenden.
Soziale Systeme (Micro, Macro)
Ökonomie
701-1653-00L	Policy and Economics of Ecosystem Services	W	3 KP	2G	S. Andrade de Sa
Kurzbeschreibung	The course introduces the concept of ecosystem services (ES), their value for society, the causes of their degradation and potential policies to reduce degradation, from an environmental economics perspective. The main focus is thus on policy options for addressing ecosystems' degradation. The strengths and weaknesses of alternative policies are analyzed and illustrated with examples.
Lernziel	The objective is to draw on insights from environmental economics for explaining human-induced ecosystem change and for assessing the potential of policies and economic incentives as strategies to reduce ecosystem services degradation. Students understand the relevance of environmental economics in application to the sustainable provision of ecosystem services (ES). They can define different categories of ecosystem services and understand underlying sources of market failure that lead to suboptimal human decisions regarding ES provision. They understand the importance of policy choice and policy design. This incorporates both established and newer policy approaches that can be used to address market failure and move towards better outcomes from a societal point of view. They can assess strengths and weaknesses of alternative policy approaches and instruments and understand the basis for selecting among alternative instruments to address ecosystems' degradation. Students have an improved understanding of the political economy underlying the making of environmental policy. They know a variety of real-world applications of different policy approaches related to land use choices and ES in developing and developed countries. Finally, they understand approaches for assessing policy impacts.
Inhalt	The Millennium Ecosystem Assessment found that 60% of the world's ecosystem services (ES) are being degraded or used unsustainably. The UN report on 'The Economics of Ecosystems Services and Biodiversity' highlighted the impacts on human well-being and the role of policy in addressing ecosystems' degradation. Evaluating changes in ES from a societal perspective first requires an assessment of the societal value of different ES and the tradeoffs between them. Second, we need to understand the drivers of human decision-making affecting ES. Examples will be provided on resource use choices in developed and developing countries. Third, an assessment of the causes of excessive ES degradation is needed. Potential causes include the presence of externalities, improperly designed property rights systems, divergence of private and social discount rates, and lack of information and knowledge. Understanding the causes helps to design policies for more sustainable outcomes. Policies include command-and-control, economic incentives (for example, eco-taxes, tradable permits, government payments for ecosystem services), and decentralized approaches (for example, voluntary agreements, eco-labeling, participatory management). Choosing an appropriate policy instrument (or a combination thereof) requires an understanding of the relative strengths and weaknesses of alternative instruments, their preconditions for success and the political economy of their implementation. Finally, assessing the actual impacts of policy once implemented requires a careful assessment of appropriate baselines.
Skript	Lecture notes, homework exercises and readings for each class will be made available on OLAT.
Literatur	There is no single textbook for this class. Instead, a number of articles and book chapters will be suggested for each of the topics addressed during the lecture.
Voraussetzungen / Besonderes	The course consists of a combination of lectures, homework assignments on real world case studies, a computer exercise, and an exam. A prerequisite for this course is a bachelor-level course in Environmental Economics (e.g. 751-1551-00). In particular, students are expected to be familiar with basic environmental economics' concepts such as externality, public good, market failure, opportunity cost, social optimum and market equilibrium, among others. Students with no background in environmental economics can be provided with readings but will be expected to come up to the required standards on their own, prior to starting the class. Please contact Dr. Andrade de Sá (saraly.andrade@env.ethz.ch) for these.
363-0514-00L	Energy Economics and Policy It is recommended for students to have taken a course in introductory microeconomics. If not, they should be familiar with microeconomics as in, for example,"Microeconomics" by Mankiw & Taylor and the appendices 4 and 7 of the book "Microeconomics" by Pindyck & Rubinfeld.	W	3 KP	2G	M. Filippini
Kurzbeschreibung	An introduction to principles of energy economics and applications using energy policies: demand analysis, economic analysis of energy investments and cost analysis, economics of fossil fuels, economics of electricity, economics of renewable energy, market failures and energy policy, market-based and non-market based instruments, demand side management and regulation of energy industries.
Lernziel	The students will develop the understanding of economic principles and tools necessary to analyze energy issues and to formulate energy policy instruments. Emphasis will be put on empirical analysis of energy demand and supply, market failures, energy policy instruments, investments in power plants and in energy efficiency technologies and the reform of the electric power sector.
Inhalt	The course provides an introduction to energy economics principles and policy applications. The core topics are -Demand analysis -Economic analysis of energy investments and cost analysis -Economics of fossil fuels -Economics of electricity -Economics of renewable energies -Market failures and energy policy -Market oriented and non-market oriented instruments -Demand side management -Regulation of energy industries
Literatur	- International Handbook on the Economics of Energy by Joanne Evans (Editor), Lester C. Hunt (Editor) - Energy Economics Concepts, Issues, Markets and Governance Bhattacharyya, Subhes C. 1st Edition, 2011, XXVI, 721 p. 267 illus, 83 in color.
Voraussetzungen / Besonderes	It is recommended for students to have taken a course in introductory microeconomics. If not, they should be familiar with microeconomics as in, for example, "Microeconomics" by Mankiw & Taylor and the appendices 4 and 7 of the book "Microeconomics" by Pindyck & Rubinfeld.
364-0576-00L	Advanced Sustainability Economics	W	3 KP	2G	L. Bretschger
Kurzbeschreibung	The course covers current resource and sustainability economics, including ethical foundations of sustainability, intertemporal optimisation in capital-resource economies, sustainable use of non-renewable and renewable resources, pollution dynamics, population growth, and sectoral heterogeneity. A final part is on empirical contributions, e.g. the resource curse, energy prices, and the EKC.
Lernziel	Understanding of the current issues and economic methods in sustainability research; ability to solve typical problems like the calculation of the growth rate under environmental restriction with the help of appropriate model equations.

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